D.C. public school students continued their long climb from the bottom of the nation in reading skills last year, according to Wednesday’s release of the Nation’s Report Card.
While reading scores stayed about the same nationwide, D.C.’s public school and charter school students were among only a handful of jurisdictions to make significant gains. But even amid a six-year streak of increasing scores, the citywide average of 202 points of a possible 500 for fourth-graders remains well below the national average of 220. D.C.’s score is lower than that of any of the 50 states.
Maryland and Virginia students outpaced the national average in the report, conducted by an agency within the U.S. Department of Education, but saw scores stay about the same as in previous years.
Among fourth-graders, Virginia students scored sixth-highest in the nation with 227 points, followed by their Maryland peers at seventh-highest with 226. By eighth grade, however, Maryland dropped to 14th and Virginia to 20th. Massachusetts scored highest in the country at both grade levels.
“In 2005, our eighth-graders were in 25th place, so that’s pretty good improvement,” said Bill Reinhard, spokesman for the Maryland State Department of Education.
Even so, Reinhard called the middle grades “an area of concern” and said the state recently convened a panel to better tailor instruction at that level.
While achievement gaps persist in the region, Maryland and the District have seen across-the-board improvements in reading scores among each racial group. Virginia’s results are shakier, as Hispanic students have seen declines since 2005 and other groups failed to improve.
“Our challenge is to build on the progress Virginia students have already made,” said Eleanor Saslaw, president of the state’s Board of Education. She cited middle school and minority students as among the greatest concerns.
The Nation’s Report Card, also called the National Assessment of Educational Progress, is based on tests administered every two years to a sample of students in each state and the District of Columbia.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan expressed disappointment in the nationwide stagnation and used it as a reason to support his administration’s reform efforts.
“We shouldn’t be satisfied with these results,” Duncan said. “By these and many other measures, our students aren’t on a path to graduate high school ready to succeed in college and the workplace.”
