Maryland students? performances on the test used to determine whether No Child Left Behind standards are met have improved for the fifth consecutive year, but officials continue to focus on boosting minorities? and middle-school math scores.

All students in third through eighth grade must take the Maryland School Assessment, designed to measure their reading and math abilities, and they must score proficient on the test by 2014, under the federal No Child Left Behind law, which took effect in Maryland in 2003.

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