School Success

Are All America’s Children Really Above Average?

Wildly varying state and national assessments distort the true condition of education in America

Only a third of American fourth-graders read at a proficient level, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). This is poor school performance for the richest country in the world, and the outlook is even worse for non-White students.

Click here to read whole report

But according to state assessments, school performance is excellent. For example, Tennessee students, only 28 percent of whom score proficient on the NAEP test, are 90 percent proficient according to the state’s own assessment.

Read the Voices state-by-state analysis of school assessments in the report “Are All America’s Children Really Above Average?”:

Voices’ press release
Two page issue overview
Entire report, with state-by-state analysis