The 2005 scores for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in reading and math provide valuable information. This was only the second time that 4th and 8th graders in every state took NAEP in reading and math. Because NAEP is the only national assessment of student performance, it's a useful tool to get an idea of where states are setting the bar on their assessments.

To spur the conversation on what it means to be "proficient," Achieve compiled charts in 2003 that compared the percentage of students scoring at or above the Basic and Proficient levels on NAEP to the percentage deemed proficient on state tests. It became clear that no common definition of proficiency exists — yet the No Child Left Behind law requires all students to reach their state's proficiency level.

Achieve did a similar comparison with the 2005 data. The charts below show that the Proficient standard on most state tests is set at a level closer to Basic on NAEP rather than Proficient. The exceptions are Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, South Carolina and Wyoming, which have set consistently higher standards.

Another organization that has considered this same question is the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, which published a critical analysis of state reading tests. The report found that 20 states have reported gains in the percentage of 8th graders scoring Proficient on state reading tests since 2003, but only three states show progress at even the Basic level on NAEP.

State newspapers also were more likely to look at the percentages of students scoring Proficient on the state test and compare them with percentages of students performing at the same level on NAEP. It's important to remember that the state and NAEP tests don't measure the same content, but if results are improving on the state test, you'd expect to see progress being made on NAEP as well.

Click on a chart below to see state-by-state comparisons of results on the state and NAEP tests. Chart 1: 4th Grade Reading Chart 2: 8th Grade Reading Chart 3: 4th Grade Math Chart 4: 8th Grade Math