On a Nationwide Test, Improving Math Scores Outpace Reading Gains

In contrast, reading scores have improved only slightly. The share of fourth-graders with basic reading skills, those who, for example, can figure out the meaning of a word from a sentence in a text passage, only moved to 67 percent from 62 percent in 1992. Officials who administered the test say the slight improvements have come in spite of more English-language learners taking the reading test in recent years.

The results also show that many racial minority fourth- and eighth-graders are making strides in reading and math. Since 2005, scores for black children in both subjects rose while those for Latinos increased in all but eighth-grade reading. In contrast, American Indians and Alaskan natives have showed no improvement in the past two years.

David Gordon, superintendent of schools in Sacramento, Calif., and chairman of the committee that administered the 2007 tests, called the progress in closing the white and minority gaps "slow and inconsistent." At the news conference, he said that school districts, especially those with fast-growing minority populations in California, Florida, New York, and Texas, must devote more resources to closing the gaps in the next five years.