U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today issued the following statement regarding the release of The Nation's Report Card: Reading 2002:

"Today's news about reading achievement for the nation's fourth-, eighth- and 12th- graders is cause for both celebration and concern.

"We can celebrate because the average fourth-grader's reading score has improved over the last four years and the average eighth-grader's reading score is higher than it was in 1992, when the current National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) was first given.

"We also can be happy because today's results show other promising changes that are worth watching. In 2002, black fourth-graders narrowed the achievement gap from 1994 with their white counterparts, and Hispanic fourth-graders also narrowed the achievement gap from 2000 with their white counterparts. Children eligible for free and reduced-price school lunch showed improvement in their scores as well. All these statistics prove that all children -- despite their economic status or racial or ethnic backgrounds -- can indeed learn.

"In 2000, at the release of the NAEP fourth-grade reading results, I said that the stagnant results were not good enough, that it was disheartening to see the achievement gap between ethnic groups had widened and that the best students were getting better while the worst students had gotten worse.

"Well, today's results show that the best students are still getting better, but the lower-performing students are getting better, too.

"I'm happy that we can celebrate these achievements and the fact that President Bush's landmark education initiative, No Child Left Behind, will further complement the gains we see today.

"At the same time, I'm concerned that not a lot has changed since 1992, when this NAEP assessment, the most comprehensive, challenging ever, was first given. At the national level, fourth graders are scoring at about the same level, eighth-graders are scoring a bit higher and 12th -graders have gone south.

"Reading is fundamental to basic learning. That's why a key aspect of No Child Left Behind is the solid support of early reading skills. Through our Reading First Program, we are providing unprecedented resources for early childhood education so that all youngsters get the right start. We want all children to know how to read by the third grade, and we're requiring schools to make adequate yearly progress with all students and holding them accountable if they don't.

"There are no scientific answers to why our high school seniors have performed so poorly on this reading assessment, but we're still searching for solutions to these daunting challenges. At the same time, we already know what works to teach youngsters to read, and we know that all children can learn. That said, I think No Child Left Behind's emphasis on scientific methods will help to sustain the gains we see today in elementary and middle school and, hopefully, provide some direction on how to help our high school seniors raise their achievement levels as well."

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Editor's Note: NAEP is administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES). It is authorized by Congress and overseen by the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB). Additional information about NAEP and The Nation's Report Card: Reading 2002 is available at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard.

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