The aim of the third National Education Goal is that all students will become competent in challenging subject matter. In October, 1999, the National Education Goals Panel released Reading Achievement State by State, 1999. The Goals Panel believes this report is important to policymakers and others interested in education improvement, because it helps policymakers

• monitor their own state's educational progress;
• determine whether educational programs and policies are having the desired effect;
• benchmark their state against the best in the nation; and
• target educational services appropriately.

This report summarizes progress (based on results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress - NAEP) each state has made toward Goal 3, the Student Achievement and Citizenship goal, in the area of Reading. This report includes two pages of information for each state which shows how much progress each state has made over time; how each state's latest academic performance compares to that of the United States and other states; and how different subgroups of students performed on the most recent NAEP Assessment.

See the entire report