The Nation's Report Card
The 2002 results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress are published, for the reading and writing subject areas.

For the first time, the tests included the Trial Urban District Assessment for both reading and writing, looking at students from New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, and D.C. In these results are more sad news about education for the nations urban Black children, discussed somewhat by Education Secretary Paige in today's Wall Street Journal (haven't found it online). The aweful truth: black D.C. fourth graders scored 60 points lower than their white counterparts. Fully 72% scored below the Basic achievement level in reading.