State Journal

A group of Minnesota school districts is at odds with Gov. Arne Carlson's administration over how difficult the state's 8th grade reading test really is.

At stake is how Minnesotans should interpret the results from the tests, which students must pass to graduate. This year, 71 percent of the 8th graders who took the mathematics test passed, while 68 percent passed the reading test.

The Association of Metropolitan School Districts, made up of 24 Twin Cities-area systems, asserts that the average difficulty of the reading passages ranges from grade 9 to beyond high school. The association analyzed the test using the Degrees of Reading Power program, developed by Touchstone Applied Science Associates...