Puerto Rico Falls ‘Below Basic’ on Math NAEP

Officials see issue of language and culture in teaching, testing.

Long-awaited results on how Puerto Rico’s students fared on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in math are finally in—and they’re not good.

Only 12 percent of 4th graders and 6 percent of 8th graders in public schools scored at or above the “basic” level on “the nation’s report card” in 2005. So few students scored at the “proficient” or “advanced” level that the percentages rounded to zero.

The results for 2003, also released for the first time last week, were even worse. That year, only 9 percent of 4th graders and 4 percent of 8th graders scored at the...