State Tests, NAEP Often a Mismatch

Bars Defining 'Proficient' Unaligned, Study Shows

Many of the states that claim to have large shares of their students reaching proficiency in reading and mathematics under the No Child Left Behind Act have set less stringent standards for meeting that threshold than lower-performing states , a new federal study finds.

The study drew an immediate and strong reaction from many public officials and education advocates, who said it laid bare states’ vastly divergent standards for testing students.

The report judges states’ reading and math tests against a common yardstick: the proficiency standards used by the National Assessment of Educational Progress , often referred to as...