WASHINGTON (AP) - Texas fourth- and eighth-grade students beat the national average in math scores in the latest round of the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Their reading scores matched the national average.
The assessments are sometimes referred to as the nation's report card.
They provide the only uniform way to compare student progress in a variety of grades and subjects across the country. Students took the test last winter.
Nationally, elementary and middle schoolers posted solid gains in math and more modest improvements in reading.
White students in Texas performed better on the tests than their minority counterparts. But the gap between white and minority students' average test scores narrowed in all but eighth-grade reading.
The test has been administered every two years since 1990. It's given to a sampling of students in each state.