Reply #2: this? found on WAPO

[Viva_La_Revolution]

Gaps Appear in State, Federal Test Scores

By BEN FELLER
The Associated Press
Friday, March 3, 2006; 5:02 AM

WASHINGTON -- In Mississippi, 89 percent of fourth-graders who took a state reading test were rated proficient or better. But when the same students took a federal test, only 18 percent reached that standard.

Such discrepancies are not uncommon. Students from all over the country performed worse on a tough federal test than they did on state exams in reading and math _ raising questions about whether states are setting lower standards.

The nation's students do glaringly worse on a tough federal test than they do on state exams in reading and math, raising doubts about how much kids are learning.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/03/AR2006030300295.html