What Does a Test Say About Your Child? There’s More Than Meets the Eye
18th October 2026
Parents rely on student grades and report cards to track progress. And every state is required to test students in reading and math annually in grades three through eight. State officials reliably publish graduation rates for each class every year. Then there are college entrance exams such as the SAT and ACT, still more ways for parents and students to gauge achievement.
Yet not all these indicators agree with each other. For example, reading and math scores on the Nation’s Report Card (or the National Assessment of Educational Progress, otherwise known as NAEP) have been dismal for a decade or more as the average graduation rate in the U.S. is 87%.
How could students perform poorly in key subjects and yet schools graduate nearly nine out of 10 students unless one of these measures is unreliable?
Oh, say it ain’t so!