Report card

Fourth-graders made progress, but eighth-graders plateaued and 12th-graders lost ground in reading, according to results from the 2002 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), released last week. About one in four high-school seniors cannot read at NAEP's basic level.... On June 10, President Bush certified that all 50 states have developed accountability plans in compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act, 17 months after its enactment. The law requires annual reading and math testing for students in grades three through eight. Meanwhile, the Department of Education released a parents' guide to the new law, widely viewed as the most significant change in education policy since 1965.... Proponents of parental choice in education mark the first anniversary of the Supreme Court's Zelman decision upholding the Cleveland voucher program on June 27.... Deputy Secretary of Education Bill Hansen departs his post at the Department of Education on July 4, after two years of service. Mr. Hansen is credited with restoring order to the agency's finances to achieve its first clean audit after six years marred by embezzlement, fraud, and mismanagement of funds.