Aim low, avoid disappointment

Alaska thinks(pdf) that 81.7% of its 4th grade students in 2007 were advanced/proficient in reading.

The NAEP says that only 29% of Alaskan public school 4th graders were at or above proficient. In fact the NAEP shows that only 62% of it's public school 4th graders were above basic, which is still a pretty big difference.

The NAEP expects 4th graders to read three syllable words; Alaska only expects 4th grades to read two syllables.

I didn't look at math scores, but I am guessing its the difference between counting to 10 and counting to 5.