WI reading gap is nation’s worst

From a story by Alan J. Borsuk in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The average reading ability for fourth- and eighth-grade black students in Wisconsin is the lowest of any state, and the reading achievement gap between black students and white students in Wisconsin continues to be the worst in the nation.
Those are among the facts found in a mass of testing results released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Education, the latest results from a long-standing federal program called the National Assessment of Education Progress. It is the closest thing to a nationwide standardized testing program for reading and math ability.
The gap between blacks and whites was worse in Wisconsin than, say, Louisiana? Yes.
The average score for black fourth-graders in reading was lower than, say, Washington, D.C., or Alabama? Yes.