Latinos narrow education gap - Overall math test up

Hispanic students, who have historically had a large academic achievement gap when compared to whites, for the first time narrowed that gap.

In reading, for example, the 26-point gap in 1992 and 24-point gap in 2009 was reduced to 22 points in 2011.

Overall, new test scores show the nation's fourth- and eighth-graders are doing the best ever in math, but schools still have a long way to go to get everyone on grade level. In reading, eighth-graders showed some progress.

Just a little more than one-third of the students were proficient or higher in reading. In math, 40 percent of the fourth-graders and 35 percent of the eighth-graders had reached that level.

The results Tuesday from the National Assessment of Educational Progress are a stark reminder of just how far the nation's school kids are from achieving the No Child Left Behind law's goal that every child in America be proficient in math and reading by 2014. READ MORE