California remained at the bottom of the barrel in national test scores for reading, sharing last place with Louisiana, Arizona, New Mexico and Washington, D.C., according to the Nation’s Report Card released Wednesday. The state’s reading scores have remained flat since the last assessment in 2007. Few states showed improvement over the last two years on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, standardized tests given to a sample of fourth- and eighth-grade students nationwide. A couple of states fell back. In California, 54 percent of fourth-grade students and 64 percent of eighth-grade students tested in early 2009 scored at or above the basic reading level, a measure indicating a partial mastery of grade-level content. Nationally, 66 percent of fourth-graders and 74 percent of eighth-graders scored at basic or above levels. Given California’s size and diverse student population along with the relatively low amount of money spent per child on education, the state’s scores aren’t as bad as they appear, said David Gordon, Sacramento County schools superintendent and member of the National Assessment Governing Board. ‘It’s not really helpful to compare California to most of these other states,’ he said. ‘The level of investment we’re making […]