Washington leads the nation in reading and math scores for African-American fourth-graders, and does almost as well for black eighth-graders, based on a test often called the nation's report card.

African-American fourth-graders in only Alaska and Delaware matched Washington's performance on the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which the U.S. Department of Education released yesterday. In eighth-grade math, only in Alaska did African-American students have higher scores among the states.

The ranking doesn't account for student differences, such as poverty, and can change based on as little as a one-point swing.

All states have participated in the NAEP since 2003, as a result of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The test is given every two years to a representative sample of students in fourth and eighth grades, including about 3,000 students in Washington in each grade.

In 2003, Washington led the nation in reading scores for African-American fourth-graders. And in math that year, African-American eighth-graders in the state scored better in the subject than eighth-graders in all but three other states.

Among Washington fourth-graders tested in the latest exam, the percentage who are proficient in math is higher than in 1996, while in reading the percentage is the same as in 1994.

Black and Latino students made dramatic gains in achievement on the NAEP reading and math tests, but continued as a group to perform lower than whites and Asians. (The patterns are similar for eighth-graders.)

In Washington in 2005, for instance, 40 percent of whites were proficient in reading compared with 20 percent of African Americans and 15 percent of Latinos. Asians performed at the same level as whites. The pattern was similar for math, though in eighth grade Asians performed better than whites.

About one-third of the Washington fourth-graders achieved the basic reading level, 30 percent were below that level and 35 percent above it (considered "proficient" or better); in math, about 42 percent performed at the basic level, 16 percent below it and 42 percent above it.

Washington fourth- and eighth-graders overall performed above the national average on both the math and reading tests this year. Nationally, for instance, 38 percent of fourth-graders performed below the basic level in reading.

"Our students have performed well on the NAEP in the past, and today's results show that our students are among the top in the nation," said Terry Bergeson, state superintendent of public instruction.

Bergeson added that the improving score on the NAEP mirrors rising achievement on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL), which tracks school districts' progress in educating students to meet state standards.

Nonetheless, others cautioned against comparing states' performances on the NAEP. The report's authors say states' average scores can be influenced by differences in demographics and state policies on excluding students with disabilities or those who aren't fluent in English. (Washington excluded fewer students from the test than many other states.)

Washington's fourth- and eighth-graders performed on the 2003 NAEP tests as expected given its proportion of students (36 percent) eligible for free and reduced-price lunch, according to Standard & Poor's School Evaluation Services, which issued its analysis before the 2005 results were available.

Decades of research indicate that students' income level is the strongest predictor of their test scores. Only a handful of states did better than predicted by their student-poverty rate, including New York, Kansas and Oklahoma.

While private schools can take part in the NAEP, too few participated for their results to be made public, according to the report.

Sanjay Bhatt: 206-464-3103 or sbhatt@seattletimes.com