Last week the US Department of Education released a report that compared the rigor of state assessments to the national assessment.

Check out Gannet News's lead in the article about the report:

Almost every fourth-grader in Mississippi knows how to read. In Massachusetts, only half do.

So what's Mississippi doing that Massachusetts, the state with the most college graduates, isn't? Setting expectations too low, critics say.

Yes, that's right. Mississippi is setting their elementary reading targets lowest in the country. Sure, the state's data looks great in the news, but kids aren't learning anything. The kids can only achieve as high as the standard to which they're held, and the disparity between the state and national tests shows that Mississippi's standard is far too low:

From Ed Watch

Stephen Colbert devoted a whole segment of "The Word" to the issue, despite being heavily misinformed about No Child Left Behind's provisions. But, then again, facts aren't really Colbert's thing.

Here's how the rest of the states stack up to the national test in 4th grade reading, 4th grade math, 8th grade reading, and 8th grade math: