1 Description: The percentage of students, by subgroup, in eighth grade who scored proficient or above on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in reading. NAEP reports three levels of performance across grades and subject areas: basic, proficient, and advanced. Students scoring "proficient" are considered to have competency over challenging subject matter, including subject-matter knowledge, application of such knowledge to real-world situations, and analytical skills appropriate to the subject matter. Students who are "advanced" are considered to have superior performance. NAEP, administered by the National Center for Education Statistics, is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various academic subjects. NAEP scores are comparable between states and years. A dash (-) indicates that the data are not available. A “†” symbol means not applicable. A “‡” symbol indicates that the reporting standards were not met. ; Academic Year: 2008-09; Grade: 8; Source: National Assessment of Educational Progress; Tabulation from NAEP Data Explorer, 4/17/2010: http://www.nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata/; Data Uploaded On: 12/03/2015