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SourceLineThe Black Civic Data Platform

Our mission is to make sure Black communities are not simply informed about the decisions shaping our future, but equipped to help make those decisions. An informed community is a powerful community.

Literacy and Education

Black fourth graders reading at or above Proficient, state by state

Start with what is working. New Jersey is doing best at 24.9%. Across the United States the figure is 16.4%. Every state is measured the same way, in the same period, so each one can learn from the others.

Black fourth graders reading at or above Proficient
Doing best: New Jersey24.9%
plus or minus 7.5 points
United States16.4%
plus or minus 0.9 points
Furthest to go: Maine7.3%
plus or minus 5.5 points
All fourth graders in the United States: 30.5% (plus or minus 0.6 points). Source: National Assessment of Educational Progress (the Nation's Report Card), tested January to March 2024.
Doing best New Jersey 24.9%, plus or minus 7.5 points. Ranked 1st of 40 states. What is New Jersey doing that works? Furthest to go: Maine, 7.3%. See New Jersey ›

Where you live

Enter your ZIP code or street address to find your state below and the people who decide this for you, by name. SourceLine does not keep the address.

Ranked from doing best

Every state

40 ranked of 51
Margin of error
1 New Jersey 24.9% plus or minus 7.5 points 38.3%
2 Massachusetts 21.6% plus or minus 6.2 points 40.4%
3 Colorado 21.3% plus or minus 7.3 points 35.7%
4 Georgia 21% plus or minus 3 points 30.4%
5 Rhode Island 20.7% plus or minus 6.7 points 32.6%
6 Nevada 19.8% plus or minus 6.2 points 30%
7 Tennessee 19.8% plus or minus 5.7 points 31.8%
8 Maryland 19.4% plus or minus 3.7 points 33.6%
9 Mississippi 19.3% plus or minus 2.9 points 32%
10 Florida 18.4% plus or minus 3.2 points 33%
11 West Virginia 18% plus or minus 7.9 points 24.6%
12 Illinois 17.9% plus or minus 3.6 points 30.4%
13 Indiana 17.6% plus or minus 5.4 points 34.5%
14 Texas 17.5% plus or minus 6.8 points 27.5%
15 Delaware 16.7% plus or minus 3.1 points 26.5%
16 North Carolina 16.7% plus or minus 3.3 points 30.1%
17 Kentucky 16.6% plus or minus 6 points 32.7%
18 Minnesota 16.6% plus or minus 5.4 points 30.7%
19 New York 16.6% plus or minus 5.7 points 30.9%
20 Pennsylvania 16.4% plus or minus 4.6 points 32.9%
21 South Carolina 16.2% plus or minus 3.1 points 32.5%
22 Virginia 15.7% plus or minus 3.7 points 30.7%
23 Louisiana 15.2% plus or minus 3 points 31.8%
24 South Dakota 15% plus or minus 8.6 points 28%
25 North Dakota 13.8% plus or minus 7.3 points 28.7%
26 Ohio 13.6% plus or minus 4.8 points 32.4%
27 District of Columbia 13.5% plus or minus 1.9 points 29.6%
28 Arkansas 13.1% plus or minus 3.4 points 28.1%
29 Alabama 13% plus or minus 3.3 points 28%
30 Connecticut 12.5% plus or minus 5.2 points 36.2%
31 Arizona 12.2% plus or minus 6.7 points 26.4%
32 Missouri 10.9% plus or minus 3.2 points 27.2%
33 Nebraska 10.4% plus or minus 6.2 points 28%
34 Kansas 9% plus or minus 5.6 points 28.3%
35 Iowa 8.4% plus or minus 4.9 points 29.2%
36 Michigan 8.2% plus or minus 2.7 points 24.6%
37 Oklahoma 8.2% plus or minus 4.7 points 22.7%
38 Wisconsin 7.9% plus or minus 5.9 points 31.3%
39 California 7.4% plus or minus 5 points 28.7%
40 Maine 7.3% plus or minus 5.5 points 26.1%
Not ranked Alaska 27.4% Latest result is from tested January to March 2017, an earlier period plus or minus 11.7 points 21.7%
Not ranked Hawaii 37.1% Latest result is from tested January to March 2013, an earlier period plus or minus 10.4 points 31.6%
Not ranked Idaho No result for Black students 31.9%
Not ranked Montana No result for Black students 31.9%
Not ranked New Hampshire 26.6% Latest result is from tested January to March 2013, an earlier period plus or minus 12.1 points 36.2%
Not ranked New Mexico 24.1% Latest result is from tested January to March 2013, an earlier period plus or minus 10 points 20.3%
Not ranked Oregon 11.4% Latest result is from tested January to March 2013, an earlier period plus or minus 7.5 points 26.6%
Not ranked Utah No result for Black students 36.3%
Not ranked Vermont No result for Black students 30.5%
Not ranked Washington 24.6% Latest result is from tested January to March 2022, an earlier period plus or minus 7.9 points 32%
Not ranked Wyoming No result for Black students 35.8%

Ranked: the 40 states measured in tested January to March 2024. Places below that line are still listed, with the reason. NAEP reports no result for Black students in a few states with small samples.

Who decides

From you up to Congress. Look up your address above and each step fills in with the people who hold that seat for you.

  1. You and your neighbors Read with a child, ask your school for its reading results for Black students, and vote in school board races.

    Ask: What did our school do last year that raised reading, and can it do more of it?

  2. Your school board Sets the school budget, hires the superintendent and chooses how reading is taught.

    Ask: How many of our Black students read on grade level, and what is the plan, with a date, to raise that number?

  3. Your state legislators and state school leaders Write the school funding formula and the state reading law.

    Ask: Does our state fund the reading help that the states doing best fund?

  4. Your members of Congress Fund Title I and special education, the federal money that reaches schools with the most children in poverty.

    Ask: How much Title I money reaches our district, and how did you vote on it?

What you can do

  1. This weekAsk your child’s school for its reading results for Black students, and for the date of the next school board meeting.
  2. The next date that mattersThe next school board meeting. Budget votes set the reading money for next year.
  3. Where your voice is countedRaise what matters where you live on SourceLine issues. Only confirmed residents are counted, and SourceLine shares the totals, never names, with the body that decides.
Method and sources

Black fourth graders reading at or above Proficient. Source: National Assessment of Educational Progress (the Nation's Report Card), tested January to March 2024.

The margin of error is how far the true figure could be from the one shown. Surveys ask some people, not everyone, so smaller places have wider margins. A place with too few people to measure well is listed but not ranked.

Population, voting age population, citizens of voting age, registered voters and people who voted are different counts. Each page says which one it uses.

Who decides: the people named come from SourceLine’s record of officeholders for the address you enter. Where SourceLine hasn’t updated a level for your area yet, that step says so.

About these figures

Every figure on this page shows the year it describes. Public agencies release their numbers on their own schedules, often a year or more after the work of counting is done. The Census Bureau, for example, publishes its five year community survey each December, and the national reading test is given every two years. That is why some figures are not from this year. SourceLine updates each one as soon as the agency publishes it.

For some counties and small towns, SourceLine has not found meeting records online. Where it has not, we add them as they become available. A page that says SourceLine hasn’t updated a record yet means exactly that.