Every state is permitted by law to define "reading proficiency" according to their own guidelines. As a result, states often rate their children at a higher level of proficiency than the NAEP does. Parents must adopt their own guidelines and test their children themselves.

In 2002, NCLB promised that by 2014, 100% of U.S. school children would demonstrate “proficiency” in reading and math. On the NAEP test in 2012, 40% of fourth-graders scored at proficiency or above in math, and 32% scored proficiency in reading. Going by NAEP results, NCLB won't make the deadline.

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Although referred to as if it were, "literacy" is not a school subject. It is a combination of information and skills that enables all other learning.

Not everyone means the same thing by the word "education." Parents who want "a quality education" for their children would do well to define what they mean by "education" in very specific terms.