NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam says Tennessee students made the fastest strides in the country in a national science test.
Haslam's office says Tennessee's eighth-grade students were the fastest improving in the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress science test. Its fourth graders were second-fastest improving.
That puts the fourth graders at 19th in the country and eighth graders at 21st, the highest rankings ever for Tennessee.
The governor's office says the achievement gap in scores between white and African American students narrowed for fourth and eighth grade students. The gap tightened between white and Latino fourth graders. And the gender gap was eliminated in both grades.
Tennessee was the only state to grow faster than the rest of the country in both grades, doubling the average national growth.