We can find out, for example, that in 2000, 22 percent of fourth-graders in Maryland reached or exceeded the proficient standard. Standards-based, right? But here is the rub: how do you know what to make of this result? Is 22 percent high or low? One way to find out is to compare this percentage to the percentages in other states. NAEP conveniently displays the percentages for all states together, ranked from highest to lowest. (Remember the panty hose chart in Chapter 7?) These charts report performance in terms of state norms—that is, by comparison to a distribution of the performance of
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