This month, the Department of Education released its latest edition of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the standardized tests better known as the Nation's Report Card. The results have left me blazing with rage. In my home state of California, for instance, only 30% of public school fourth graders can read proficiently. Fully 41% cannot even read at a basic level " which is to say, they cannot really understand and interpret written text at all. Eighth graders, as you might expect, look almost as bad.