More American students are taking challenging courses and getting higher grades, yet substantial percentages still score below "basic" levels on national reading and math tests, according to two reports released today by the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

"The results don't square," said the chairman of the National Assessment Governing Board. Federal officials said rising grades could be because of improved achievement, changes in standards or grade inflation.

Student performance is vital, but how people perceive student performance is equally revealing. Public Agenda's ongoing series of Reality Check surveys on education standards show some major gaps in this area.

For example, most classroom teachers say too many students get passed through the system without learning (62 percent say this is a "very" or "somewhat serious" problem in local schools. But only 27 percent of superintendents say the same.

Parents, on the other hand, seem satisfied with academics in their local schools, with 65 percent saying the work their child does is harder than what they themselves studied when they were young. Almost as many, 61 percent, say their child is getting a better education than they did.

Yet employers and college professors who deal with recent high school graduates are much less satisfied. In the 2002 edition of Reality Check, nearly three-quarters of employers and professors rated the writing and grammar skills of recent graduates as only "fair" or "poor." More than six in 10 gave the same rating on math skills.

Find out more about Reality Check 2006:

And Reality Check 2002:

Read the NAEP reports:

Read the Associated Press story: