Breaking it down a bit further, Houston's Hispanic fourth graders were second in the nation. White fourth graders came in fifth. Asian students came in first in the nation and black fourth graders tied for third with New York City.
Dr. Grier says there is still room for improvement.
"We are not ready to say it's an A-plus yet, but it is good and we are very proud of the job that we've done," said Dr. Grier. "When we jump up in that top of 1 and 2 category at every grade level for all of our sub-groups, then I'll smile and say put that A-plus back up there."
The test is given every other year and about 2,200 fourth graders in Houston and 1,900 eighth graders took the test this year. Eighteen large urban school districts across the country take the test again every other year.
