AUSTIN – Texas is one of several states that have set a low bar for determining whether their students are proficient in math and reading, according to a new study from the federal government’s National Center for Education Statistics.

The report, released this morning, found wide variations among the states in where they set “proficiency” standards for fourth and eighth graders in reading and math.

Comparisons of results on state achievement tests and a nation exam given every two years to fourth and eighth graders showed that benchmarks for proficiency on most state tests are far below those of the federal exam, known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

In Texas and 30 other states, the cutoff score on the state exam for a fourth grader to be deemed proficient in reading – a higher level of achievement – is actually less than the cutoff score for “basic” performance, the minimum passing level, on the national test.

Texas was one of 15 states with a proficiency standard on its eighth-grade reading test that was lower than the basic performance standard on the national exam.

In math, Texas was not among the handful of states that had similar weak standards for determining student proficiency, but it was still in the bottom half of the rankings of the states in the report.

Among the states with the most rigorous standards were Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri and South Carolina. Tennessee had the worst standards.

“This study gives policymakers, educators and parents a way to view state proficiency standards using a common yardstick,” said John Q. Easton of the Institute of Education Sciences, which oversaw the study. “It shows that a student seen as proficient in one state might not be seen as proficient in another.”

The study, based on 2007 scores, carries special significance because the National Assessment of Educational Progress – also called the “Nation’s Report Card” exam – is the only test given to public school students in all states. Required under the No Child Left Behind Act, it is administered every two years to a scientifically selected sample of fourth and eighth graders.

A key finding of the researchers was that “students of similar academic skills, but residing in different states, are being evaluated against different standards for proficiency in reading and mathematics.”

National Assessment of Educational Progress results for 2009, released this month, indicated that black students in Texas scored at or near the top in math compared with their counterparts across the nation, but the state as a whole ranked near the middle among the states on the exam.

The National Center for Education Statistics, housed in the U.S. Department of Education, is the primary federal agency for collecting and analyzing data related to education.