Dan McGowan notes that new standardized test scores are out for Rhode Island public schools, and they’re not good.

Elsewhere, he finds a silver lining in the fact that English-language learners do better at English and are nearly caught up in math, but it seems like an indication of how poorly the schools are doing that native English speakers can’t keep up with those who are new to the language. In both subjects, in fact, we should question whether it’s a success that numbers are so low even those with language challenges are able to match them.