Could you please put this into your own words? Ive been having trouble & i am not sure how to do it.The Department of Education points to the...

My paraphrase is in bold throughout.  Each part I typed paraphrases the part above it.

The Department of Education points to the National Assessment of Educational Progress) results, released in July 2005, “showing improved student achievement in reading and math”. More progress was made by nine-year-olds in reading in the last five years than in the previous 28 years combined.

The department is asking people to notice that 9 year olds have improved more in the past 5 years than in the 28 years before that.

• America's nine-year-olds posted the best scores in reading (since 1971) and math (since 1973) in the history of the report. America's 13-year-olds earned the highest math scores the test ever recorded.

9 year olds are better in math and reading than they have been in about 40 years, 13 year olds are better than they ever have been.

• Reading and math scores for black and Hispanic nine-year-olds reached an all-time high.

Black and Hispanic 9s have never been better in reading and math.

• Achievement gaps in reading and math between white and black nine-year-olds and between white and Hispanic nine-year-olds are at an all-time low.

Those two groups are closer to white kids than they've ever been (in scores).

• Forty-three states and the District of Columbia either improved academically or held steady in all categories (fourth- and eighth-grade reading and fourth- and eighth-grade math)..

43 states and DC did as well as or better than they had been doing.

Many argue that these statistics are misleading. They compare 2005 with 2000, when No Child Left Behind didn't even take effect until 2003. They point out that the increase in scores between 2000 and 2003 was roughly the same as the increase between 2003 and 2005, which calls into question how any increase can be attributed to No Child Left Behind.

Some people say NCLB didn't cause this because it didn't go into effect until half way through the 5 year time period mentioned.  There was just as much improvement before the law as there was after.

They also argue that some of the subgroups are cherry-picked -- that in other subgroups scores remained the same or actually fell.

Some people say that the Department only announced the stats that made them look good.  Other subgroups got worse, they say.