Adams became proficient on the clarinet at an early age (sometimes freelancing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and performing with other groups) and by his teenage years was composing.
No wonder: Its public high school boasts a 100% graduation rate, administers Advanced Placement exams in 22 subjects, and in 2009 96% of students scored at or above proficient on the Language Arts Literacy and 96% scored at or above proficient on the math exam of the New Jersey High School Proficiency Assessment, well above state averages.
Mirroring national results, roughly equal percentages of boys and girls performed at proficient on Indiana's math assessments in all three grades.
Its public school graduated 97.3% of its senior class, administers Advanced Placement exams in 22 subjects, and in 2009 98% of students scored at or above proficient on the English Language Arts and 96% scored at or above proficient on the math exam of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, well above the state averages.
They administer AP exams in 22 subjects, and 96% of students scored at or above proficient on the state's English Language Arts test and 97% scored at or above proficient on the math exam.
"The comparison to NAEP is not fair," said Mitch Edwards, a spokesman for the Department of Education in Alabama, where 83percentt of fourth-grade students scored at or above proficient on the state's reading test while only 22percentt demonstrated proficiency on the federal reading test.
In Alabama, 83percentt of fourth-grade students scored at or above proficient on the state's reading test, while only 22percentt were proficient on the NAEP test.
In Massachusetts, for instance, where educators have sharply raised math scores in recent years by carefully reworking standards and instruction, 57percentt of fourth graders scored at or above proficient on the latest test.
"Making comparisons to the NAEP becomes very difficult without giving the impression that some states are not measuring up to others or to the nation". In Georgia, 83percentt of eighth graders scored at or above proficient on state reading tests, compared with just 24percentt on the federal test.
With a median home price of $520,570, its public schools had a graduation rate of 96.6%, AP exams in 20 subjects, and 96% of students scored at or above proficient on the state's standardized tests.
