WASHINGTON

9-YEAR-OLDS’ READING, MATH SCORES IMPROVE

The nation’s 9-year-olds last year posted their best scores in the building-block subjects of reading and math in more than three decades. Older students didn’t fare as well.

At the same time, achievement gaps between racial groups narrowed, according to results of the 2004 National Assessment of Educational Progress announced yesterday. Education officials and advocates attributed the 9-year-olds’ performance to a recent emphasis on elementary schools and getting children reading as early as possible. They said the results also showed more attention must be paid to students in secondary schools.

“We need to go to work,” Education Secretary Spellings, said in an interview.

Ms. Spellings also credited No Child Left Behind, the education law President Bush signed in January 2002 that mandates frequent testing of students to chart their progress in reading and math. During an appearance yesterday at a black business convention in Indianapolis, Mr. Bush claimed some credit for narrowing the gap in test scores between black and white elementary school students.

“These results show that when performance is measured, and schools are held accountable, every child can succeed,” Mr. Bush said. “That’s what it shows.” To help high school students do better, Mr. Bush also has proposed providing early intervention for failing students and testing of all ninth-, 10th- and 11th-graders.

– Associated Press

FOUR SENATORS CALL FOR O’CONNOR TO STAY ON COURT

Four female senators called yesterday for retiring Supreme Court Justice O’Connor to stay on the court and try for chief justice if the ailing Chief Justice Rehnquist steps down.

In a letter to Justice O’Connor, Republican Senators Snowe and Collins of Maine and Democratic Senators Landrieu of Louisiana and Boxer of California asked the nation’s first female justice to consider staying on the high court if Chief Justice Rehnquist relinquishes the top spot.

Chief Justice Rehnquist was discharged yesterday after two nights in the hospital for treatment of a fever. Justice O’Connor announced her retirement on July 1, but has made it conditional on a replacement being confirmed.

“We urge you to reconsider your resignation and return to the Supreme Court to serve as chief justice, should there be a vacancy, “the senators said in yesterday’s letter. The four senators also said they will “strongly recommend” to President Bush that Justice O’Connor become the next chief justice if Chief Justice Rehnquist steps down. “We believe such a history-making nomination by the president would demonstrate leadership that unites Americans around the shared values of liberty, the rule of law, and the preservation of our constitutional freedoms,” they said.

– Associated Press

CHERTOFF: GOVERNMENT HAS LIMITED ROLE IN PROTECTING MASS TRANSIT

The government must focus on preventing airline hijackings and other terror threats that could inflict mass casualties, and is limited in the help it can give cities and states to protect trains and buses, the homeland security secretary, Michael Chertoff, said yesterday. His comments drew criticism from Senate Democrats from metropolitan areas who said mass transit systems are highly vulnerable to terrorists – as shown in last week’s bombings of three subway lines and a bus in London. At the same time, nearly two-thirds of Americans believe an attack on mass transit is inevitable, according to a new AP-Ipsos poll.

With finite resources and a looming range of threats, Mr. Chertoff said the federal government is forced to set priorities to prevent attacks that would produce the highest number of casualties. In the interview, Mr. Chertoff noted that mass transit systems are largely regulated by state and local authorities that he said should provide the bulk of security measures. By contrast, he said, the commercial aviation system is “almost exclusively a federal responsibility” and demands extensive funding.

– Associated Press

ROVE REPORTEDLY HELD CONVERSATION WITH COLUMNIST ON CIA OPERATIVE

President Bush’s top political adviser, Karl Rove, spoke with a syndicated columnist, Robert Novak, as he researched a column that exposed an undercover CIA operative, the New York Times reported on its Web site last night.

Quoting an unnamed source, the newspaper said Mr. Rove claimed that he learned the name of the operative, Valerie Plame, from Mr. Novak. After Mr. Novak said he had heard that Ms. Plame arranged for her husband to be sent to Africa to investigate reports of Iraqi nuclear procurement there, Mr. Rove reportedly replied, “I heard that, too.”

The source told the Times Mr. Rove was referring to accounts he had heard from other journalists. The article was silent on whether the White House aide learned anything about the matter through official government channels.

Separately yesterday, about 200 people protested outside the White House to demand that President Bush fire Mr. Rove over the episode.

The demonstrators, organized by the MoveOn.org political action committee, shouted “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Karl Rove has got to go” and “Karl Rove is a traitor” as they marched along the sidewalk just north of the White House.

“I’m just really appalled at what the friends of Bush can get away with,” a protester, Michelle Bruns, 28, said as she petted her dog, who wore a sign that said, “Huskies Against Treason.” She complained that Mr. Rove had not been held accountable for telling a reporter that Valerie Plame, the wife of an administration critic, worked at the CIA. “If this was anybody else, they would have hanged him from a white post,” she said.

While liberal groups have traditionally been critical of the CIA and other national security agencies, those engaged in yesterday’s protest complained that Mr. Rove’s alleged indiscretion showed a lack of respect for the intelligence-gathering agency. “I think we need the CIA,” a substitute teacher from Potomac, Md., Gail Cheek, 55, who wore a homemade “CIA Agent” badge, said. “Karl Rove attacked the CIA. He is attacking a very important agency that protects us from terrorists,” she said. Meanwhile, at a news conference yesterday, Senator Schumer, a Democrat of New York, joined Ms. Plame’s husband, Joseph Wilson IV, to call for the revocation of Mr. Rove’s security clearance. It was the fourth consecutive day on which Mr. Schumer issued a letter or staged a press event to question the Bush administration’s response to the apparent leak, which is under investigation by a special prosecutor.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

SOUTH

NASA: SUNDAY LAUNCH ‘REALLY OPTIMISTIC’

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA said yesterday that it will not make another attempt to launch space shuttle Discovery until at least Sunday – and even that is a “really optimistic good-luck scenario.” Deputy shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said the space agency still probably faces several days of troubleshooting to figure out what caused the faulty fuel-gauge reading that forced the cancellation of Wednesday’s launch. The only way the shuttle would be able to fly on Sunday is “if we go in and wiggle some wires and find a loose connection,” said Mr. Hale, who conceded that was unlikely to work. Wednesday’s liftoff would have been the first shuttle flight in 2 1/2 years since the grounding of the space program after the Columbia accident. With little more than two hours to go and the astronauts on board, the flight was canceled because a fuel gauge read full when it should have read empty.

Mr. Hale said the space agency had 12 engineering teams around the country trying to figure out why, but so far they haven’t solved the problem.

“I wish I had more answers for you,” he said.

He wouldn’t rule out the chance of launching Discovery later in July, and NASA officials have no immediate plans to move Discovery from the launch pad back to its hangar, which would require more days of delay.

– Associated Press