In 2003, by comparison, fourth-grade scores rose 14.7 points, the largest one-year gain using the current test.

But the more sophisticated view, experts say, is that it is almost impossible to attribute real meaning to a one-year gain in scores.

He also expects the Merval index to reach 700 this year, for a one-year gain of nearly 35 percent.

School officials say California high school seniors scored their largest one-year gain ever on academic achievement tests last year.

That year nearly 61 percent of students were reported to be at or above the national average in math - "the largest one-year gain in more than 20 years!"

In the 1994 elections, the number of Republican governors soared to 30 from 19, the party's largest one-year gain since 1938.

That represented the largest one-year gain in more than a decade - and it outpaced the growth of most other media.

That's a tremendous one-year gain.

Few, if any, schools - alternative or otherwise - can boast a similar one-year gain.

Testing experts warn that any one-year gain may be an anomaly.