Reading scores will be announced, and Web-cast, this morning

State school officials will announce the results of this year’s state English tests this morning, at 11 a.m. To watch the news conference live, either begin driving to Albany immediately or visit one of these Web sites, depending on which video player you have:

Windows MediaReal PlayerChancellor Joel Klein will give his interpretation of the city’s results at a separate press conference at Tweed Courthouse this afternoon, at 1 p.m. Come back here for the latest intelligence. And, while you’re waiting, consider obtaining a big fat grain of salt, bigger yet given that it’s an election year, and political opponents of Mayor Bloomberg’s are zeroing in on his claims of improved student performance. Last year, New York City scores shot up to historic highs, and Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Klein said the improvements were evidence that they are succeeding at turning around the public schools. But testing experts said the increased scores on state tests didn’t necessarily mean that students were learning more than students in the past. The experts pointed to relatively smaller gains — and in some cases, no gains at all — on the national benchmark test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, plus a phenomenon called “score inflation,” in which practices like test prep make test scores rise faster than actual learning.