Nation’s Report Card: 17-Year-Olds See Few Reading and Math Gains
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By SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 4/29/2009 2:05:00 PM
The average test scores of 17-year-olds in reading and math haven’t changed much since the early 1970s, but kids ages 9 and 13 have seen significant gains in both areas, says the lastest report from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
"The results at ages 9 and 13 are encouraging, but the lack of improvement by high school students provides little comfort," says Darvin M. Winick, chairman of the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees and sets policy for NAEP. "Clearly, we need to do more to ensure that students are continuing to learn throughout elementary, middle, and high school and are prepared for higher education and the workforce."
The recently-released report, more commonly known as the Nation's Report Card, says the average reading scores were 12 points higher for 9-year-olds and 4 points higher for 13-year-olds than in 1971. In math, the average scores rose 24 points for 9-year-olds and 15 points for 13-year-olds from 1973.
Average reading scores for white, black, and Hispanic students were higher in all three age groups in 2008 than in 1971, and increases since then were larger for Black students than for white students. Gains by Hispanic students also outpaced those of white students from 1975 to 2008 at ages 9 and 17.
Gaps in reading scores between white and black students have narrowed for all three age groups since 1971, though those gaps did not change significantly from 2004 to 2008. Reading score gaps between white and Hispanic students were smaller in 2008 than in 1975 at ages 9 and 17, though there were no significant changes from 2004 to 2008.
In math, both black and Hispanic students at all age groups made greater gains than white students since 1973. In comparison to 2004, only white students at age nine saw an increase in scores. Score gaps in math between white students and both black and Hispanic students narrowed from 1973 to 2008 at all three ages, but showed no significant changes from 2004.
"The Nation's Report Card: NAEP 2008 Trends in Academic Progress" charts the educational progress of students at ages 9, 13, and 17 in reading and mathematics on the NAEP. The report compares results from the most recent NAEP long-term trend assessments, which were given in the 2007–08 school year, to results from 2004 and to the first years the reading and mathematics assessments were given in 1971 and 1973, respectively. The report provides national results only.
Overall, there weren’t many changes along gender lines, though there were exceptions. While female students continued to score higher on average in reading than male students, the gap narrowed significantly for nine-year-olds from 1971 to 2008. In math, there was no significant difference between nine-year-old male and female students in 2008, although male students continued to score higher at ages 13 and 17. While the male–female gap for 13-year-olds in 2008 was not significantly different from 2004, it was larger than in 1973.
“Our focus on raising standards, increasing academic rigor, and improving teacher quality are all steps in the right direction," says Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
The 2007–08 NAEP assessments in reading and mathematics were administered by the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education to a nationally representative sample of over 26,000 public and private school students in each subject area. The Nation's Report Card has served as a national yardstick of student achievement since 1969.
