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Digest of Education Statistics
2002 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 118. Average writing performance of 4th-, 8th-, and 11th-graders, by selected characteristics of students: 1984 to 1996

________________________________________________________________________________________
  Selected characteristics  |         |         |         |         |         |
        of students         |   1984  |   1988  |   1990  |   1992  |   1994  |   1996
____________________________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________
             1              |    2    |    3    |    4    |    5    |    6    |    7
____________________________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________
                            |                   4th-graders
                            |___________________________________________________________
Total ......................|204 (1.5)|206 (1.6)|202 (1.5)|207 (1.5)|205 (1.6)|207 (1.2)
                            |_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________
  Male .....................|201 (2.8)|199 (2.3)|195 (1.9)|198 (1.7)|196 (1.7)|200 (1.8)
  Female ...................|208 (3.1)|213 (2.0)|209 (2.2)|216 (1.7)|214 (2.2)|214 (1.9)
                            |         |         |         |         |         |
Race/ethnicity              |         |         |         |         |         |
  White ....................|211 (1.9)|215 (1.9)|211 (2.0)|217 (1.7)|214 (1.5)|216 (1.6)
  Black ....................|182 (5.0)|173 (4.7)|171 (5.4)|175 (3.8)|173 (3.2)|182 (2.3)
  Hispanic .................|189 (5.8)|190 (3.5)|184 (4.1)|189 (3.6)|189 (3.1)|191 (3.2)
                            |         |         |         |         |         |
Parental education          |         |         |         |         |         |
  Not high school graduate .|179 (4.6)|194 (5.4)|186 (3.9)|191 (3.2)|188 (7.8)|190 (5.5)
  Graduated high school ....|192 (3.4)|199 (3.0)|197 (3.0)|202 (3.2)|202 (2.3)|203 (2.3)
  Post high school .........|208 (6.5)|211 (6.3)|214 (4.0)|201 (4.5)|212 (4.0)|205 (5.2)
  Graduated college ........|218 (3.0)|212 (2.2)|209 (1.6)|214 (1.4)|212 (2.1)|214 (1.7)
                            |         |         |         |         |         |
Control of school           |         |         |         |         |         |
  Public ...................|202 (1.8)|204 (2.0)|200 (1.4)|205 (1.6)|204 (1.8)|206 (1.5)
  Private ..................|215 (4.6)|216 (4.1)|216 (5.7)|222 (3.3)|213 (4.3)|218 (3.2)
                            |         |         |         |         |         |
Region                      |         |         |         |         |         |
  Northeast ................|212 (4.0)|204 (4.9)|211 (3.6)|216 (4.0)|210 (4.0)|213 (2.8)
  Southeast ................|204 (3.3)|200 (2.3)|192 (4.0)|193 (2.4)|198 (3.4)|200 (3.4)
  Central ..................|201 (2.6)|212 (3.0)|203 (3.1)|214 (3.1)|209 (3.3)|212 (3.1)
  West .....................|201 (4.9)|207 (3.4)|201 (2.7)|206 (2.2)|203 (2.7)|205 (2.5)
                            |=========|=========|=========|=========|=========|=========
                            |                   8th-graders
                            |___________________________________________________________
Total ......................|267 (2.0)|264 (1.3)|257 (1.2)|274 (1.3)|265 (1.3)|264 (1.0)
                            |_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________
  Male .....................|258 (2.3)|254 (1.5)|246 (1.5)|264 (1.9)|254 (1.8)|251 (1.1)
  Female ...................|276 (2.4)|274 (1.7)|268 (1.3)|285 (1.3)|278 (1.4)|276 (1.2)
                            |         |         |         |         |         |
Race/ethnicity              |         |         |         |         |         |
  White ....................|272 (2.1)|269 (1.3)|262 (1.6)|279 (1.3)|272 (1.4)|271 (1.0)
  Black ....................|247 (5.7)|246 (3.5)|239 (2.3)|258 (4.0)|245 (3.4)|242 (2.6)
  Hispanic .................|247 (6.4)|250 (2.5)|246 (2.8)|265 (2.2)|252 (3.3)|246 (2.3)
                            |         |         |         |         |         |
Parental education          |         |         |         |         |         |
  Not high school graduate .|258 (4.8)|254 (3.9)|246 (3.7)|258 (5.3)|250 (4.1)|245 (4.5)
  Graduated high school ....|261 (1.6)|258 (2.1)|253 (1.4)|268 (1.6)|259 (2.2)|258 (1.9)
  Post high school .........|271 (3.9)|275 (3.3)|267 (3.0)|280 (2.2)|270 (3.1)|270 (2.4)
  Graduated college ........|278 (1.8)|271 (1.8)|265 (1.8)|284 (1.9)|275 (1.3)|274 (1.3)
                            |         |         |         |         |         |
Control of school           |         |         |         |         |         |
  Public ...................|264 (2.0)|262 (1.5)|254 (1.2)|272 (1.3)|264 (1.6)|263 (1.2)
  Private ..................|282 (5.5)|276 (3.0)|277 (4.4)|288 (3.2)|279 (3.8)|272 (3.3)
                            |         |         |         |         |         |
Region                      |         |         |         |         |         |
  Northeast ................|273 (3.6)|265 (2.7)|261 (3.3)|285 (3.3)|277 (2.2)|264 (2.4)
  Southeast ................|267 (3.6)|268 (2.3)|252 (2.8)|266 (2.2)|259 (2.1)|260 (3.5)
  Central ..................|264 (2.3)|258 (2.2)|259 (3.9)|277 (2.0)|270 (4.1)|268 (2.3)
  West .....................|264 (3.0)|264 (2.1)|255 (2.6)|271 (2.3)|259 (1.6)|263 (1.3)
                            |=========|=========|=========|=========|=========|=========
                            |                  11th-graders
                            |___________________________________________________________
Total ......................|290 (1.6)|291 (1.3)|287 (1.0)|287 (1.4)|285 (1.2)|283 (1.2)
                            |_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________
  Male .....................|281 (1.4)|282 (2.0)|276 (1.6)|279 (1.2)|276 (1.5)|275 (1.4)
  Female ...................|299 (2.5)|299 (1.2)|298 (1.5)|296 (2.0)|293 (1.5)|292 (1.4)
                            |         |         |         |         |         |
Race/ethnicity              |         |         |         |         |         |
  White ....................|297 (1.8)|296 (1.3)|293 (1.2)|294 (1.2)|291 (1.4)|289 (1.5)
  Black ....................|270 (3.6)|275 (2.9)|268 (2.3)|263 (3.2)|267 (2.2)|267 (3.0)
  Hispanic .................|259 (6.6)|274 (4.4)|277 (2.6)|274 (3.8)|271 (4.0)|269 (2.5)
                            |         |         |         |         |         |
Parental education          |         |         |         |         |         |
  Not high school graduate .|274 (5.2)|276 (3.5)|268 (4.0)|271 (3.7)|269 (4.7)|260 (3.0)
  Graduated high school ....|284 (3.0)|285 (2.2)|278 (1.9)|278 (2.2)|279 (1.7)|275 (1.6)
  Post high school .........|298 (2.5)|296 (2.6)|292 (2.7)|292 (2.0)|286 (1.7)|287 (2.1)
  Graduated college ........|300 (2.4)|299 (2.0)|298 (2.0)|296 (1.4)|293 (1.5)|291 (1.9)
                            |         |         |         |         |         |
Control of school           |         |         |         |         |         |
  Public ...................|288 (1.6)|290 (1.2)|286 (1.1)|287 (1.6)|284 (1.4)|283 (1.4)
  Private ..................|305 (3.7)|300 (3.6)|306 (5.2)|295 (4.4)|291 (3.8)|287 (6.6)
                            |         |         |         |         |         |
Region                      |         |         |         |         |         |
  Northeast ................|291 (3.0)|295 (2.8)|295 (2.5)|290 (2.3)|291 (2.4)|290 (2.2)
  Southeast ................|287 (4.9)|289 (2.2)|280 (2.3)|278 (3.3)|277 (2.5)|273 (2.2)
  Central ..................|291 (2.7)|292 (4.0)|289 (2.7)|291 (2.2)|284 (2.3)|285 (2.5)
  West .....................|289 (3.7)|289 (2.3)|285 (2.1)|289 (2.1)|287 (2.7)|284 (2.2)
____________________________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________

NOTE: These test scores are from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The writing scale score ranges from 0 to 500 and is defined as the average of a respondent's estimated scores on specific writing tasks. The average response method is used to estimate average writing achievement for each participant as if each had performed all 11 writing tasks. Standard errors appear in parentheses.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress, NAEP 1996 Trends in Academic Progress, by Educational Testing Service. (This table was prepared September 1997.)


2002 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest