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Digest of Education Statistics
2011 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 145. Average mathematics scale score of 8th-graders and percentage reporting various attitudes toward mathematics work, by frequency of attitude and selected student and school characteristics: 2011
Student or school characteristic Math work is engaging and interesting Math work is challenging Math work is too easy
Never or hardly ever Sometimes Often Always/ almost always Never or hardly ever Sometimes Often Always/ almost always Never or hardly ever Sometimes Often Always/ almost always
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
  Average scale score1 
All students 280 (0.3) 284 (0.3) 289 (0.3) 286 (0.5) 293 (0.4) 285 (0.3) 283 (0.3) 274 (0.6) 284 (0.4) 283 (0.2) 287 (0.4) 289 (0.7)
Sex                                                
Male 281 (0.4) 285 (0.4) 289 (0.5) 287 (0.7) 295 (0.6) 286 (0.4) 284 (0.5) 272 (0.8) 283 (0.6) 283 (0.3) 289 (0.5) 292 (0.8)
Female 278 (0.4) 283 (0.4) 288 (0.5) 286 (0.6) 290 (0.6) 284 (0.3) 283 (0.4) 276 (0.7) 285 (0.5) 282 (0.3) 285 (0.5) 286 (1.1)
                                                 
Race/ethnicity                                                
White 286 (0.3) 294 (0.3) 299 (0.3) 300 (0.7) 300 (0.6) 294 (0.3) 293 (0.3) 285 (0.6) 291 (0.4) 293 (0.2) 297 (0.4) 298 (0.7)
Black 261 (0.9) 263 (0.6) 265 (0.7) 265 (0.7) 274 (1.1) 265 (0.5) 262 (0.7) 253 (1.0) 262 (0.8) 261 (0.6) 266 (0.6) 270 (1.2)
Hispanic 267 (0.7) 269 (0.7) 274 (0.7) 274 (1.0) 277 (1.2) 271 (0.6) 270 (0.8) 262 (1.2) 268 (1.2) 269 (0.6) 275 (0.8) 275 (1.8)
Asian 300 (2.1) 304 (1.5) 309 (1.5) 309 (2.3) 317 (2.6) 306 (1.4) 303 (1.7) 295 (4.1) 312 (2.8) 303 (1.2) 307 (1.7) 312 (3.1)
Native Hawaiian/
     Pacific Islander
272 (5.8) 267 (3.3) 276 (4.6) 272 (6.0) 268 (11.9) 273 (3.1) 271 (4.4) 257 (6.0) 272 (4.3) 271 (3.1) 268 (4.6) 277 (9.5)
American Indian/
     Alaska Native
263 (2.1) 267 (2.1) 269 (1.8) 268 (2.8) 275 (3.6) 267 (1.6) 266 (1.6) 260 (3.7) 267 (3.0) 265 (1.3) 267 (2.0) 275 (4.5)
                                                 
Eligibility for free or
   reduced-price lunch
                                               
Eligible 266 (0.5) 269 (0.4) 273 (0.4) 271 (0.6) 279 (0.7) 271 (0.4) 268 (0.4) 258 (0.6) 266 (0.6) 268 (0.3) 274 (0.5) 276 (1.1)
Not eligible 288 (0.4) 296 (0.4) 301 (0.4) 301 (0.6) 303 (0.6) 296 (0.3) 295 (0.4) 289 (0.7) 295 (0.5) 295 (0.3) 299 (0.6) 301 (0.9)
Unknown 290 (1.5) 296 (1.2) 301 (1.5) 301 (2.2) 305 (1.7) 298 (1.5) 295 (1.3) 286 (2.7) 295 (1.7) 295 (1.1) 300 (1.5) 304 (3.2)
                                                 
Control of school                                                
Public 279 (0.3) 283 (0.3) 287 (0.3) 285 (0.5) 292 (0.4) 284 (0.3) 282 (0.3) 273 (0.6) 283 (0.4) 282 (0.2) 286 (0.4) 288 (0.7)
Private 290 (1.2) 296 (1.0) 301 (1.2) 300 (1.9) 305 (1.6) 298 (1.2) 295 (1.0) 286 (2.1) 295 (1.3) 295 (0.9) 301 (1.3) 304 (2.7)
  Percent of students
All students 23 (0.2) 36 (0.2) 27 (0.2) 14 (0.2) 12 (0.2) 46 (0.2) 31 (0.2) 10 (0.1) 17 (0.2) 54 (0.2) 21 (0.2) 8 (0.1)
Sex                                                
Male 23 (0.3) 35 (0.3) 28 (0.3) 14 (0.2) 13 (0.2) 46 (0.3) 31 (0.3) 10 (0.2) 15 (0.2) 54 (0.3) 23 (0.3) 9 (0.2)
Female 23 (0.2) 38 (0.2) 26 (0.2) 13 (0.2) 12 (0.2) 47 (0.3) 30 (0.3) 10 (0.1) 19 (0.2) 55 (0.3) 19 (0.3) 7 (0.2)
                                                 
Race/ethnicity                                                
White 26 (0.3) 37 (0.2) 26 (0.2) 11 (0.2) 13 (0.2) 46 (0.3) 31 (0.3) 10 (0.1) 20 (0.2) 54 (0.2) 19 (0.2) 7 (0.1)
Black 18 (0.4) 34 (0.5) 28 (0.4) 20 (0.4) 12 (0.4) 45 (0.5) 31 (0.4) 13 (0.3) 15 (0.3) 55 (0.5) 21 (0.4) 9 (0.3)
Hispanic 19 (0.5) 38 (0.5) 29 (0.5) 14 (0.3) 11 (0.3) 48 (0.5) 32 (0.5) 10 (0.3) 12 (0.3) 56 (0.5) 24 (0.4) 8 (0.4)
Asian 15 (0.6) 36 (0.9) 32 (0.9) 18 (0.9) 16 (1.0) 50 (1.2) 27 (1.1) 7 (0.6) 10 (0.6) 49 (1.0) 29 (0.8) 12 (0.6)
Native Hawaiian/
     Pacific Islander
12 (1.9) 36 (3.2) 36 (3.2) 15 (2.0) 12 (2.7) 45 (4.4) 32 (3.5) 10 (1.3) 8 (1.0) 48 (3.6) 37 (3.3) 7 (1.5)
American Indian/
     Alaska Native
23 (1.4) 37 (1.5) 27 (1.2) 13 (1.0) 11 (0.9) 44 (1.5) 33 (1.6) 12 (1.0) 15 (1.0) 59 (1.6) 19 (1.0) 6 (0.6)
                                                 
Eligibility for free or
   reduced-price lunch
                                               
Eligible 21 (0.3) 36 (0.3) 27 (0.2) 15 (0.2) 12 (0.2) 47 (0.3) 31 (0.3) 11 (0.2) 14 (0.2) 55 (0.3) 23 (0.3) 8 (0.2)
Not eligible 25 (0.2) 37 (0.2) 27 (0.3) 12 (0.2) 13 (0.2) 46 (0.3) 31 (0.3) 10 (0.1) 18 (0.2) 54 (0.2) 20 (0.2) 8 (0.1)
Unknown 23 (0.7) 36 (0.8) 28 (0.7) 13 (0.6) 11 (0.5) 44 (0.8) 35 (0.8) 10 (0.5) 22 (0.8) 56 (0.9) 17 (0.7) 5 (0.4)
                                                 
Control of school                                                
Public 23 (0.2) 37 (0.2) 27 (0.2) 14 (0.2) 13 (0.2) 47 (0.2) 30 (0.2) 10 (0.1) 16 (0.2) 54 (0.2) 22 (0.2) 8 (0.1)
Private 24 (0.6) 35 (0.6) 28 (0.5) 13 (0.4) 11 (0.4) 44 (0.6) 35 (0.6) 10 (0.4) 21 (0.6) 56 (0.7) 17 (0.5) 5 (0.3)
1 Scale ranges from 0 to 500.
NOTE: Includes public and private schools. Includes students tested with accommodations (10 percent of all 8th-grade students); excludes only
those students with disabilities and English language learners who were unable to be tested even with accommodations (2 percent of all 8th-grade students). Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Standard errors appear in parentheses.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2011 Mathematics Assessment, retrieved November 1, 2011, from the Main NAEP Data Explorer (http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata/). (This table was prepared November 2011.)

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