Overview   NAEP Activities   National   State   Long-Term Trend   Selected Schools   HS Transcript Study   Special Studies   NAEP Technical   Documentation   Parents   Researchers   Media   Educators

The Arts   Civics   Economics   Foreign Language   Geography   Mathematics    Reading   Science   U.S. History   World History   Writing

Percentage of students, by mathematics achievement level, grade 4: 1990–2003

			Below Basic		At Basic		At Proficient		At Advanced		At or above Basic		At or above Proficient
Grade 4
Accommodations not permitted	1990		50	*	37	*	12	*	1	*	50	*	13	*
	1992		41	*	41	*	16	*	2	*	59	*	18	*
	1996		36	*	43		19	*	2	*	64	*	21	*
	2000		31	*	43	*	23	*	3	*	69	*	26	*
Accommodations permitted	1996		37	*	43	*	19	*	2	*	63	*	21	*
	2000		35	*	42	*	21	*	3	*	65	*	24	*
	2003		23		45		29		4		77		32

* Significantly different from 2003.
NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.  
In addition to allowing for accommodations, the accommodations-permitted results (1996–2003) differ slightly from previous years' results and from previously reported results for 1996 and 2000, due to changes in sample weighting procedures.
Significance tests were performed using unrounded numbers. NAEP sample sizes have increased in 2003 compared to previous years, resulting in smaller detectable differences than in previous assessments.
See more information about the mathematics achievement levels.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2003 Mathematics Assessments. 

Major Finding

• The percentages of fourth-graders performing at or above Basic, at or above Proficient, and at Advanced were all higher in 2003 than in all previous assessment years since 1990.

See national achievement-level results in mathematics for grade 8.

Return to main results.

---

Last updated 8 March 2004 (JM)