Gaps in average mathematics scale scores, by race/ethnicity, grades 4 and 8: 1990–2003

* Significantly different from 2003.
NOTE: Score gaps are calculated based on differences between unrounded average scale scores.
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.
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 Findings

• At grade 4, the average score gap between White students and Black students narrowed between 2000 and 2003, and was smaller in 2003 than in 1990.
• The gap between White fourth-graders and Hispanic fourth-graders also narrowed between 2000 and 2003; the gap in 2003 was not found to be significantly different from that in 1990.
• At grade 8, the average score gap between White students and Black students narrowed between 2000 and 2003, but the gap in 2003 was not found to differ significantly from that in 1990.
• The gap between White eighth-graders and Hispanic eighth-graders in 2003 was not found to differ significantly from the gap in any of the previous assessment years.

See national mathematics achievement-level results by race/ethnicity for grade 4 and grade 8.

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Last updated 09 March 2006 (RF)