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

Average reading scale scores, by student eligibility for free/reduced-price school lunch, grades 4 and 8: 1998–2003

* Significantly different from 2003.
NOTE: Data were not collected at grade 8 in 2000. In addition to allowing for accommodations, the accommodations-permitted results at grade 4 (1998–2003) differ slightly from previously reported results for 1998 and 2000, due to changes in sample weighting procedures.
Significance tests were performed using unrounded numbers. NAEP sample sizes have increased since 2002 compared to previous years, resulting in smaller detectable differences than in previous assessments.
Information on students' eligibility in 2003 was not available for 10 percent of fourth-graders and 11 percent of eighth-graders.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2003 Reading Assessments.   

Major Findings

• In 2003, the average reading score for students who were eligible for free/reduced-price lunch was lower than the average score for students who were not eligible at both grades.
• At grade 4, the average scores were higher in 2003 than in 1998 for students who were eligible for free/reduced-price lunch and for students who were not eligible.
• At grade 8, the average score for students who were eligible for free/reduced-price lunch was lower in 2003 than in 2002.
• At grade 8, the average scores in 2003 were not found to differ significantly from those in 1998 for students who were eligible for free/reduced-price lunch and for students who were not eligible.

See the achievement-level results by student eligibility for free/reduced-price lunch for grade 4, and grade 8.

View average reading scale scores, by student eligibility for free/reduced-price lunch and race/ethnicity at grades 4 and 8.

Return to national subgroup results page.

Return to main results.

---

Last updated 11 October 2003 (JBJ)