Average reading scale scores, by race/ethnicity, grades 4 and 8: 1992–2003
View complete data with standard errors for grade 4 and grade 8.
* Significantly different from 2003. 1 Sample sizes were insufficient to permit reliable estimates for American Indian/Alaska Native students in 1992 and 1998 at grades 4 and 8.
NOTE: Data were not collected at grade 8 in 2000. At each grade, approximately 1 percent of students were classified as American Indian/Alaska Native or Other (not shown).
In addition to allowing for accommodations, the accommodations-permitted results at grade 4 (1998–2003) differ slightly from previous years’ results, and 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.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 1992, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2003 Reading Assessments.
Major Findings
There were no significant changes detected since 2002 in the average scores for any of the racial/ethnic groups at either grade 4 or grade 8.
The average scores for White, Black, and Asian/Pacific Islander fourth-grade students were higher in 2003 than in 1992.
The average scores for White, Black, and Hispanic eighth-grade students were higher in 2003 than in 1992.
The apparent decrease in the average score for American Indian/Alaskan Native students from 2002 to 2003 was not found to be statistically significant at either grade 4 or grade 8.
The average scores for White students and Asian/Pacific Islander students were higher on average than Black, Hispanic, and American Indian students at both grades 4 and 8 in 2003.
The average score for White students at grade 4 was higher on average than for Asian/Pacific Islander students; Hispanic students scored higher on average than Black students in 2003.
In 2003, there was no significant difference detected at grade 8 between the average scores for White students and Asian/Pacific Islander students or between the average scores for Hispanic students and Black students.
See the score gaps between White and Black students and between White and Hispanic students.
See national reading achievement-level results by race/ethnicity for grade 4 and grade 8.
