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Percentage of students at or above Proficient in reading, grade 8 public schools: By state, 1998–2003

		Accommodations		Accommodations
		not permitted		permitted
		1998		1998		2002		2003
Nation (Public)	1	31		30		31		30
Alabama		21		22		21		22
Alaska		—		—		—		27
Arizona		28		27		23		25
Arkansas		23	*	23		27		27
California		22		21		20		22
Colorado		30	*	30	*	—		36
Connecticut		42	*	40		37		37
Delaware		25	*	23	*,**	33		31
Florida		23		23		29		27
Georgia		25		25		26		26
Hawaii		19		19		20		22
Idaho		—		—		34		32
Illinois		—		—		—		35
Indiana		—		—		32		33
Iowa		—		—		—		36
Kansas		35		36		38		35
Kentucky		29		30		32		34
Louisiana		18	*	17	*	22		22
Maine		42	*	41		38		37
Maryland		31		31		32		31
Massachusetts		36	*	38	*	39		43
Michigan		—		—		32		32
Minnesota		37		36		—		37
Mississippi		19		19		20		21
Missouri		29	*	28	*	33		34
Montana		38		40		37		37
Nebraska		—		—		36		35
Nevada		24	*	23		19		21
New Hampshire		—		—		—		40
New Jersey		—		—		—		37
New Mexico		24	*	23	*	20		20
New York		34		32		32		35
North Carolina		31		30		32		29
North Dakota		—		—		35	*	38
Ohio		—		—		35		34
Oklahoma		29		30		28		30
Oregon		33		35		37		33
Pennsylvania		—		—		35		32
Rhode Island		30		32		30		30
South Carolina		22		22		24		24
South Dakota		—		—		—		39
Tennessee		26		27		28		26
Texas		28		27		31	*	26
Utah		31		31		32		32
Vermont		—		—		40		39
Virginia		33		33		37		36
Washington		32		32		37		33
West Virginia		27		28		29	*	25
Wisconsin		33		34		—		37
Wyoming		29	*	31		31		34
Other Jurisdictions
District of Columbia		12		11		10		10
DDESS	2	37		39		37		37
DoDDS	3	36		37		40		40

— Not available.
* Significantly different from 2003 when only one jurisdiction or the nation is being examined.
** Significantly different from 2003 when using a multiple-comparison procedure based on all jurisdictions that participated both years.
¹ National results for assessments prior to 2002 are based on the national sample, not on aggregated state samples. 
² Department of Defense Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools. 
³ Department of Defense Dependents Schools (Overseas). 
NOTE: State-level data were not collected in 1992, 1994, or 2000. Comparative performance results may be affected by changes in exclusion rates for students with disabilities and limited-English-proficient students in the NAEP samples.
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), 1998, 2002, and 2003 Reading Assessments.

Major Findings

• Of the 44 states and jurisdictions that participated in the 2002 and 2003 eighth-grade reading assessments, North Dakota showed an increase and Texas and West Viginia showed declines in the percentage of students at or above Proficient.
• Of the 39 states and jurisdictions that participated in the 1998 and 2003 accommodations-permitted sample, the percentages of eighth-graders at or above Proficient increased in Colorado, Delaware, Louisiana, Massachusetts, and Missouri and decreased in New Mexico.

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Last updated 17 December 2003 (HM)