NAEP Writing -- Percentage of students, by writing achievement level, grades 4, 8, and 12: 1998 and 2002

Percentage of students, by writing achievement level, grades 4, 8, and 12: 1998 and 2002




		Below Basic	At Basic	At Proficient	At Advanced	At or above Basic	At or above Proficient
Grade 4
	1998	16 *	61 *	22 *	1 *	84 *	23 *
	2002	14	58	26	2	86	28
Grade 8
	1998	16	58 *	25 *	1 *	84	27 *
	2002	15	54	29	2	85	31
Grade 12
	1998	22 *	57 *	21	1 *	78 *	22
	2002	26	51	22	2	74	24

View complete data with standard errors at grade 4, grade 8, and grade 12.

* Significantly different from 2002.
NOTE: NAEP reports assessment results in terms of student performance standards called "achievement levels," which are set by the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB). The three levels for each grade are Basic, Proficient, and Advanced. See more information about the writing achievement levels.
Percentages within each writing achievement level range may not add to 100, or to the exact percentages at or above achievement levels, due to rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 1998 and 2002 Writing Assessments.

Major Findings

The percentages of fourth-graders at or above Basic and at or above Proficient increased between 1998 and 2002.
The percentage of eighth-graders at or above Proficient increased between 1998 and 2002.
The percentage of twelfth-graders at or above Basic decreased between 1998 and 2002.
Although only two percent of the students in each grade performed at the Advanced level in 2002, this still is an increase over percentages in 1998.

Return to main results.

Percentage of students, by writing achievement level, grades 4, 8, and 12: 1998 and 2002

Major Findings

Last updated 10 July 2003 (JBJ)