Table A-12-1. Average reading scale scores and percentage of students at each achievement level, by grade: Selected years, 1992

Academic Outcomes

Table A-12-1. Average reading scale scores and percentage of students at each achievement level, by grade: Selected years, 1992–2007

Grade, scale score,and achievement level	19921	19941	19981	1998	2002	2003	2005	2007
Grade 4
Average scale score	217	214	217	215	219	218	219	221
Percentage at each achievement level
Below Basic	38	40	38	40	36	37	36	33
At or above Basic	62	60	62	60	64	63	64	67
At or above Proficient	29	30	31	29	31	31	31	33
At Advanced	6	7	7	7	7	8	8	8

Grade 8
Average scale score	260	260	264	263	264	263	262	263
Percentage at each achievement level
Below Basic	31	30	26	27	25	26	27	26
At or above Basic	69	70	74	73	75	74	73	74
At or above Proficient	29	30	33	32	33	32	31	31
At Advanced	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3

Grade 12²
Average scale score	292	287	291	290	287	—	286	—
Percentage at each achievement level
Below Basic	20	25	23	24	26	—	27	—
At or above Basic	80	75	77	76	74	—	73	—
At or above Proficient	40	36	40	40	36	—	35	—
At Advanced	4	4	6	6	5	—	5	—
— Not available.
¹ Testing accommodations (e.g., extended time, small group testing) for children with disabilities and limited-English-proficient students were not permitted.
² The 2003 and 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Reading Assessments were not administered to 12th-grade students.
NOTE: The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading scale ranges from 0 to 500. Beginning in 2002, the NAEP national sample for grades 4 and 8 was obtained by aggregating the samples from each state and the District of Columbia, rather than by obtaining an independently selected national sample. As a consequence, the size of the national sample for grades 4 and 8 increased, and smaller differences between years or between types of students were found to be statistically significant than would have been detected in previous assessments. Detail may not sum to totals due to rounding. For more information on NAEP, see supplemental note 4.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), selected years, 1992–2007 Reading Assessments, NAEP Data Explorer.

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