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Digest of Education Statistics
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Table 111. Student scale score in reading, by age and percentile: Selected years, 1971 to 2004

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               |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |              1999        |              2004
Age and        |    1971|   1975 |   1980 |   1984 |   1988 |   1990 |   1992 |   1994 |   1996 |__________________________|__________________________
percentile     |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |   Total|   Male |   Femal|   Total|   Male |   Female
_______________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________
1              |       2|       3|       4|      5 |       6|      7 |       8|       9|     10 |     11 |     12 |     13 |     14 |     15 |     16
_______________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________
9-year-olds    |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
Average .......|208(1.0)|210(0.7)|215(1.0)|211(0.7)|212(1.1)|209(1.2)|211(0.9)|211(1.2)|213(1.0)|212(1.3)|209(1.6)|215(1.5)|219(1.1)|216(1.4)|221(1.0)
Standard       |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
   deviation ..| 42(0.4)| 39(0.3)| 38(0.4)| 41(0.4)| 41(1.0)| 45(0.8)| 40(0.6)| 41(0.8)| 39(0.8)| 39(0.7)| 41(0.9)| 38(0.9)|--- (†) |--- (†) |--- (†)
               |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
Percentile     |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
  5th .........|135(2.0)|143(1.3)|149(1.6)|141(1.2)|142(3.6)|135(3.2)|141(1.6)|140(2.6)|145(2.4)|143(1.3)|139(1.6)|150(3.1)|--- (†) |--- (†) |--- (†)
  10th ........|152(1.6)|159(1.1)|165(1.4)|157(1.2)|157(2.1)|150(1.9)|156(1.5)|156(2.5)|160(2.1)|158(1.4)|153(2.3)|164(2.6)|169(1.7)|--- (†) |--- (†)
  25th ........|180(1.3)|185(0.8)|191(1.2)|184(1.2)|184(1.8)|179(1.8)|183(1.5)|184(1.9)|186(1.3)|185(2.0)|180(1.8)|189(1.6)|194(1.7)|--- (†) |--- (†)
  50th ........|209(1.0)|212(0.8)|217(0.9)|213(1.0)|214(1.4)|210(1.5)|214(0.9)|215(1.1)|215(1.2)|215(1.7)|212(2.3)|218(2.7)|221(1.4)|--- (†) |--- (†)
  75th ........|237(1.0)|237(0.9)|241(1.0)|240(0.9)|240(1.3)|240(1.8)|239(1.2)|240(1.5)|240(1.0)|239(1.4)|237(2.1)|241(1.6)|245(1.3)|--- (†) |--- (†)
  90th ........|261(0.8)|258(0.8)|262(1.1)|263(0.9)|263(1.7)|266(1.8)|260(1.2)|260(1.6)|260(1.0)|259(1.1)|258(3.0)|260(2.7)|264(2.1)|--- (†) |--- (†)
  95th ........|274(0.9)|271(0.1)|273(1.6)|277(1.4)|278(2.0)|280(1.3)|272(1.2)|272(1.5)|272(1.3)|272(2.3)|272(3.4)|273(2.0)|--- (†) |--- (†) |--- (†)
               |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
13-year-olds   |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
Average .......|255(0.9)|256(0.8)|259(0.9)|257(0.6)|258(1.0)|257(0.8)|260(1.2)|258(0.9)|258(1.0)|259(1.0)|254(1.3)|265(1.2)|259(1.0)|254(1.2)|264(1.3)
Standard       |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
   deviation ..| 36(0.4)| 36(0.3)| 35(0.4)| 36(0.3)| 35(0.5)| 36(0.6)| 39(0.8)| 40(0.7)| 39(0.9)| 38(0.8)| 39(1.1)| 37(1.0)|--- (†) |--- (†) |--- (†)
               |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
Percentile     |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
  5th .........|193(1.8)|194(1.1)|199(1.9)|197(1.1)|200(1.7)|196(1.9)|191(2.8)|188(4.9)|189(2.3)|193(2.6)|186(3.6)|203(3.0)|--- (†) |--- (†) |--- (†)
  10th ........|208(1.4)|209(1.0)|213(1.5)|210(0.9)|213(1.2)|210(1.8)|208(1.9)|205(1.7)|206(2.1)|209(1.6)|201(1.9)|218(2.4)|210(1.9)|--- (†) |--- (†)
  25th ........|232(1.2)|233(1.0)|235(1.1)|234(0.8)|234(1.2)|233(1.0)|235(1.8)|233(1.2)|233(1.5)|234(1.1)|227(2.0)|240(1.2)|235(1.3)|--- (†) |--- (†)
  50th ........|257(1.0)|258(0.9)|260(0.8)|258(0.8)|258(1.1)|257(0.9)|262(1.6)|260(1.1)|260(0.9)|261(1.5)|255(1.4)|266(1.5)|260(1.4)|--- (†) |--- (†)
  75th ........|280(0.8)|281(0.8)|283(0.8)|282(0.6)|281(1.4)|282(0.8)|287(1.4)|285(1.1)|285(0.8)|286(1.6)|281(2.4)|291(2.6)|285(1.4)|--- (†) |--- (†)
  90th ........|300(0.9)|301(1.0)|302(0.8)|302(0.8)|302(1.0)|302(1.0)|309(1.8)|307(1.4)|306(1.4)|308(2.4)|302(2.3)|312(2.1)|305(1.2)|--- (†) |--- (†)
  95th ........|311(0.9)|312(1.0)|314(0.8)|314(1.0)|314(1.3)|314(1.3)|322(2.6)|320(1.4)|319(1.8)|320(1.2)|314(1.7)|325(2.0)|--- (†) |--- (†) |--- (†)
               |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
17-year-olds   |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
Average .......|285(1.2)|286(0.8)|286(1.2)|289(0.8)|290(1.0)|290(1.1)|290(1.1)|288(1.3)|288(1.1)|288(1.3)|282(1.6)|295(1.4)|285(1.2)|278(1.5)|292(1.3)
Standard       |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
   deviation ..| 46(0.5)| 44(0.6)| 42(0.6)| 40(0.3)| 37(0.7)| 41(0.7)| 43(0.6)| 44(1.0)| 42(0.8)| 42(0.8)| 43(1.2)| 40(0.8)|--- (†) |--- (†) |--- (†)
               |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
Percentile     |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
  5th .........|206(1.5)|209(3.0)|213(1.7)|220(1.3)|226(1.3)|220(2.3)|214(2.9)|211(3.6)|214(2.5)|215(4.5)|207(3.2)|229(5.7)|--- (†) |--- (†) |--- (†)
  10th ........|225(1.7)|228(1.7)|231(1.8)|236(0.9)|242(2.2)|237(3.1)|233(2.7)|230(3.1)|232(1.7)|233(3.7)|225(2.3)|244(1.9)|227(2.8)|--- (†) |--- (†)
  25th ........|256(1.6)|258(1.1)|259(1.2)|263(1.1)|266(1.8)|264(1.3)|263(1.1)|260(1.8)|260(1.1)|261(2.2)|253(2.2)|268(1.6)|258(1.4)|--- (†) |--- (†)
  50th ........|288(1.4)|288(0.7)|288(1.4)|290(0.9)|291(1.9)|291(1.3)|293(1.2)|290(1.8)|289(1.9)|289(1.8)|283(1.6)|295(1.6)|287(1.5)|--- (†) |--- (†)
  75th ........|317(1.0)|316(0.7)|315(1.2)|317(0.9)|316(1.4)|319(1.5)|319(1.4)|319(1.8)|316(1.6)|316(1.2)|311(1.9)|322(1.9)|315(1.0)|--- (†) |--- (†)
  90th ........|342(1.1)|340(0.9)|338(1.4)|340(0.7)|337(2.1)|343(2.1)|343(1.8)|343(1.8)|341(1.7)|341(2.2)|335(2.6)|345(2.9)|338(1.8)|--- (†) |--- (†)
  95th ........|357(1.5)|354(0.7)|351(1.3)|353(1.0)|349(1.8)|356(1.7)|356(1.9)|358(1.7)|355(2.6)|355(1.7)|350(6.4)|359(3.0)|--- (†) |--- (†) |--- (†)
_______________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________

---Not available.
†Not applicable.

NOTE: All age groups exclude persons not enrolled in school and those who were unable to be tested due to limited proficiency in English or due to a disability. Includes public and private schools. The NAEP scores have been evaluated at certain performance levels. A score of 300 implies an ability to find, understand, summarize, and explain relatively complicated literary and informational material. A score of 250 implies an ability to search for specific information, interrelate ideas, and make generalizations about literature, science, and social studies materials. A score of 200 implies an ability to understand, combine ideas, and make inferences based on short uncomplicated passages about specific or sequentially related information. A score of 150 implies an ability to follow brief written directions and carry out simple, discrete reading tasks. Scale ranges from 0 to 500. Standard errors appear in parentheses.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress, NAEP Trends in Academic Progress, various years. (This table was prepared July 2005.)