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Digest of Education Statistics
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Table 115. Average scale score in reading for 8th-graders in public schools, by locale and state or jurisdiction: 1998, 2002, and 2003 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                      |         |              2002                  |              2003
                      |         |____________________________________|___________________________________
                      |         |        |          Locale           |        |          Locale
State or              |     1988|        |___________________________|________|__________________________
jurisdiction          |  Average| Average|        |    Urban|        | Average|        |   Urban|
                      |         |        | Central|  fringe/|  Rural/|        | Central| fringe/|  Rural/
                      |         |        |    city|    large|   small|        |    city|   large|   small
                      |         |        |        |     town|    town|        |        |    town|    town
______________________|_________|________|________|_________|________|________|________|________|________
1                     |       2 |      3 |      4 |       5 |      6 |      7 |      8 |      9 |     10
______________________|_________|________|________|_________|________|________|________|________|________
   United States\1\ ..|261 (0.8)|263(0.5)|254(0.7)|266 (0.8)|266(0.6)|261(0.2)|253(0.5)|265(0.5)|264(0.4)
                      |_________|________|________|_________|________|________|________|________|________
Alabama ..............|255 (1.4)|253(1.3)|241(3.1)|259 (2.0)|254(1.8)|253(1.5)|246(3.3)|262(2.7)|251(1.7)
Alaska ...............|---  (†) |--- (†) |--- (†) |---  (†) |--- (†) |256(1.1)|--- (†) |--- (†) |--- (†)
Arizona  .............|260 (1.1)|257(1.3)|255(1.5)|259 (3.3)|258(2.7)|255(1.4)|254(1.8)|257(2.4)|256(3.7)
Arkansas .............|256 (1.3)|260(1.1)|257(3.3)|267(2.8)!|259(1.2)|258(1.3)|257(2.6)|263(3.7)|257(1.8)
California\2,3,4\ ....|252 (1.6)|250(1.8)|247(2.7)|252 (2.3)|256(7.5)|251(1.3)|245(2.2)|254(1.8)|257(3.4)
                      |         |        |        |         |                 |        |        |
Colorado .............|264 (1.0)|--- (†) |--- (†) |---  (†) |--- (†) |268(1.2)|264(2.6)|268(2.0)|270(1.7)
Connecticut ..........|270 (1.0)|267(1.2)|246(2.1)|273 (1.5)|276(2.0)|267(1.1)|250(1.7)|270(1.6)|277(1.7)
Delaware .............|254 (1.3)|267(0.5)|264(1.9)|268 (0.6)|266(1.0)|265(0.7)|259(2.6)|265(1.0)|266(1.4)
District of Columbia .|236 (2.1)|240(0.9)|240(0.9)| ‡   (†) | ‡  (†) |239(0.8)|239(0.8)| ‡  (†) | ‡  (†)
Florida ..............|255 (1.4)|261(1.6)|262(3.5)|260 (2.1)|264(2.4)|257(1.3)|256(2.7)|257(1.8)|258(2.7)
                      |         |        |        |         |                 |        |        |
Georgia ..............|257 (1.4)|258(1.0)|254(3.1)|259 (2.0)|258(1.6)|258(1.1)|242(2.8)|259(1.9)|259(1.7)
Hawaii ...............|249 (1.0)|252(0.9)|258(1.3)|246 (1.3)|253(1.4)|251(0.9)|260(1.6)|249(1.5)|249(1.1)
Idaho  ...............|---  (†) |266(1.1)|270(3.1)|264 (2.1)|266(1.0)|264(0.9)|265(2.3)|260(1.9)|265(1.3)
Illinois .............|---  (†) |--- (†) |--- (†) |---  (†) |--- (†) |266(1.0)|253(1.8)|273(1.6)|272(1.8)
Indiana ..............|---  (†) |265(1.3)|260(2.5)|265 (1.7)|268(2.0)|265(1.0)|256(2.0)|270(1.7)|267(1.6)
                      |         |        |        |         |                 |        |        |
Iowa .................|---  (†) |--- (†) |--- (†) |---  (†) |--- (†)  268(0.8)|261(1.8)|275(2.6)|268(1.0)
Kansas\2,3,4\ ........|268 (1.4)|269(1.3)|259(3.4)|277 (2.6)|271(1.7)|266(1.5)|253(3.2)|273(2.5)|270(1.5)
Kentucky .............|262 (1.4)|265(1.0)|267(3.0)|267 (2.1)|264(1.3)|266(1.3)|268(3.1)|264(3.2)|267(1.2)
Louisiana ............|252 (1.4)|256(1.5)|251(3.7)|259 (2.1)|258(1.9)|253(1.6)|247(2.7)|258(3.4)|256(2.0)
Maine ................|271 (1.2)|270(0.9)|267(3.4)|274 (2.6)|269(1.1)|268(1.0)|264(2.8)|274(2.4)|268(1.1)
                      |         |        |        |         |                 |        |        |
Maryland\2,3\ ........|261 (1.8)|263(1.7)|243(3.0)|265 (2.1)|271(2.4)|262(1.4)|244(3.8)|263(1.6)|269(4.0)
Massachusetts ........|269 (1.4)|271(1.3)|253(2.4)|276 (2.1)|281(2.1)|273(1.0)|256(2.2)|279(1.5)|279(1.6)
Michigan .............|---  (†) |265(1.6)|246(5.7)|270 (1.6)|268(1.5)|264(1.8)|253(4.6)|266(3.2)|269(1.7)
Minnesota\2,3\ .......|265 (1.4)|--- (†) |--- (†) |---  (†) |--- (†) |268(1.1)|257(5.1)|273(1.3)|266(1.3)
Mississippi ..........|251 (1.2)|255(0.9)|252(3.3)|262 (2.7)|253(1.5)|255(1.4)|249(5.7)|260(2.3)|255(2.3)
                      |         |        |        |         |                 |        |        |
Missouri .............|262 (1.3)|268(1.0)|259(3.5)|270 (1.7)|270(1.3)|267(1.0)|256(3.1)|271(1.7)|268(1.6)
Montana\2,3\ .........|271 (1.3)|270(1.0)|271(1.3)|273(2.1)!|270(1.3)|270(1.0)|271(1.8)|271(3.1)|269(1.3)
Nebraska .............|---  (†) |270(0.9)|265(1.3)|271(2.6)!|272(1.3)|266(0.9)|264(1.8)|269(2.0)|267(1.2)
Nevada ...............|258 (1.0)|251(0.8)|251(1.2)|250 (1.4)|255(2.4)|252(0.8)|250(1.1)|254(1.4)|255(3.1)
New Hampshire ........|---  (†) |--- (†) |--- (†) |---  (†) |--- (†) |271(0.9)|261(3.1)|274(1.2)|272(1.3)
                      |         |        |        |         |                 |        |        |
New Jersey ...........|---  (†) |--- (†) |--- (†) |---  (†) |--- (†) |268(1.2)|250(4.0)|269(1.4)|274(2.5)
New Mexico ...........|258 (1.2)|254(1.0)|258(2.2)|255 (1.7)|250(1.4)|252(0.9)|253(1.8)|253(1.7)|250(1.6)
New York\2,3\ ........|265 (1.5)|264(1.5)|251(2.2)|275 (1.9)|271(3.6)|265(1.3)|252(1.8)|277(2.1)|270(3.2)
North Carolina .......|262 (1.1)|265(1.1)|264(2.3)|265 (2.3)|265(1.5)|262(1.0)|265(1.8)|262(2.2)|260(1.7)
North Dakota\3\ ......|---  (†) |268(0.8)|264(1.8)|264(2.5)!|271(1.1)|270(0.8)|270(2.0)|266(2.1)|271(0.9)
                      |         |        |        |         |                 |        |        |
Ohio .................|---  (†) |268(1.6)|255(4.6)|273 (1.6)|271(1.7)|267(1.3)|250(1.9)|272(2.3)|267(1.8)
Oklahoma .............|265 (1.2)|262(0.8)|258(1.7)|265 (1.9)|262(1.4)|262(0.9)|257(2.4)|267(1.7)|261(1.2)
Oregon\3\ ............|266 (1.5)|268(1.3)|268(2.8)|270 (2.4)|266(1.8)|264(1.2)|260(2.9)|268(1.9)|263(1.9)
Pennsylvania..........|---  (†) |265(1.0)|243(2.8)|273 (1.2)|269(1.6)|264(1.2)|246(4.0)|270(1.3)|266(2.1)
Rhode Island .........|264 (0.9)|262(0.8)|249(1.1)|269 (1.1)|269(2.0)|261(0.7)|247(1.3)|268(1.2)|269(1.7)
                      |         |        |        |         |                 |        |        |
South Carolina .......|255 (1.1)|258(1.1)|257(2.3)|264 (1.6)|254(1.7)|258(1.3)|258(2.5)|263(2.0)|254(1.8)
South Dakota .........|---  (†) |--- (†) |--- (†) |---  (†) |--- (†) |270(0.8)|269(1.1)|268(2.6)|270(1.1)
Tennessee\3\ .........|258 (1.2)|260(1.4)|251(2.8)|268 (2.2)|262(1.5)|258(1.2)|250(2.3)|265(1.8)|260(1.4)
Texas ................|261 (1.4)|262(1.4)|256(2.5)|268 (2.1)|266(3.0)|259(1.1)|255(1.7)|264(1.8)|258(2.6)
Utah .................|263 (1.0)|263(1.1)|262(2.2)|264 (1.3)|261(3.4)|264(0.8)|263(2.3)|266(0.9)|261(1.9)
                      |         |        |        |         |                 |        |        |
Vermont ..............|---  (†) |272(0.9)|--- (†) |---  (†) |--- (†) |271(0.8)|--- (†) |--- (†) |--- (†)
Virginia .............|266 (1.1)|269(1.0)|261(2.3)|275 (1.5)|267(1.9)|268(1.1)|260(1.4)|274(1.3)|267(2.2)
Washington\3\  .......|264 (1.2)|268(1.2)|264(2.4)|270 (1.9)|268(2.2)|264(0.9)|265(1.7)|267(0.9)|261(2.0)
West Virginia ........|262 (1.0)|264(1.0)|261(2.3)|265 (2.2)|264(1.4)|260(1.0)|261(2.7)|260(2.1)|259(1.4)
Wisconsin\2,3\ .......|265 (1.8)|--- (†) |--- (†) |---  (†) |--- (†) |266(1.3)|255(3.2)|275(1.9)|268(1.5)
Wyoming ..............|263 (1.3)|265(0.7)|265(1.6)|261 (4.2)|265(0.6)|267(0.5)|264(1.1)|274(2.9)|268(0.8)
                      |=========|========|========|=========|========|========|========|========|=========
Department of Defense |         |        |        |         |        |        |        |        |
   dependents schools |         |        |        |         |        |        |        |        |
  Domestic schools ...|268 (4.5)|272(1.0)|269(2.3)|273 (2.3)|271(2.4)|269(1.4)|265(3.6)|274(1.9)|270(3.3)
  Overseas schools ...|269  1.0 |273(0.6)|--- (†) |---  (†) |--- (†) |273(0.7)|--- (†) |--- (†) |--- (†)
                      |         |        |        |         |        |        |        |        |
Other jurisdictions   |         |        |        |         |        |        |        |        |
  American Samoa .....|---  (†) |198(1.7)|--- (†) |---  (†) |--- (†) |--- (†) |--- (†) |--- (†) |--- (†)
  Guam ...............|---  (†) |240(1.2)|--- (†) |---  (†) |--- (†) |--- (†) |--- (†) |--- (†) |--- (†)
  Virgin Islands .....|231 (2.1)|241(1.3)|--- (†) |---  (†) |--- (†) |--- (†) |--- (†) |--- (†) |--- (†)
______________________|_________|________|________|_________|________|________|________|________|________

---Jurisdiction did not participate.
†Not applicable. !Interpret data with caution.
‡Sample size is insufficient to permit a reliable estimate.
\1\Based on nationally representative sample. Forty-four jurisdictions (state, District of Columbia, territory, and Department of Defense overseas schools) participated in 1998; 50 jurisdictions participated in 2002; and 53 participated in 2003.
\2\Did not satisfy one or more of the guidelines for school sample participation rates in 1998. Data are subject to appreciable nonresponse bias.
\3\Did not satisfy one or more of the guidelines for school sample participation rates in 2002. Data are subject to appreciable nonresponse bias.
\4\Did not satisfy one or more of the guidelines for school sample participation rates in 2003. Data are subject to appreciable nonresponse bias.

NOTE: 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 Reading Report Card for the Nation and the States, 2002 and Reading Report Card for the Nation and States, 2003. (This table was prepared August 2004.)


2004 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest

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