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Digest of Education Statistics
2009 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 117. Average reading scale score, by sex, grade, race/ethnicity, and percentile: Selected years, 1992 through 2007
Grade, race/ethnicity, and percentile 19921 19941 1998 2000 2002 2003 2005 2007
Total Male Female Total Male Female
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
All students                                                
4th grade 217 (0.9) 214 (1.0) 215 (1.1) 213 (1.3) 219 (0.4) 218 (0.3) 219 (0.2) 216 (0.2) 222 (0.3) 221 (0.3) 218 (0.3) 224 (0.3)
8th grade 260 (0.9) 260 (0.8) 263 (0.8) (†) 264 (0.4) 263 (0.3) 262 (0.2) 257 (0.2) 267 (0.2) 263 (0.2) 258 (0.3) 268 (0.3)
12th grade 292 (0.6) 287 (0.7) 290 (0.6) (†) 287 (0.7) (†) 286 (0.6) 279 (0.8) 292 (0.7) (†) (†) (†)
                                               
Race/ethnicity                                                
4th grade                                                
White 224 (1.2) 224 (1.3) 225 (1.0) 224 (1.1) 229 (0.3) 229 (0.2) 229 (0.2) 226 (0.3) 232 (0.3) 231 (0.2) 228 (0.3) 234 (0.3)
Black 192 (1.7) 185 (1.8) 193 (1.9) 190 (1.8) 199 (0.5) 198 (0.4) 200 (0.3) 195 (0.4) 205 (0.5) 203 (0.4) 199 (0.5) 208 (0.5)
Hispanic 197 (2.6) 188 (3.4) 193 (3.2) 190 (2.9) 201 (1.3) 200 (0.6) 203 (0.5) 200 (0.5) 205 (0.6) 205 (0.5) 202 (0.6) 208 (0.5)
Asian/Pacific
     Islander
216 (2.9) 220 (3.8) 215 (5.6) 225 (5.2) 224 (1.6) 226 (1.2) 229 (0.7) 225 (1.0) 232 (0.8) 232 (1.0) 228 (1.1) 236 (1.1)
American Indian/
     Alaska Native
(†) 211 (6.6) (†) 214 (6.0) 207 (2.0) 202 (1.4) 204 (1.3) 199 (1.4) 209 (1.6) 203 (1.2) 200 (1.5) 206 (1.5)
                                               
8th grade                                                
White 267 (1.1) 267 (1.0) 270 (0.9) (†) 272 (0.4) 272 (0.2) 271 (0.2) 266 (0.2) 277 (0.2) 272 (0.2) 267 (0.3) 277 (0.3)
Black 237 (1.7) 236 (1.8) 244 (1.2) (†) 245 (0.7) 244 (0.5) 243 (0.4) 237 (0.5) 249 (0.5) 245 (0.4) 238 (0.5) 251 (0.5)
Hispanic 241 (1.6) 243 (1.2) 243 (1.7) (†) 247 (0.8) 245 (0.7) 246 (0.4) 242 (0.5) 251 (0.5) 247 (0.4) 242 (0.6) 251 (0.6)
Asian/Pacific
     Islander
268 (3.9) 265 (3.0) 264 (7.1) (†) 267 (1.7) 270 (1.1) 271 (0.8) 266 (1.0) 275 (1.0) 271 (1.1) 266 (1.3) 275 (1.4)
American Indian/
     Alaska Native
(†) 248 (4.7) (†) (†) 250 (3.5) 246 (3.0) 249 (1.4) 244 (1.9) 254 (1.7) 247 (1.2) 242 (1.5) 253 (1.5)
                                               
12th grade                                                
White 297 (0.6) 293 (0.7) 297 (0.7) (†) 292 (0.7) (†) 293 (0.7) 285 (1.0) 300 (0.7) (†) (†) (†)
Black 273 (1.4) 265 (1.6) 269 (1.4) (†) 267 (1.3) (†) 267 (1.2) 261 (1.7) 272 (1.6) (†) (†) (†)
Hispanic 279 (2.7) 270 (1.7) 275 (1.5) (†) 273 (1.5) (†) 272 (1.2) 266 (1.7) 277 (1.7) (†) (†) (†)
Asian/Pacific
     Islander
290 (3.2) 278 (2.4) 287 (2.7) (†) 286 (2.0) (†) 287 (1.9) 282 (2.8) 292 (2.3) (†) (†) (†)
American Indian/
     Alaska Native
(†) 274 (5.8) (†) (†) (†) (†) 279 (6.3) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†)
                                               
Percentile2                                                 
4th grade                                                
10th 170 (1.9) 159 (1.5) 163 (2.1) 159 (2.3) 170 (0.9) 169 (0.5) 171 (0.4) 167 (0.3) 175 (0.5) 174 (0.4) 170 (0.5) 179 (0.5)
25th 194 (1.1) 189 (1.1) 191 (1.7) 189 (1.4) 196 (0.5) 195 (0.4) 196 (0.3) 193 (0.3) 199 (0.3) 199 (0.3) 196 (0.4) 203 (0.4)
50th 219 (1.3) 219 (1.3) 217 (1.3) 218 (1.7) 221 (0.5) 221 (0.3) 221 (0.2) 219 (0.3) 224 (0.3) 224 (0.3) 221 (0.4) 227 (0.3)
75th 242 (1.1) 243 (1.3) 242 (0.9) 243 (0.8) 244 (0.5) 244 (0.3) 244 (0.3) 242 (0.4) 247 (0.4) 246 (0.3) 243 (0.3) 248 (0.4)
90th 261 (1.4) 263 (1.7) 262 (0.9) 262 (1.4) 263 (0.4) 264 (0.3) 263 (0.3) 260 (0.3) 266 (0.5) 264 (0.4) 261 (0.5) 267 (0.4)
                                               
8th grade                                                
10th 213 (1.2) 211 (1.9) 216 (1.7) (†) 220 (0.5) 217 (0.6) 216 (0.3) 210 (0.5) 223 (0.3) 217 (0.4) 211 (0.5) 225 (0.7)
25th 237 (1.1) 236 (1.1) 241 (0.7) (†) 244 (0.5) 242 (0.3) 240 (0.2) 235 (0.4) 246 (0.3) 242 (0.3) 237 (0.4) 247 (0.4)
50th 262 (1.1) 262 (0.7) 266 (0.7) (†) 267 (0.5) 266 (0.3) 265 (0.2) 260 (0.3) 269 (0.3) 265 (0.2) 261 (0.3) 270 (0.3)
75th 285 (0.8) 286 (1.1) 288 (1.0) (†) 288 (0.4) 288 (0.3) 286 (0.2) 282 (0.3) 291 (0.3) 287 (0.2) 282 (0.3) 291 (0.3)
90th 305 (1.3) 305 (1.2) 306 (0.8) (†) 305 (0.5) 306 (0.2) 305 (0.2) 300 (0.4) 309 (0.3) 305 (0.2) 300 (0.3) 309 (0.4)
                                               
12th grade                                                
10th 249 (0.8) 239 (0.9) 240 (0.6) (†) 237 (1.5) (†) 235 (1.1) 227 (2.3) 245 (1.2) (†) (†) (†)
25th 271 (0.8) 264 (0.9) 267 (0.8) (†) 263 (1.3) (†) 262 (0.8) 254 (0.9) 269 (1.3) (†) (†) (†)
50th 294 (0.8) 290 (0.6) 293 (0.6) (†) 289 (0.7) (†) 288 (0.8) 282 (0.9) 294 (0.8) (†) (†) (†)
75th 315 (0.5) 313 (0.8) 317 (0.7) (†) 312 (0.6) (†) 313 (1.1) 306 (1.1) 318 (0.7) (†) (†) (†)
90th 333 (0.7) 332 (1.2) 336 (0.8) (†) 332 (0.9) (†) 333 (1.1) 327 (1.3) 338 (1.0) (†) (†) (†)
—Not available. Data not collected.
†Not applicable.
‡Reporting standards not met.
1 Accommodations were not permitted for this assessment.
2 The percentile represents a specific point on the percentage distribution of all students ranked by their reading score from low to high. For example, 10 percent of students scored at or below the 10th percentile score, while 90 percent of students scored above it.
NOTE: Scale ranges from 0 to 500. Includes public and private schools. Excludes persons not enrolled in school and those who were unable to be tested due to limited proficiency in English or due to a disability. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Standard errors appear in parentheses.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 1992, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2007 Reading Assessments, retrieved May 28, 2008, from the NAEP Data Explorer (http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/nde/). (This table was prepared June 2008.)

2009 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest