Today the Center is presenting data drawn from the Highlights Reports for the 2003 Reading and Mathematics Assessments of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or "NAEP." These assessments were conducted earlier this year in all 50 states in reading and mathematics in the fourth and eighth grades. The District of Columbia and the school systems operated by the Department of Defense for domestic and overseas personnel also participated, a total of 53 jurisdictions, more than have participated in any previous assessment.

Features of the 2003 NAEP Reading Assessment

Content: Students who took the assessment read complete texts appropriate to their grade. The texts reflected the three purposes of reading: Reading for literary experience, reading to gain information, and reading to perform a task. Both grades were assessed on the first two purposes, while only eighth graders were assessed on reading to perform a task. All students responded to a combination of multiple-choice and written-answer questions. For example, one written answer question asked eighth-grade students to comment on a story by Langston Hughes, "Thank You, Ma'am," a "reading for literary experience" selection. The accompanying sample answer received the highest rating because it showed a thoughtful understanding of the theme of the story and supported the interpretation with specific reference to story events that reflected the theme.

Assessment Years: The 2003 Reading Assessment is the sixth assessment in a series that began in 1992. NCES assessed reading in both 2002 and 2003. In the future, NCES will assess reading every two years.

Results Reported from the Assessment

The NAEP Reading results are presented on a 0-500 point scale. On the accompanying table and figures, an asterisk denotes a statistically significant or "measurable" difference from 2003. Beginning in 2002, NCES started adding together all of the state samples to create the NAEP national sample, providing much larger samples than in the past. For this reason, NCES is now able to detect smaller statistically significant differences.

National Reading Scale Score Results Across Years

In the display of national results across years, the dotted lines indicate assessment results when accommodations for special needs students were not allowed. "Special needs students" are students with disabilities and those who are limited-English-proficient.

While large percentages of special needs students have always participated in NAEP, in 1998 NCES began evaluations to determine whether it could permit accommodations in the NAEP assessments that would increase participation without affecting the validity of the assessments. Based on those evaluations, now all NAEP assessments allow accommodations for students who require them to participate.

In 1998 and 2000 NCES used dual samples, both "no accommodations" and "accommodations permitted," providing two sets of results, with light-blue numerals for the "no accommodations" sample scores and black numerals for the "accommodations permitted" scores.

The overall fourth-grade average score of 218 in 2003 was not measurably different from the average recorded in 1992 or in 2002. There was an increase for the "accommodations permitted" sample since 1998, the year when accommodations were first allowed.

As in 2002, the 2003 eighth-grade average score of 263 for reading was higher than in 1992. However, it shows a decrease of one point from 2002.

Reading Scale Score Percentiles

National percentile scores show where changes in scores are occurring. Only one fourth-grade percentile, the 75th, had a higher score in 2003 than in 1992.

In contrast, all eighth-grade percentiles except the 90th showed a higher score in 2003 than in 1992. Comparing 2003 to 2002, students in the 10th and 25th percentiles showed lower scores.

Percentage Of Students By Reading Achievement Levels

The National Assessment Governing Board has established reading achievement levels of Basic, Proficient, and Advanced for the fourth and eighth grades. At the fourth grade, the percentage at or above Proficient was higher in 2003 than in 1992. At the eighth grade, the percentages of students at or above Basic and at or above Proficient were higher in 2003 than in 1992.

Gaps in Average Reading Scale Scores Across Years By Gender

Reading scores for male and female students in the fourth and eighth grades did not show many changes across the years. However, there were persistent gaps in performance.

In 2003, fourth-grade females had an average score that was 7 points higher than fourth-grade males, and eighth-grade females had an average score that was 11 points higher than eighth-grade males. The 2003 score gaps do not show a change when compared to the gaps in either 1992 or 2002.

Gaps in Average Reading Scale Scores Across Years, Comparing White and Black Students

Student performance for fourth-grade reading shows improvement for Whites, Blacks, and Asians from 1992 to 2003. However, the average scores for Hispanics in 1992 and 2003 do not show a change. On the other hand, the percent of Hispanics increased from 7 to 17 percent over the same period. Thus, overall scores did not change for the fourth grade.

Despite the improvement in Black student performance, at both the fourth and eighth grades, White students' scores were about 30 points higher than Black students' scores. This gap did not change significantly from 1992 to 2003 at either grade.

Gaps in Average Reading Scale Scores Across Years, Comparing White and Hispanic Students

At both the fourth and eighth grades, White students' scores were about 27 points higher than Hispanic students' scores. This gap did not change significantly from 1992 to 2003 at either grade.

Average Reading Scale Scores Across Years By Eligibility for Free/Reduced-Price School Lunch

Looking at scores on the basis of eligibility for free/reduced-price school lunch is useful because it gives us a picture of the performance of students from lower-income families as compared to students from families with average and above-average incomes. Students whose families have an income below 185 percent of the poverty line are eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches. Non-eligible students come from families with average or above-average incomes.

NCES first collected these data for the reading assessment in 1998. Students from lower-income families have lower scores than students from higher-income families.

In 2003, both eligible and non-eligible fourth-grade students had a higher average score than in 1998. Among eighth-graders, neither showed a change from 1998, while eligible students showed a decrease from 2002.

Gaps between the scores for non-eligible and eligible students show no change from 1998 for either grade. In addition, the fourth-grade gap did not show a change from 2002, but the eighth-grade gap did, an increase from 22 to 25 points.