These online Highlights present an overview of results from the NAEP 2019 science report. Highlighted results include key findings for nationally representative samples of fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students. Results are presented in terms of average scale scores and as percentages of students performing at the three NAEP achievement levels: NAEP Basic, NAEP Proficient, and NAEP Advanced. In addition to the overall average scale score, NAEP science results are also reported as average subscale scores for each of three content areas—Physical Science, Life Science, and Earth and Space Sciences. Highlighted results also include performance data for demographic student groups, scores at five selected percentiles, and responses to NAEP survey questionnaires

The 2019 average science score was lower for grade 4, and not significantly different for grades 8 and grade 12, compared to average scores in 2015. Average science scores were higher for grades 4 and 8, but not significantly different for grade 12, compared to 2009, the first year under the current science framework. Compared to 2015, the average score was lower for grade 4 in two of the three science content areas; there were no significant changes in average content areas scores for grades 8 and 12. Average scores were higher in two of the three content areas for grades 4 and 8 compared to 2009 while there were no significant changes in average scores across the content areas for grade 12.

Reported results include responses of students, teachers, and school administrators to survey questionnaires designed to collect information about student’s educational experiences and opportunities to learn both inside and outside of the classroom. The report includes detailed descriptions of released interactive scenario-based tasks and discrete questions to illustrate the types of science knowledge and scientific inquiry skills that were measured as part of the NAEP science assessment.

Full results are available in the 2019 NAEP Science Report Card.

The National Indian Education Study (NIES) utilizes the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and contextual questions to describe the condition of education for fourth- and eighth-grade American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students in the United States. NIES is conducted under the direction of the National Center for Education Statistics on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Indian Education.

• an in-depth look at the findings from the student, teacher, and school administrator survey questions that were focused on AI/AN culture and language;
• information about the achievement of AI/AN students at grades 4 and 8 on the NAEP reading and mathematics assessments—for the nation as well as for 15 states with relatively large proportions of AI/AN students;
• an examination of contextual factors that are associated with higher- and lower-performing AI/AN students; and
• an exploration of composite variables (i.e., variables built upon multiple discrete student survey questions) related to AI/AN cultural knowledge, interest in reading about cultures (both their own and others), engagement at school, and perceptions about effort in school.

Results are reported for three mutually exclusive categories of schools as well as for an overall category:

• low density public schools (where less than 25 percent of all the students in the school were AI/AN);
• high density public schools (where 25 percent or more of all the students in the school were AI/AN);
• Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools; and
• all AI/AN students (includes all AI/AN students sampled throughout the nation in public, private, BIE, and Department of Defense schools).

The survey results presented in this report are focused primarily on the responses of fourth- and eighth-grade AI/AN students to selected survey questions. Approximately 7,000 fourth-graders and 6,300 eighth-graders participated in the NIES 2019 student survey. Teachers and school administrators also completed surveys.

Average scores in NAEP reading and mathematics for AI/AN fourth- and eighth- graders from earlier NAEP assessments in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2015 are compared to their average reading and mathematics scores in 2019.

The NIES survey questions, as well as the report itself, were created in close collaboration with the NIES Technical Review Panel (TRP). The NIES TRP is composed of AI/AN educational stakeholders from across the country.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has released two reports based on the 2018 NAEP Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) study: a brief highlights report and a longer statistical analysis report. This statistical report presents detailed information about the 2018 NAEP ORF study, the first such NAEP study since 2002. The study was administered to a nationally representative sample of over 1,800 fourth-graders from 180 public schools. Students who participated in the study first completed the NAEP fourth-grade reading assessment. Then they read four short passages out loud to assess their oral reading fluency (i.e., the ability to read text aloud with speed, accuracy, and proper expression) as well as two kinds of word lists to assess their foundational skills (i.e., word reading and phonological decoding). Both the NAEP reading tasks and oral reading tasks were administered to students digitally, with student responses recorded on tablets.

The results indicate that for an estimated 1.3 million public school fourth-graders (36 percent) who performed below the NAEP Basic achievement level in reading in 2018, and in particular for an estimated 420,000 fourth-graders whose performance placed them in the lowest third of the below NAEP Basic level, fluent reading of connected text, such as paragraphs, is a major challenge. The challenge with fluency and foundational skills is particularly pronounced among Black and Hispanic students. These students read a passage at half the rate of a NAEP Proficient fourth-grader; misread 1 out of every 6 words, which are more likely to be content words that are important for comprehension, not function words (e.g., the, and, on); focus on individual words or phrases instead of the meanings of sentences and passages; read in a monotone voice, indicating lack of text comprehension; and show little knowledge of spelling-sound correspondence.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has released two reports based on the 2018 NAEP Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) study: a brief highlights report and a longer statistical analysis report. This highlights report presents the key concepts and findings of the 2018 NAEP ORF study, the first such NAEP study since 2002. The study was administered to a nationally representative sample of over 1,800 fourth-graders from 180 public schools. Students who participated in the study first completed the NAEP fourth-grade reading assessment. Then they read four short passages out loud to assess their oral reading fluency (i.e., the ability to read text aloud with speed, accuracy, and proper expression) as well as two kinds of word lists to assess their foundational skills (i.e., word reading and phonological decoding). Both the NAEP reading tasks and oral reading tasks were administered to students digitally, with student responses recorded on tablets.

The results indicate that for an estimated 1.3 million public school fourth-graders (36 percent) who performed below the NAEP Basic achievement level in reading in 2018, and in particular for an estimated 420,000 fourth-graders whose performance placed them in the lowest third of the below NAEP Basic level, fluent reading of connected text, such as paragraphs, is a major challenge. The challenge with fluency and foundational skills is particularly pronounced among Black and Hispanic students. These students read a passage at half the rate of a NAEP Proficient fourth-grader; misread 1 out of every 6 words, which are more likely to be content words that are important for comprehension, not function words (e.g., the, and, on); focus on individual words or phrases instead of the meanings of sentences and passages; read in a monotone voice, indicating lack of text comprehension; and show little knowledge of spelling-sound correspondence.