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Digest of Education Statistics
2010 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 147. Average mathematics scale score of 8th-graders and percentage reporting various attitudes toward mathematics work, by frequency of attitude and selected student and school characteristics: 2009
Student or school characteristic Math work is engaging and interesting Math work is challenging Math work is too easy
Never or hardly ever Sometimes Often Always/ almost always Never or hardly ever Sometimes Often Always/ almost always Never or hardly ever Sometimes Often Always/ almost always
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
  Average scale score1 
All students 279 (0.4) 284 (0.3) 287 (0.4) 284 (0.6) 293 (0.5) 284 (0.3) 283 (0.4) 274 (0.6) 283 (0.5) 282 (0.3) 287 (0.4) 289 (0.6)
Sex                                                
Male 281 (0.5) 285 (0.5) 288 (0.5) 285 (0.7) 296 (0.7) 286 (0.4) 283 (0.5) 274 (0.8) 283 (0.7) 283 (0.4) 288 (0.4) 291 (0.8)
Female 278 (0.5) 283 (0.4) 287 (0.5) 283 (0.8) 290 (0.7) 283 (0.4) 282 (0.5) 273 (0.6) 283 (0.6) 281 (0.4) 284 (0.6) 286 (0.9)
                                                 
Race/ethnicity                                                
White 286 (0.4) 294 (0.3) 298 (0.5) 298 (0.6) 300 (0.5) 293 (0.3) 293 (0.4) 285 (0.6) 291 (0.5) 292 (0.3) 297 (0.4) 298 (0.7)
Black 260 (0.9) 261 (0.6) 264 (0.7) 263 (0.9) 273 (1.2) 263 (0.5) 260 (0.7) 253 (1.1) 260 (0.8) 260 (0.5) 266 (0.8) 266 (1.4)
Hispanic 265 (0.9) 266 (0.7) 271 (1.0) 269 (1.0) 276 (1.4) 268 (0.7) 267 (0.9) 260 (1.3) 265 (1.0) 266 (0.7) 271 (0.8) 273 (1.5)
Asian/Pacific Islander 299 (1.9) 301 (1.5) 304 (1.7) 303 (2.4) 314 (2.3) 303 (1.4) 298 (1.7) 285 (2.7) 299 (2.0) 299 (1.2) 303 (2.1) 312 (2.3)
American Indian/
    Alaska Native
264 (2.5) 266 (2.3) 269 (1.9) 268 (3.0) 283 (3.7) 267 (1.9) 263 (2.2) 260 (3.1) 262 (3.0) 266 (1.6) 268 (2.9) 277 (5.6)
                                                 
Eligibility for free or
   reduced-price lunch
                                               
Eligible 265 (0.5) 267 (0.5) 270 (0.5) 268 (0.6) 277 (0.7) 269 (0.4) 266 (0.5) 256 (0.7) 264 (0.6) 266 (0.4) 271 (0.5) 274 (0.8)
Not eligible 287 (0.4) 294 (0.4) 299 (0.5) 297 (0.8) 302 (0.5) 294 (0.4) 293 (0.4) 287 (0.6) 292 (0.5) 292 (0.3) 297 (0.5) 300 (0.7)
Unknown 288 (1.6) 296 (1.6) 298 (2.3) 303 (2.7) 306 (2.7) 296 (1.4) 295 (1.9) 287 (2.5) 293 (1.9) 294 (1.7) 299 (2.0) 305 (3.4)
                                                 
Control of school                                                
Public 279 (0.4) 283 (0.3) 286 (0.4) 282 (0.5) 292 (0.5) 283 (0.3) 281 (0.4) 272 (0.5) 282 (0.4) 280 (0.3) 286 (0.4) 288 (0.6)
Private 289 (1.4) 296 (1.4) 299 (1.9) 302 (2.4) 306 (2.5) 296 (1.3) 295 (1.4) 288 (2.6) 292 (1.7) 295 (1.3) 300 (1.9) 304 (3.2)
  Percent of students
All students 24 (0.2) 36 (0.2) 26 (0.2) 13 (0.2) 13 (0.2) 46 (0.2) 31 (0.2) 11 (0.1) 17 (0.2) 54 (0.2) 21 (0.2) 8 (0.1)
Sex                                                
Male 24 (0.3) 35 (0.3) 27 (0.3) 13 (0.2) 13 (0.2) 45 (0.3) 31 (0.3) 11 (0.1) 15 (0.2) 53 (0.3) 23 (0.3) 9 (0.2)
Female 24 (0.3) 37 (0.3) 26 (0.3) 13 (0.2) 13 (0.2) 46 (0.3) 30 (0.2) 11 (0.2) 20 (0.2) 55 (0.3) 19 (0.2) 6 (0.1)
                                                 
Race/ethnicity                                                
White 27 (0.3) 36 (0.3) 26 (0.3) 11 (0.1) 14 (0.2) 46 (0.3) 30 (0.3) 11 (0.1) 20 (0.2) 53 (0.3) 20 (0.2) 7 (0.1)
Black 19 (0.4) 35 (0.3) 27 (0.4) 20 (0.5) 11 (0.3) 45 (0.5) 31 (0.4) 14 (0.3) 15 (0.3) 55 (0.4) 22 (0.4) 8 (0.3)
Hispanic 21 (0.5) 37 (0.5) 28 (0.5) 14 (0.5) 10 (0.3) 47 (0.6) 32 (0.5) 11 (0.3) 12 (0.4) 57 (0.5) 23 (0.4) 7 (0.3)
Asian/Pacific Islander 16 (1.0) 36 (0.9) 30 (1.1) 18 (1.0) 16 (0.7) 49 (1.0) 27 (0.9) 8 (0.5) 9 (0.7) 51 (1.0) 28 (0.8) 12 (0.7)
American Indian/
    Alaska Native
22 (1.4) 36 (1.5) 26 (1.2) 15 (1.0) 10 (1.1) 43 (1.6) 33 (1.6) 14 (1.0) 18 (1.0) 54 (1.9) 21 (1.4) 7 (0.8)
                                                 
Eligibility for free or
   reduced-price lunch
                                               
Eligible 22 (0.3) 35 (0.2) 27 (0.3) 16 (0.3) 12 (0.2) 46 (0.4) 30 (0.3) 12 (0.2) 14 (0.2) 55 (0.3) 22 (0.3) 8 (0.2)
Not eligible 26 (0.3) 37 (0.3) 26 (0.2) 11 (0.2) 13 (0.2) 46 (0.3) 30 (0.3) 10 (0.1) 19 (0.3) 53 (0.3) 21 (0.3) 7 (0.2)
Unknown 23 (1.1) 34 (1.1) 28 (1.0) 15 (0.9) 11 (0.7) 44 (1.0) 34 (0.9) 11 (0.8) 22 (0.8) 54 (1.1) 18 (0.7) 7 (0.5)
                                                 
Control of school                                                
Public 24 (0.2) 36 (0.2) 26 (0.2) 13 (0.2) 13 (0.2) 46 (0.2) 30 (0.2) 11 (0.1) 17 (0.2) 54 (0.2) 21 (0.2) 8 (0.1)
Private 23 (0.9) 36 (0.9) 27 (0.9) 14 (0.8) 11 (0.7) 45 (0.9) 34 (0.8) 10 (0.6) 22 (0.7) 55 (0.9) 18 (0.7) 6 (0.5)
1 Scale ranges from 0 to 500.
NOTE: Includes public and private schools. Includes students for whom accommodations were permitted. Excludes students unable to be tested (even with accommodations) due to limited proficiency in English or due to a disability. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Standard errors appear in parentheses.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2009 Mathematics Assessment, retrieved May 6, 2010, from the Main NAEP Data Explorer (http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata/). (This table was prepared May 2010.)

2010 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest