The Nation's Report Card:
Fourth-Grade Reading Highlights 2000

Note: The average scores are based on the NAEP reading scale, which ranges from 0 to 500.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 1992-2000 Reading Assessments

Results for the 2000 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading assessment of the nation's fourth-graders are in -- and they show a relatively stable pattern in students' average reading scores during the last decade.

Since 1992, the current NAEP reading assessment has been given in four different years (in 1992, 1994, 1998, and 2000) to a nationally representative sample of fourth-grade students.

Fourth-graders' average reading score in 2000 was similar to the average scores in 1998 and in 1992. In the graph shown above, students in 2000 may appear to be outperforming students in 1994. However, the average score from the 2000 assessment was not significantly different from that in 1994.