State Reading 2002 Report Cards

The 2002 NAEP program included state-level assessments in reading and writing at grades 4 and 8, and national-level assessments in reading and writing at grades 4, 8, and 12. The NAEP assessment was administered at the state level for the first time in 1990. The first state reading assessments were given at grade 8 in 1996. In 2002, both grades 4 and 8 were assessed. The 1996, 2000, and 2002 assessments were based on the same reading assessment framework.

The state reports and their companion, The Nation's Report Card: Reading Highlights 2002, provide a look at the main results of the NAEP 2002 Reading assessment. Each participating jurisdiction receives its own customized state report, as seen here. The Nation's Report Card: Reading Highlights 2002 offers data for all participating states and additional national data. The NAEP Data Tool provides information for all jurisdictions for which results are reported in 2002 and allows the user not only to develop custom data tables, but also to perform appropriate tests of statistical significance for within- or across-state data comparisons.

Within each state report the Key Findings section on the first page provides the reader with a quick overview of the basic results. The Introduction provides information on the NAEP program, the sample of students assessed (public schools only), the metrics for reporting student performance, and how the differences in performance are reported. The subsequent sections, Overall Results, Comparisons Between States, and Performance by Demographic Characteristics relate the findings for both 4^th and 8^th grade students. This information is presented in data tables, maps, and bar charts.