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Digest of Education Statistics: 2008
Digest of Education Statistics: 2008

NCES 2009-020
March 2009


Table 137. 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: 2007
Student or school characteristic Math work is boring Math work is engaging and interesting Math work is challenging Math work is too easy
Never or hardly ever 1–2 times a month 1–2 times a week Almost every day Never or hardly ever 1–2 times a month 1–2 times a week Almost every day Never or hardly ever 1–2 times a month 1–2 times a week Almost every day Never or hardly ever 1–2 times a month 1–2 times a week Almost every day
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
  Average scale score1 
All students 278 (0.5) 286 (0.4) 286 (0.3) 279 (0.3) 278 (0.3) 285 (0.3) 285 (0.4) 280 (0.5) 284 (0.4) 286 (0.4) 283 (0.3) 277 (0.4) 276 (0.4) 284 (0.4) 283 (0.3) 283 (0.4)
Sex                                                                
Male 278 (0.6) 287 (0.4) 288 (0.4) 281 (0.4) 279 (0.4) 287 (0.5) 286 (0.5) 282 (0.5) 286 (0.6) 288 (0.5) 285 (0.4) 277 (0.5) 274 (0.5) 285 (0.4) 285 (0.4) 286 (0.6)
Female 278 (0.6) 286 (0.5) 284 (0.4) 277 (0.4) 276 (0.4) 284 (0.4) 284 (0.5) 279 (0.6) 282 (0.6) 285 (0.5) 282 (0.4) 276 (0.5) 277 (0.6) 284 (0.4) 281 (0.4) 280 (0.5)
                                                                 
Race/ethnicity                                                                
White 291 (0.5) 297 (0.4) 295 (0.4) 287 (0.4) 285 (0.3) 294 (0.4) 296 (0.4) 294 (0.6) 293 (0.4) 295 (0.4) 293 (0.3) 288 (0.5) 285 (0.4) 293 (0.4) 293 (0.3) 294 (0.4)
Black 259 (0.8) 263 (0.8) 263 (0.6) 258 (0.6) 259 (0.7) 263 (0.8) 262 (0.5) 259 (0.7) 264 (0.9) 265 (0.8) 262 (0.7) 255 (0.6) 254 (0.8) 261 (0.8) 262 (0.6) 263 (0.7)
Hispanic 262 (0.8) 268 (0.8) 269 (0.7) 264 (0.6) 264 (0.7) 267 (0.8) 267 (0.7) 265 (0.7) 265 (1.2) 270 (0.7) 267 (0.6) 262 (0.6) 258 (1.0) 266 (0.8) 268 (0.6) 267 (1.0)
Asian/Pacific Islander 295 (2.0) 297 (1.7) 303 (1.0) 295 (1.3) 293 (1.5) 298 (1.7) 300 (1.2) 297 (1.5) 306 (2.4) 302 (1.7) 297 (1.2) 290 (1.4) 288 (2.8) 295 (1.7) 299 (1.0) 301 (1.4)
American Indian/Alaska Native 262 (2.8) 266 (4.2) 267 (2.5) 262 (1.7) 262 (2.4) 270 (2.1) 263 (2.5) 264 (2.2) 271 (2.9) 269 (2.5) 267 (1.7) 255 (2.4) 256 (2.8) 263 (3.0) 266 (1.5) 269 (2.8)
                                                                 
Eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch                                                                
Eligible 263 (0.6) 269 (0.5) 269 (0.5) 264 (0.5) 264 (0.5) 268 (0.5) 268 (0.4) 264 (0.6) 269 (0.6) 271 (0.5) 267 (0.4) 260 (0.5) 258 (0.6) 266 (0.5) 268 (0.4) 269 (0.6)
Not eligible 290 (0.6) 296 (0.5) 295 (0.4) 288 (0.4) 286 (0.4) 294 (0.3) 295 (0.5) 293 (0.5) 293 (0.5) 295 (0.4) 293 (0.3) 287 (0.4) 286 (0.4) 293 (0.4) 292 (0.4) 294 (0.4)
Unknown 289 (2.9) 297 (2.0) 297 (2.0) 287 (1.7) 283 (1.5) 293 (2.0) 298 (1.9) 295 (2.9) 292 (2.7) 298 (2.1) 291 (1.6) 288 (2.4) 283 (2.8) 293 (1.8) 294 (1.8) 298 (2.9)
                                                                 
Control of school                                                                
Public 277 (0.4) 285 (0.4) 285 (0.3) 278 (0.3) 277 (0.3) 284 (0.3) 284 (0.3) 279 (0.4) 283 (0.4) 285 (0.4) 282 (0.3) 275 (0.3) 274 (0.4) 283 (0.3) 282 (0.3) 282 (0.4)
Private 291 (2.4) 298 (1.8) 297 (1.5) 289 (1.5) 286 (1.4) 294 (1.6) 298 (1.7) 297 (2.4) 296 (2.5) 298 (1.9) 294 (1.4) 289 (1.8) 288 (2.2) 294 (1.6) 294 (1.4) 299 (2.9)
  Percent of students
All students 17 (0.2) 20 (0.2) 27 (0.2) 35 (0.2) 27 (0.2) 24 (0.2) 29 (0.2) 20 (0.2) 12 (0.1) 21 (0.1) 37 (0.2) 30 (0.2) 17 (0.1) 27 (0.2) 40 (0.2) 16 (0.2)
Sex                                                                
Male 16 (0.2) 19 (0.2) 27 (0.3) 38 (0.3) 28 (0.3) 23 (0.2) 30 (0.2) 20 (0.2) 13 (0.2) 21 (0.2) 37 (0.3) 29 (0.3) 16 (0.2) 26 (0.2) 41 (0.3) 18 (0.2)
Female 19 (0.2) 21 (0.2) 28 (0.2) 32 (0.3) 27 (0.3) 25 (0.2) 29 (0.2) 20 (0.2) 11 (0.2) 21 (0.2) 37 (0.3) 30 (0.2) 18 (0.2) 28 (0.3) 39 (0.3) 14 (0.2)
                                                                 
Race/ethnicity                                                                
White 15 (0.2) 20 (0.2) 28 (0.2) 37 (0.3) 30 (0.3) 26 (0.2) 28 (0.2) 17 (0.2) 12 (0.2) 21 (0.2) 37 (0.2) 29 (0.2) 18 (0.2) 29 (0.2) 38 (0.2) 14 (0.2)
Black 24 (0.4) 18 (0.4) 25 (0.4) 32 (0.5) 24 (0.4) 20 (0.4) 29 (0.4) 28 (0.4) 12 (0.3) 19 (0.4) 34 (0.4) 35 (0.6) 17 (0.3) 23 (0.4) 41 (0.4) 19 (0.4)
Hispanic 19 (0.4) 21 (0.4) 27 (0.5) 33 (0.4) 24 (0.4) 23 (0.4) 31 (0.4) 22 (0.4) 12 (0.3) 20 (0.4) 38 (0.4) 30 (0.4) 14 (0.3) 24 (0.4) 44 (0.5) 18 (0.4)
Asian/Pacific Islander 18 (0.6) 23 (0.6) 30 (0.9) 30 (1.0) 19 (0.9) 24 (0.8) 33 (0.8) 23 (0.8) 13 (0.5) 26 (0.7) 37 (0.9) 24 (0.8) 9 (0.6) 22 (0.9) 46 (1.0) 22 (0.7)
American Indian/Alaska Native 18 (1.4) 19 (1.1) 26 (1.3) 38 (1.4) 28 (1.1) 21 (1.1) 30 (1.3) 22 (1.1) 12 (0.8) 19 (1.1) 37 (1.4) 33 (1.9) 17 (1.2) 27 (1.3) 41 (1.3) 15 (1.0)
                                                                 
Eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch                                                                
Eligible 21 (0.2) 19 (0.2) 26 (0.2) 34 (0.2) 25 (0.3) 22 (0.2) 30 (0.2) 24 (0.3) 13 (0.2) 20 (0.3) 36 (0.3) 31 (0.3) 16 (0.2) 24 (0.2) 41 (0.3) 18 (0.3)
Not eligible 15 (0.2) 20 (0.2) 29 (0.2) 36 (0.3) 28 (0.3) 26 (0.2) 29 (0.2) 17 (0.2) 12 (0.2) 22 (0.2) 37 (0.2) 29 (0.3) 17 (0.2) 28 (0.2) 40 (0.2) 15 (0.2)
Unknown 17 (1.0) 22 (0.8) 28 (1.1) 32 (1.3) 27 (1.1) 24 (1.0) 30 (0.9) 19 (0.9) 10 (0.5) 21 (0.8) 38 (0.9) 30 (0.8) 18 (0.8) 33 (0.9) 36 (1.2) 13 (0.7)
                                                                 
Control of school                                                                
Public 17 (0.2) 20 (0.1) 27 (0.2) 36 (0.2) 27 (0.2) 24 (0.2) 29 (0.1) 20 (0.2) 12 (0.1) 21 (0.1) 37 (0.2) 30 (0.2) 17 (0.1) 26 (0.2) 40 (0.2) 16 (0.2)
Private 19 (0.9) 22 (0.8) 28 (1.0) 31 (1.3) 26 (1.1) 25 (1.0) 30 (1.0) 19 (0.8) 10 (0.7) 21 (0.9) 39 (0.9) 31 (0.9) 18 (0.7) 33 (1.0) 37 (1.0) 12 (0.7)
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), 2007 Mathematics Assessment, retrieved August 13, 2008, from the NAEP Data Explorer (http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/nde/). (This table was prepared August 2008.)