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Digest of Education Statistics
2011 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 140. Average geography scale score, standard deviation, and percentage of students attaining geography achievement levels, by grade level, selected student characteristics, and percentile: 1994, 2001, and 2010
Selected student characteristic 4th-graders 8th-graders 12th-graders
19941 2001 2010 19941 2001 2010 19941 2001 2010
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
  Average geography scale score2 
   All students 206 (1.2) 208 (0.9) 213 (0.8) 260 (0.7) 260 (1.0) 261 (0.7) 285 (0.7) 284 (0.8) 282 (0.6)
Sex                                    
Male 208 (1.4) 210 (1.0) 215 (0.9) 262 (0.9) 262 (1.2) 263 (0.8) 288 (0.8) 287 (1.0) 285 (0.6)
Female 203 (1.4) 206 (1.3) 211 (0.9) 258 (0.8) 258 (1.0) 259 (0.8) 281 (0.9) 281 (0.8) 280 (0.8)
                                     
Race/ethnicity                                    
White 218 (1.5) 219 (1.1) 224 (0.9) 269 (0.8) 269 (1.4) 272 (0.6) 290 (0.8) 291 (0.8) 290 (0.5)
Black 166 (2.4) 180 (1.8) 192 (1.3) 229 (1.7) 233 (1.6) 241 (1.1) 258 (1.4) 258 (1.5) 261 (1.2)
Hispanic 177 (3.3) 185 (2.5) 197 (1.2) 238 (2.0) 237 (2.0) 244 (1.0) 269 (1.7) 268 (1.6) 270 (1.2)
Asian/Pacific Islander 211 (4.0) 214 (3.5) 224 (3.3) 262 (5.3) 264 (2.7) 268 (2.7) 283 (3.1) 284 (5.0) 285 (1.7)
American Indian/Alaska Native (†) (†) 201 (3.5) 251 (5.5) 261 (5.3) 250 (3.9) (†) (†) 277 (2.5)
                                     
Parents' highest level
   of education
                                   
Did not finish high school (†) (†) (†) 238 (1.7) 236 (1.8) 243 (1.3) 263 (1.2) 266 (1.7) 263 (1.2)
Graduated high school (†) (†) (†) 250 (1.2) 251 (1.2) 251 (1.1) 274 (1.1) 275 (0.9) 274 (0.8)
Some education after high school (†) (†) (†) 265 (1.0) 264 (1.1) 262 (1.0) 286 (1.0) 284 (0.9) 280 (0.7)
Graduated college (†) (†) (†) 272 (1.0) 273 (1.0) 272 (0.7) 294 (0.9) 293 (1.0) 291 (0.7)
                                     
Eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch                                    
Eligible (†) 185 (1.4) 197 (0.7) (†) 239 (1.3) 246 (0.9) (†) 268 (1.7) 269 (0.8)
Not eligible (†) 221 (1.1) 227 (0.8) (†) 269 (1.2) 272 (0.7) (†) 287 (1.0) 288 (0.5)
Unknown (†) 219 (2.8) 227 (3.7) (†) 265 (2.3) 276 (2.6) (†) 288 (1.6) 289 (2.2)
                                     
Percentile3                                    
10th 146 (1.9) 159 (2.6) 169 (1.8) 213 (1.3) 213 (1.2) 220 (1.2) 244 (0.9) 246 (1.1) 247 (0.8)
25th 179 (1.5) 184 (1.4) 192 (1.2) 237 (1.0) 238 (1.3) 241 (0.7) 265 (1.1) 266 (1.2) 265 (0.8)
50th 211 (1.1) 211 (1.0) 216 (1.1) 263 (1.1) 264 (1.2) 263 (0.9) 287 (0.9) 286 (0.9) 284 (0.7)
75th 237 (1.3) 235 (1.4) 236 (0.7) 285 (0.9) 285 (1.1) 284 (0.9) 306 (1.0) 304 (0.9) 301 (0.7)
90th 257 (2.0) 254 (1.3) 253 (0.9) 302 (1.9) 302 (1.1) 300 (0.7) 321 (1.0) 319 (1.3) 315 (0.7)
                                     
  Standard deviation of the geography scale score4 
All students 44 (0.8) 37 (0.8) 33 (0.4) 35 (0.4) 35 (0.5) 31 (0.3) 30 (0.4) 28 (0.4) 26 (0.3)
                                     
  Percent of students achieving geography achievement levels
Achievement level                                    
Below Basic 30 (1.1) 27 (1.0) 21 (0.9) 29 (1.0) 28 (1.2) 26 (0.9) 30 (0.9) 29 (1.0) 30 (0.9)
At or above Basic5 . 70 (1.1) 73 (1.0) 79 (0.9) 71 (1.0) 72 (1.2) 74 (0.9) 70 (0.9) 71 (1.0) 70 (0.9)
At or above Basic by sex                                    
Male 71 (1.3) 74 (0.9) 80 (1.0) 72 (1.3) 73 (1.5) 75 (1.0) 73 (1.1) 74 (1.3) 73 (1.0)
Female 68 (1.4) 71 (1.5) 78 (1.1) 69 (1.1) 71 (1.1) 73 (1.1) 67 (1.2) 68 (1.2) 66 (1.2)
At or above Basic by race/ethnicity                                    
White 81 (1.3) 84 (1.1) 89 (1.0) 81 (0.9) 82 (1.5) 86 (0.7) 78 (0.9) 81 (0.9) 81 (0.8)
Black 33 (2.4) 43 (2.5) 57 (2.1) 34 (3.0) 39 (2.4) 49 (1.7) 33 (2.3) 33 (2.0) 36 (1.8)
Hispanic 44 (3.1) 50 (3.1) 64 (1.7) 49 (3.8) 45 (2.5) 55 (1.5) 48 (3.0) 48 (2.9) 52 (2.0)
Asian/Pacific Islander 72 (4.4) 77 (4.2) 87 (3.2) 72 (6.7) 77 (3.6) 80 (3.3) 67 (3.8) 70 (6.2) 73 (2.7)
American Indian/Alaska Native (†) (†) 68 (6.4) 62 (7.7) 74 (4.8) 62 (7.2) (†) (†) 62 (5.1)
At or above Proficient6 22 (1.2) 20 (0.9) 21 (0.8) 28 (1.0) 29 (1.3) 27 (0.8) 27 (1.2) 24 (1.2) 20 (0.8)
At Advanced7 3 (0.4) 2 (0.3) 2 (0.2) 4 (0.4) 4 (0.5) 3 (0.2) 2 (0.5) 1 (0.3) 1 (0.1)
—Not available.
†Not applicable.
‡Reporting standards not met (too few cases).
1 Accommodations were not permitted for this assessment.
2 Scale ranges from 0 to 500.
3 The percentile represents a specific point on the percentage distribution of all students ranked by their geography score from low to high. For example, 10 percent of students scored at or below the 10th percentile score, while 90 percent of students scored above it.
4 The standard deviation provides an indication of how much the test scores varied. The lower the standard deviation, the closer the scores were clustered around the average score. About two-thirds of the student scores can be expected to fall within the range of one standard deviation above and one standard deviation below the average score. For example, the average score for all 4th-graders in 2010 was 213, and the standard deviation was 33. This means that we would expect about two-thirds of the students to have scores between 246 (one standard deviation above the average) and 180 (one standard deviation below). Standard errors also must be taken into account when making comparisons of these ranges. For a discussion of standard errors, see Appendix A: Guide to Sources.
5 Basic denotes partial mastery of the knowledge and skills that are fundamental for proficient work.
6 Proficient represents solid academic performance. Students reaching this level have demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter.
7 Advanced signifies superior performance.
NOTE: For 2001 and later years, includes students tested with accommodations (3 to 13 percent of all students, depending on grade level and year); excludes only those students with disabilities and English language learners who were unable to be tested even with accommodations (1 to 4 percent of all students). 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), 1994, 2001, and 2010 Geography Assessments, retrieved July 22, 2011, from the Main NAEP Data Explorer (http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata/). (This table was prepared July 2011.)

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