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Digest of Education Statistics
2017 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 221.32a. Average National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading scale score and percentage distribution of 4th- and 8th-graders in traditional public, public charter, and Catholic schools, by selected characteristics: 2015
[Standard errors appear in parentheses]
Selected characteristic 4th-graders 8th-graders
Public school Catholic school1  Public school Catholic school1 
Total Traditional public Public charter Total Traditional public Public charter
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
  Average scale score2 
All students 221 (0.4) 221 (0.4) 219 (1.2) 237 (1.1) 264 (0.2) 264 (0.2) 263 (1.9) 284 (1.1)
Sex                                
Male 218 (0.4) 218 (0.5) 215 (1.8) 237 (1.5) 259 (0.3) 259 (0.3) 261 (2.2) 281 (1.4)
Female 225 (0.4) 225 (0.4) 223 (1.3) 238 (1.3) 269 (0.3) 269 (0.3) 265 (1.9) 287 (1.4)
                                 
Race/ethnicity                                
White 232 (0.3) 232 (0.3) 231 (1.3) 243 (1.1) 273 (0.2) 273 (0.2) 278 (1.4) 288 (1.1)
Black 206 (0.5) 206 (0.5) 206 (1.7) 215 (4.3) 247 (0.5) 247 (0.5) 251 (1.6) 264 (3.7)
Hispanic 208 (0.8) 207 (0.9) 213 (2.3) 223 (3.1) 253 (0.4) 252 (0.4) 258 (2.2) 272 (2.8)
Asian 240 (1.7) 240 (1.7) 239 (4.5) 246 (4.4) 280 (1.4) 280 (1.5) 282 (7.9) 296 (3.3)
Pacific Islander 212 (2.2) 212 (2.3) (†) (†) 254 (2.4) 254 (2.6) (†) (†)
American Indian/Alaska Native 206 (1.5) 206 (1.5) (†) (†) 253 (1.7) 253 (1.7) (†) (†)
Two or more races 226 (1.0) 225 (1.0) 227 (5.1) (†) 267 (1.0) 267 (1.0) 268 (9.6) (†)
                                 
English language learner (ELL) status                                
ELL 189 (1.1) 189 (1.1) 194 (4.5) (†) 223 (0.9) 222 (0.9) 232 (3.1) (†)
Non-ELL 225 (0.3) 226 (0.3) 221 (1.1) 238 (1.1) 267 (0.2) 267 (0.2) 265 (1.9) 284 (1.1)
                                 
Disability status3                                 
Identified as student with disability (SD) 186 (0.8) 187 (0.8) 183 (4.3) (†) 229 (0.6) 229 (0.6) 235 (3.9) 252 (5.1)
Not identified as SD 227 (0.4) 227 (0.4) 224 (1.1) 239 (1.1) 269 (0.3) 269 (0.3) 268 (1.8) 285 (1.1)
                                 
Percent of students in school eligible for
    free or reduced-price lunch
                               
0 to 25 percent eligible 241 (0.5) 241 (0.5) 239 (1.8) 240 (1.7) 281 (0.5) 281 (0.6) 281 (2.6) 287 (2.7)
26 to 50 percent eligible 228 (0.5) 228 (0.5) 231 (3.5) 237 (3.8) 269 (0.5) 269 (0.5) 275 (2.9) (†)
51 to 75 percent eligible 219 (0.7) 219 (0.7) 218 (3.4) (†) 261 (0.6) 261 (0.6) 261 (2.9) (†)
76 to 100 percent eligible 205 (0.7) 205 (0.7) 206 (1.7) (†) 248 (0.6) 248 (0.5) 252 (2.1) 262 (5.1)
                                 
School locale                                
City 216 (0.7) 216 (0.7) 214 (2.0) 235 (1.7) 259 (0.6) 259 (0.6) 260 (3.2) 278 (1.7)
Suburban 226 (0.6) 226 (0.6) 224 (2.5) 239 (1.9) 268 (0.4) 268 (0.4) 266 (2.9) 289 (1.7)
Town 218 (1.2) 218 (1.2) 223 (3.0) 238 (3.6) 261 (0.8) 261 (0.8) 273 (4.1) 286 (4.3)
Rural 223 (0.6) 223 (0.6) 230 (3.8) 238 (3.4) 265 (0.6) 264 (0.6) 272 (3.1) (†)
  Percentage distribution
All students 100 (†) 100 (†) 100 (†) 100 (†) 100 (†) 100 (†) 100 (†) 100 (†)
                                 
Sex                                
Male 51 (0.1) 51 (0.1) 50 (1.1) 48 (1.2) 51 (0.1) 51 (0.1) 47 (1.2) 50 (1.8)
Female 49 (0.1) 49 (0.1) 50 (1.1) 52 (1.2) 49 (0.1) 49 (0.1) 53 (1.2) 50 (1.8)
                                 
Race/ethnicity                                
White 49 (0.4) 50 (0.4) 37 (2.2) 66 (1.9) 51 (0.4) 52 (0.4) 30 (2.3) 66 (1.8)
Black 15 (0.3) 14 (0.3) 28 (2.7) 7 (1.1) 15 (0.3) 15 (0.3) 27 (2.6) 8 (1.1)
Hispanic 26 (0.3) 26 (0.4) 29 (2.9) 18 (1.8) 25 (0.4) 24 (0.4) 35 (3.5) 15 (1.6)
Asian 5 (0.2) 5 (0.2) 4 (0.6) 5 (0.9) 5 (0.2) 5 (0.2) 5 (1.3) 8 (1.2)
Pacific Islander # (†) # (†) 1 (0.3) # (†) # (†) # (†) # (†) # (†)
American Indian/Alaska Native 1 (#) 1 (#) 1 (0.2) # (†) 1 (0.1) 1 (0.1) # (†) # (†)
Two or more races 3 (0.1) 3 (0.1) 2 (0.3) 3 (0.6) 2 (#) 2 (#) 3 (0.6) 2 (0.5)
                                 
English language learner (ELL) status                                
ELL 11 (0.3) 11 (0.3) 9 (1.1) 2 (0.7) 6 (0.2) 6 (0.2) 6 (0.8) 1 (0.5)
Non-ELL 89 (0.3) 89 (0.3) 91 (1.1) 98 (0.7) 94 (0.2) 94 (0.2) 94 (0.8) 99 (0.5)
                                 
Disability status3                                 
Identified as student with disability (SD) 13 (0.1) 13 (0.1) 12 (0.9) 5 (0.6) 12 (0.1) 12 (0.1) 13 (1.1) 5 (0.8)
Not identified as SD 87 (0.1) 87 (0.1) 88 (0.9) 95 (0.6) 88 (0.1) 88 (0.1) 87 (1.1) 95 (0.8)
                                 
Percent of students in school eligible for
    free or reduced-price lunch
                               
0 to 25 percent eligible 18 (0.8) 18 (0.9) 21 (3.0) 72 (4.8) 20 (0.8) 20 (0.8) 19 (7.8) 63 (6.1)
26 to 50 percent eligible 25 (1.0) 25 (1.0) 13 (2.9) 15 (4.3) 30 (0.9) 31 (1.0) 12 (4.3) 14 (4.1)
51 to 75 percent eligible 26 (1.0) 27 (1.1) 24 (4.9) 7 (2.5) 25 (1.0) 26 (1.0) 22 (6.2) 5 (2.7)
76 to 100 percent eligible 31 (0.8) 30 (0.9) 42 (4.5) 6 (1.9) 25 (0.8) 24 (0.8) 48 (7.0) 18 (3.5)
                                 
School locale                                
City 31 (0.4) 29 (0.5) 53 (4.8) 43 (2.2) 29 (0.4) 28 (0.5) 57 (5.5) 46 (2.9)
Suburban 41 (0.5) 41 (0.5) 33 (4.5) 41 (2.4) 41 (0.5) 41 (0.5) 29 (5.1) 47 (3.3)
Town 11 (0.4) 11 (0.4) 6 (1.8) 10 (1.5) 12 (0.3) 12 (0.3) 3 (1.4) 6 (1.9)
Rural 18 (0.4) 18 (0.4) 8 (1.7) 7 (1.5) 19 (0.4) 19 (0.5) 10 (2.7) 1 (0.4)
†Not applicable.
#Rounds to zero.
‡Reporting standards not met (too few cases for a reliable estimate).
1 NAEP assesses representative samples of private school students at grades 4 and 8, but results are reported only if at least 70 percent of the schools in the sample participate. Catholic schools are the only type of private schools included in this table, because 2015 participation rates were less than 70 percent for other private school types as well as for total private schools.
2 Scale ranges from 0 to 500.
3 The student with disability (SD) variable used in this table includes students who have a 504 plan, even if they do not have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP).
NOTE: Includes students tested with accommodations (13 percent of all 4th-graders and 11 percent of all 8th-graders); excludes only those students with disabilities and English language learners who were unable to be tested even with accommodations (2 percent of all students at both grades). Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2015 Reading Assessment, retrieved January 8, 2018, from the Main NAEP Data Explorer (https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata/). (This table was prepared January 2018.)

2017 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest