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Digest of Education Statistics
2020 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: 2019
[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 219 (0.2) 221 (0.2) 217 (1.3) 235 (1.6) 262 (0.3) 263 (0.3) 260 (1.7) 278 (1.3)
Sex                                
Male 216 (0.3) 217 (0.3) 214 (1.4) 231 (2.1) 256 (0.3) 258 (0.4) 254 (2.0) 273 (1.8)
Female 223 (0.2) 224 (0.2) 221 (1.6) 239 (2.0) 268 (0.4) 269 (0.3) 266 (1.8) 283 (1.6)

Race/ethnicity
                               
White 229 (0.2) 230 (0.3) 229 (1.8) 241 (1.2) 271 (0.3) 272 (0.3) 276 (1.8) 283 (1.2)
Black 203 (0.5) 203 (0.6) 206 (1.8) 212 (6.0) 244 (0.5) 244 (0.5) 247 (2.0) 258 (4.9)
Hispanic 208 (0.5) 209 (0.5) 212 (2.2) 226 (4.0) 251 (0.6) 252 (0.6) 255 (2.2) 270 (2.4)
Asian 239 (1.0) 239 (1.0) 240 (5.2) (†) 284 (1.0) 283 (0.9) 289 (4.3) (†)
Pacific Islander 209 (2.2) 212 (2.1) 213 (6.9) (†) 252 (2.4) 252 (2.4) (†) (†)
American Indian/Alaska Native 204 (1.2) 204 (1.8) (†) (†) 249 (1.7) 248 (1.7) 245 (5.7) (†)
Two or more races 225 (0.8) 226 (0.9) 226 (3.5) (†) 266 (0.9) 267 (0.9) 262 (6.0) (†)

English language learner (ELL) status
                               
ELL 191 (0.7) 191 (0.7) 192 (3.0) (†) 221 (0.9) 220 (0.9) 231 (5.4) (†)
Non-ELL 224 (0.2) 225 (0.2) 221 (1.3) 236 (1.5) 265 (0.3) 266 (0.3) 263 (1.7) 279 (1.3)

Disability status3
                               
Identified as student with disability (SD) 184 (0.6) 184 (0.6) 182 (2.7) 204 (8.5) 228 (0.6) 229 (0.6) 228 (2.9) 254 (4.8)
Not identified as SD 225 (0.2) 226 (0.2) 223 (1.3) 238 (1.5) 267 (0.3) 268 (0.3) 265 (1.8) 280 (1.3)

Percent of students in school eligible for
    free or reduced-price lunch4
                               
0 to 25 percent eligible 240 (0.5) 240 (0.5) 236 (1.9) 239 (2.3) 279 (0.5) 279 (0.5) 277 (2.9) 285 (2.5)
26 to 50 percent eligible 227 (0.5) 227 (0.4) 223 (3.7) (†) 268 (0.6) 268 (0.6) 271 (2.7) 274 (4.9)
51 to 75 percent eligible 217 (0.5) 217 (0.5) 220 (2.2) (†) 259 (0.6) 258 (0.6) 267 (2.3) (†)
76 to 100 percent eligible 206 (1.0) 206 (1.0) 209 (3.6) (†) 249 (0.9) 248 (1.0) 255 (3.1) (†)

School locale
                               
City 213 (0.4) 216 (0.5) 212 (1.9) 234 (3.0) 257 (0.7) 259 (0.7) 257 (2.5) 277 (2.0)
Suburban 225 (0.4) 226 (0.4) 223 (2.4) 236 (1.9) 266 (0.4) 267 (0.4) 263 (2.6) 280 (2.0)
Town 216 (0.7) 217 (0.7) 215 (2.8) 237 (4.5) 258 (0.8) 259 (0.8) 265 (7.0) 275 (7.4)
Rural 219 (0.5) 219 (0.6) 222 (3.1) (†) 263 (0.5) 264 (0.5) 268 (3.4) 281 (5.6)
  Percentage distribution
All students 100 (†) 100 (†) 100 (†) 100 (†) 100 (†) 100 (†) 100 (†) 100 (†)

Sex
                               
Male 51 (0.1) 51 (0.1) 50 (1.0) 51 (2.0) 51 (0.1) 51 (0.2) 51 (0.9) 50 (1.2)
Female 49 (0.1) 49 (0.1) 50 (1.0) 49 (2.0) 49 (0.1) 49 (0.2) 49 (0.9) 50 (1.2)

Race/ethnicity
                               
White 46 (0.3) 49 (0.3) 29 (2.1) 64 (2.7) 48 (0.3) 51 (0.4) 28 (2.2) 67 (2.4)
Black 15 (0.2) 14 (0.2) 26 (2.0) 9 (1.9) 15 (0.3) 13 (0.2) 27 (2.8) 7 (1.6)
Hispanic 28 (0.3) 26 (0.3) 37 (2.9) 16 (2.4) 27 (0.3) 25 (0.4) 37 (3.7) 18 (2.4)
Asian 5 (0.2) 5 (0.2) 4 (0.6) 4 (0.7) 6 (0.2) 6 (0.2) 4 (0.8) 3 (0.7)
Pacific Islander # (†) # (†) # (†) 1 (0.3) # (†) # (†) # (†) # (†)
American Indian/Alaska Native 1 (#) 1 (0.1) # (†) 2 (0.9) 1 (#) 1 (#) 1 (0.2) 1 (†)
Two or more races 4 (0.1) 4 (0.1) 4 (0.4) 4 (0.5) 3 (0.1) 4 (0.1) 3 (0.4) 4 (0.7)

English language learner (ELL) status
                               
ELL 13 (0.2) 12 (0.2) 13 (1.5) 4 (1.6) 7 (0.2) 7 (0.2) 10 (1.8) 2 (0.9)
Non-ELL 87 (0.2) 88 (0.2) 87 (1.5) 96 (1.6) 93 (0.2) 93 (0.2) 90 (1.8) 98 (0.9)

Disability status3
                               
Identified as student with disability (SD) 14 (0.1) 14 (0.1) 14 (0.8) 8 (1.1) 13 (0.2) 13 (0.2) 14 (0.9) 6 (0.9)
Not identified as SD 86 (0.1) 86 (0.1) 86 (0.8) 92 (1.1) 87 (0.2) 87 (0.2) 86 (0.9) 94 (0.9)

Percent of students in school eligible for
    free or reduced-price lunch4
                               
0 to 25 percent eligible 28 (0.9) 29 (0.8) 25 (5.8) 67 (7.5) 27 (0.9) 29 (0.9) 19 (4.1) 71 (7.8)
26 to 50 percent eligible 33 (1.0) 33 (1.0) 25 (6.5) 11 (4.2) 37 (1.2) 36 (1.2) 32 (6.8) 19 (6.6)
51 to 75 percent eligible 24 (0.9) 24 (0.9) 32 (6.3) 8 (4.6) 24 (1.0) 24 (1.0) 21 (5.8) 8 (5.0)
76 to 100 percent eligible 15 (0.8) 15 (0.8) 17 (5.4) 15 (6.0) 12 (0.8) 11 (0.9) 28 (6.4) 2 (†)

School locale
                               
City 30 (0.2) 30 (0.3) 50 (3.6) 45 (1.5) 29 (0.3) 28 (0.4) 60 (4.4) 46 (1.8)
Suburban 40 (0.3) 40 (0.4) 36 (3.7) 43 (2.1) 40 (0.3) 41 (0.4) 31 (4.6) 42 (2.5)
Town 10 (0.3) 11 (0.3) 4 (1.3) 9 (1.8) 12 (0.3) 12 (0.3) 3 (0.8) 6 (1.7)
Rural 19 (0.4) 19 (0.4) 9 (3.7) 3 (1.5) 19 (0.3) 19 (0.3) 6 (1.2) 6 (2.2)
†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 2019 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 In addition to students with an Individualized Education Program (IEP), also includes students with a 504 plan.
4 Nonresponse rate for free or reduced-price lunch was greater than 15 percent but not greater than 50 percent.
NOTE: Includes students tested with accommodations (14 percent of all 4th-graders and 12 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), 2019 Reading Assessment, retrieved November 18, 2019, from the Main NAEP Data Explorer (https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/ndecore/xplore/NDE). (This table was prepared November 2019.)

2020 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest