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This article was originally published as the Executive Summary of the Statistical Analysis Report of the same name. The sample survey data are from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 1998 and 2002 Writing Assessments. | |||
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is an ongoing nationally representative sample survey of student achievement in core subject areas. Authorized by Congress and administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education, NAEP regularly reports to the public on the educational progress of fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students. This report presents the results of the NAEP 2002 Writing Assessment for the nation at grades 4, 8, and 12 and for participating states and other jurisdictions at grades 4 and 8. Assessment results are described in terms of average writing score on a 0–300 scale and in terms of the percentage of students attaining each of three achievement levels: Basic, Proficient, and Advanced. The achievement levels are performance standards adopted by the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) as part of its statutory responsibilities. The achievement levels are a collective judgment of what students should know and be able to do for each grade tested. As provided by law, NCES, upon review of a congressionally mandated evaluation of NAEP, determined that the achievement levels are to be considered developmental and should be interpreted with caution. However, both NCES and NAGB believe that these performance standards are useful for understanding trends in student achievement. They have been widely used by national and state officials as a common yardstick of academic performance. The results presented in this report are based on representative samples of students for the nation and for participating states and other jurisdictions. Approximately 276,000 students from 11,000 schools were assessed. The national results reflect the performance of students attending both public and nonpublic schools, while the results for states and other jurisdictions reflect only the performance of students attending public schools. Information about writing achievement for students in selected urban school districts is presented in The Nation's Report Card: Writing 2002, Trial Urban District Assessment (Lutkus et al. 2003), summarized earlier in this issue of the Quarterly. In addition to providing average scores and achievement-level performance in writing for the nation and states and other jurisdictions, this report provides results for subgroups of students defined by various background characteristics. A summary of major findings from the NAEP 2002 assessment is presented below. Comparisons are made to national results from the 1998 assessment. The NAEP 1998 Writing Assessment was not administered at the state level at grade 4; therefore, state-level comparisons are presented only for grade 8. Overall Writing Results for the Nation and the States
Writing results for the nation
Writing results for the states and other jurisdictions
Results from the 2002 assessment are reported for 48 states and other jurisdictions at grade 4, and 47 states and other jurisdictions at grade 8. Results are reported only for public school students at the state level. At grade 4
Figure A. Average writing scale scores, grades 4, 8, and 12: 1998 and 2000
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 1998 and 2002 Writing Assessments. (Based on figure 2.1 on p. 18 of the complete report from which this article is excerpted.)
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Figure B. Comparison of state and national public school average writing scores, grades 4 and 8: 2002 1Department of Defense Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools. 2Department of Defense Dependents Schools (overseas). SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2002 Writing Assessment. (Originally published as figures 2.4 and 2.5 on pp. 25 and 26 of the complete report from which this article is excerpted.) |
National and State Writing Results for Student Subgroups
In addition to overall results for the nation and for the states and other jurisdictions, NAEP reports on the performance of various subgroups of students. Observed differences between student subgroups in NAEP writing performance most likely reflect the interaction of a range of socioeconomic and educational factors not addressed in this report or by NAEP.
National results
Gender
Eligibility for free/reduced-price lunch The program providing free/reduced-price lunch is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for children near or below the poverty line. Eligibility is determined by the USDA's Income Eligibility Guidelines (http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/governance/notices/IEGs/IEGs.htm).
Title I participation Title I is a federally funded program that provides educational services to children who live in areas with high concentrations of low-income families. Due to recent changes in how the program is administered, comparisons to previous assessment year results are not available.
State and other jurisdiction results
Gender
Figure C. Average writing scale scores, by race/ethnicity, grades 4, 8, and 12: 1998 and 2002
NOTE: Italicized scale score values indicate that two or more groups had the same average scale score when rounded: Grade 4, 1998: Black and American Indian/Alaska Native students (the 1998 score was significantly different from 2002 only for Black students); Grade 8, 1998: Black and Hispanic students (the 1998 scores were significantly different from 2002 for both Black and Hispanic students); Grade 8, 2002: White and Asian/Pacific Islander students, and Hispanic and American Indian/Alaska Native students. Quality control activities and special analysis raised concerns about the accuracy and precision of grade 12 American Indian/Alaska Native data in 2002. As a result, they are omitted from this report.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 1998 and 2002 Writing Assessments. (Taken from figure 3.3 on p. 46 of the complete report from which this article is excerpted.)
Lutkus, A.D., Daane, M.C., Weiner, A.W., and Jin, Y. (2003). The Nation's
Report Card: Writing 2002, Trial Urban District Assessment. U.S. Department
of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Washington, DC: National
Center for Education Statistics.
For technical information, see the complete report:
Persky, H.R., Daane, M.C., and Jin, Y. (2003). The
Nation's Report Card: Writing 2002 (NCES 2003–529).
Author affiliations:
H.R. Persky, M.C. Daane, and Y. Jin, Educational Testing Service.
For questions about content, contact Taslima Rahman (taslima.rahman@ed.gov).
To obtain the complete report (NCES
2003–529), call the toll-free ED Pubs number (877–433–7827)
or visit the NCES Electronic Catalog (http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch).
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