This section presents findings on early childhood, elementary, and secondary student achievement and other academic outcomes, and reports on improvements in American Indian/Alaska Native student performance and on closing achievement gaps.

Children enter school with varying levels of knowledge and skill (West, Denton, and Germino-Hausken 2000). As students progress through school, it is important to measure their attainment to ensure that they are acquiring necessary skills and understanding challenging subject matter. These academic outcomes are measured as the change in performance over time and through the percentage of students achieving predetermined standards of competence.