Educational Outcomes

Reading Performance

On the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), both 4th-graders and 8th-graders scored 4 points higher in reading, on average, than they did in 1992. The 2009 reading score for 12th-graders was 4 points lower than their 1992 score. Females at each grade scored higher than males in 2009. At each grade, White students had higher scores than Black and Hispanic students (see Digest of Education Statistics, 2010, table 125).

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Table 22. Performance of 8th-graders in NAEP reading assessments, by selected characteristics: 1992, 2002, and 2009
Selected characteristic	1992	2002	2009
Average scale score	260	264	264
Sex
Male	254	260	259
Female	267	269	269
Race/ethnicity
White	267	272	273
Black	237	245	246
Hispanic	241	247	249
Asian/Pacific Islander	268	267	274
American Indian/Alaska Native	†	250	251
Parents' highest education level
Did not complete high school	243	248	248
Completed high school	251	257	254
Some postsecondary	265	268	267
Graduated college	271	274	274
† Reporting standards not met. NOTE: Scale ranges from 0 to 500. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity.