Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Nation's Report Card: 2008 Long Term Trends

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2008 long-term trends.

This report presents the results of the NAEP long-term trend assessments in reading and mathematics, which were most recently given in the 2007–08 school year to students at ages 9, 13, and 17. Nationally representative samples of over 26,000 public and private school students were assessed in each subject area. (2007 Reading - grades 4 and 8).

In reading, average scores increased at all three ages since 2004. Average scores were 12 points higher than in 1971 for 9-year-olds and 4 points1 higher for 13-year-olds. The average reading score for 17-year-olds was not significantly different from that in 1971.

2008 Scale: 9 – 220; 13 – 260; 17 – 286
2004 Scale: 9 – 216; 13 – 257; 17 – 283
1971 Scale: 9 – 206; 13 – 255; 17 – 285


Scale scores
The reading and mathematics results are reported as scores on a 0–500 scale. Average scores are reported overall for each age and for selected groups of students.

Reading Performance-Level Descriptions

Level 350: Learn from Specialized Reading Materials
Readers at this level can extend and restructure the ideas presented in specialized and complex texts. Examples include scientific materials, literary essays, and historical documents. Readers are also able to understand the links between ideas, even when those links are not explicitly stated, and to make appropriate generalizations.
Performance at this level suggests the ability to synthesize and learn from specialized reading materials.

Level 300: Understand Complicated Information
Readers at this level can understand complicated literary and informational passages, including material about topics they study at school. They can also analyze and integrate less familiar material about topics they study at school as well as provide reactions to and explanations of the text as a whole.
Performance at this level suggests the ability to find, understand, summarize, and explain relatively complicated information.

Level 250: Interrelate Ideas and Make Generalizations
Readers at this level use intermediate skills and strategies to search for, locate, and organize the information they find in relatively lengthy passages and can recognize paraphrases of what they have read. They can also make inferences and reach generalizations about main ideas and the author’s purpose from passages dealing with literature, science, and social studies.
Performance at this level suggests the ability to search for specific information, interrelate ideas, and make generalizations.

Level 200: Demonstrate Partially Developed Skills and Understanding
Readers at this level can locate and identify facts from simple informational paragraphs, stories, and news articles. In addition, they can combine ideas and make inferences based on short, uncomplicated passages.
Performance at this level suggests the ability to understand specific or sequentially related information.

Level 150: Carry Out Simple, Discrete Reading Tasks
Readers at this level can follow brief written directions. They can also select words, phrases, or sentences to describe a simple picture and can interpret simple written clues to identify a common object.
Performance at this level suggests the ability to carry out simple, discrete reading tasks.

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