7/1/2003 -- Fourth graders have shown progress in reading achievement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), released June 19.
Low-performing eighth graders also registered gains, but the average performance of eighth graders has remained flat since 1998, and 12th graders' performance declined slightly from 1998 to 2002.
The Nation's Report Card: Reading 2002 covers 270,000 students from 11,000 public and private schools.
Among the key findings:
• The fourth-grade average score in 2002 was higher than in 1994, 1998, and 2000, but was not found to be significantly different from 1992.
• In 2002, 7 percent of fourth graders scored at the advanced level, 24 percent at the proficient level, 32 percent at the basic level, and 36 percent below basic.
• The percentage of fourth graders who performed at or above the basic level in 2002 was higher than in 1994, 1998, and 2000 but was not found to be significantly different from 1992. The percentage at or above the proficient level was higher in 2002 than in 1992 and 1998.
• The eighth-grade average score in 2002 was higher than in 1992 and 1994.
• In 2002, 3 percent of eighth graders scored at the advanced level, 30 percent were proficient , 43 percent were basic, and 25 percent below basic.
• Scores were higher in 2002 than in 1992 for all but the highest performing eighth graders.
• The percentage of eighth graders who performed at or above basic was higher in 2002 than in all previous assessment years, and the percentage at or above proficient was higher than in 1992 and 1994.
• For 12th graders, the average score in 2002 was lower than in 1992 and 1998.
• Among 12th graders, 5 percent scored at the advanced level, 31 percent were proficient, 38 percent were basic, and 26 percent were below basic.
• The percentages of twelfth graders who performed at or above the basic and proficient levels decreased between 1998 and 2002, and thus fell below levels seen in 1992.
• At grades 4 and 8, both white and black students had higher average scores in 2002 than in 1992. Similar increases across the decade were seen for eighth-grade Hispanic students and fourth-grade Asian/Pacific Islander students.
• In 2002, black fourth-graders narrowed the achievement gap from 1994 with their white counterparts, and Hispanic fourth-graders also narrowed the achievement gap from 2000 with their white counterparts.
• Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont were among the highest-performing states in reading at grade 4 in 2002. At the eighth-grade level, Vermont and Massachusetts had the highest scores, along with the Department of Defense domestic and overseas schools.