The average reading scores for students who were eligible for either free or reduced-price lunch through the National School Lunch Program were higher in 2011 than in any of the previous assessment years. In addition, students who were not eligible for the program scored higher in 2011 than in any of the previous assessment years.
Because of the improved quality of the data on students'
eligibility for NSLP, the percentage of students for whom
information was not available has decreased compared to the
percentages reported prior to the 2003 assessment. See the proportion of students in each category in the NAEP Data Explorer.