Reading Results: Executive Summary for Grades 4 and 8
District Summary
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is an assessment given to a small number of students selected (or sampled) to represent the entire population of fourth, eighth, and twelfth graders in schools across the nation. The Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA), a special project in NAEP, began assessing performance at the district level in selected large urban districts in 2002 with reading and writing assessments, and continued in 2003 and 2005 with reading and mathematics. Ten large urban school districts participated in the 2005 NAEP reading assessment, with Austin participating for the first time. Student samples in these 10 districts were enlarged beyond usual NAEP samples so that reliable district-level data could be produced. This website provides the 2005 NAEP reading results for the participating districts. Results for the District of Columbia, regularly included in state-level NAEP, are also reported, making 11 districts in all. The website compares district results to public school students’ performance in the nation and in large central cities, and to results for the previous assessments in 2002 and 2003, where applicable, using a .05 significance level. For more information, see About Urban Districts.
Reading Results for Grade 4
Average scores for each participating district were lower than the score for the nation, except in Charlotte, where the average was higher, and in Austin, where the average score was not significantly different. Compared with student performance in large central city public schools nationwide, students in Austin, Charlotte, Houston, and New York City scored higher, on average, while average scores in Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, the District of Columbia, and Los Angeles were lower. The percentages of students performing at or above Basic in Austin, Charlotte, and New York City were higher than the percentage for large central cities. The percentages performing at or above Proficient in Austin and Charlotte were higher than the percentage for large central cities. The percentages in Chicago, Cleveland, the District of Columbia, and Los Angeles were lower for both achievement levels than the corresponding percentages in large central cities.
In some cases, urban district students outperformed students in the same racial/ethnic group in large central cities in both average score and percentage performing at or above Basic. This was true of Black students in Charlotte, Houston, and New York City; of White students in Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, the District of Columbia, and Houston; of Hispanic students in Austin, Charlotte, and New York City; and of Asian/Pacific Islander students in New York City. Average scale scores for Black students in Chicago, the District of Columbia, and Los Angeles; for Hispanic students in Los Angeles; and for White students in Cleveland were lower than the average scores for peers in large central cities.
Between 2002 and 2005, both the average reading score and the percentage performing at or above Basic increased in Atlanta and New York City; in Atlanta and Los Angeles, the percentage performing at or above Proficient increased. Between 2003 and 2005, no district showed a significant increase in average score or percentage at or above Basic. In Los Angeles, the percentage of students performing at or above Proficient was higher in 2005 than in 2003.
Reading Results for Grade 8
The average score for each district was lower than the score for the nation, except in Austin and Charlotte, where average scores were not significantly different. Compared with students in large central cities, students in Austin, Boston, Charlotte, and San Diego scored higher, on average, and students in Atlanta, Cleveland, the District of Columbia, Houston, and Los Angeles scored lower. The percentage of students performing at or above Basic in Charlotte was higher than that in large central cities, and the percentages in Atlanta, Cleveland, the District of Columbia, and Los Angeles were lower. Compared with the percentages performing at or above Proficient in large central cities, the percentages in Austin, Boston, and Charlotte were higher, and the percentages in Atlanta, Cleveland, the District of Columbia, Houston, and Los Angeles were lower.
Compared to students of the same race/ethnicity in large central city schools, Black students in Charlotte had a higher percentage performing at or above Basic; Black students in the District of Columbia had a lower average score and percentage performing at or above Basic; Hispanic students in Chicago had a higher average score and percentage performing at or above Basic; Hispanic students in Los Angeles performed lower on both measures; White students in Austin, Charlotte, the District of Columbia, and Houston performed higher on both measures; White students in Los Angeles had a lower percentage performing at or above Basic; and Asian/Pacific Islander students in Boston had a higher average score.
Between 2002 and 2005, the average score in Atlanta increased, and between 2003 and 2005, the average score in Los Angeles increased. Between 2002 and 2005, the percentage of students performing at or above Proficient increased in Atlanta.
Between 2003 and 2005, the gap in average scores between White and Black students in Houston increased, and the gap between White and Hispanic students in Los Angeles decreased.