About Urban Districts: 2005 Science Assessment

The 10 districts participating in the 2005 science Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) were

Only public school students participated in the 2005 TUDA science assessment, so throughout this website scores are compared to public school averages for the nation and large central cities. Large central cities (cities with a population of 250,000 or more) provide a comparison that is more reflective of these student populations. As this is the first science TUDA assessment, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) cannot compare student performance in the districts to prior years to determine if the districts are making progress.

The Trial Urban District Assessment provides a snapshot of urban performance and insight into the unique makeup of urban districts. As shown in tables below, the percent of minority (not White) students ranges from about 60 percent to more than 90 percent in the participating districts, compared to about 40 percent nationally in public schools at both grades 4 and 8. The percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price school lunch ranges from 43 percent to 100 percent in the districts compared with a range of 39 to 45 percent nationally in public schools at both grades. Most of these districts also have numerically higher percentages of students identified as English language learners than public schools nationally.