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The Nation's Report Card: Reading 2005

The Nation's Report Card™, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), is a nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. For over three decades, assessments have been conducted periodically in reading, mathematics, science, writing, history, geography, and other subjects.

By making objective information on student performance available to policy makers at the national, state, and local levels, NAEP is an integral part of our nation's evaluation of the condition and progress of education. Only information related to academic achievement and relevant variables is collected under this program. The privacy of individual students and their families is protected, and the identities of participating schools are not released.

NAEP is a congressionally mandated project of the National Center for Education Statistics within the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education.

This report presents the national and state results of the NAEP assessment in reading and compares them to results from assessments in 2003 and in the first year data were available, usually 1992. In 2005, nationally representative samples of more than 165,000 fourth-grade and 159,000 eighth-grade students nationwide participated in that assessment.

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NAEP Achievement-Level Descriptions

The three NAEP achievement levels, from lowest to highest, are

• Basic – denotes partial mastery of the knowledge and skills that are fundamental for proficient work at a given grade.
• Proficient – represents solid academic performance. Students reaching this level have demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter.
• Advanced – signifies superior performance.

Detailed descriptions of the NAEP achievement levels for each subject and grade can be found on the NAGB web site.

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National Reading Results

Fourth-graders' average score was 1 point higher, and eighth-graders' average score was 1 point lower in 2005 than in 2003 on a 0 to 500 point scale. Average scores in 2005 were 2 points higher than in the first assessment year, 1992, at both grades 4 and 8.

Between 1992 and 2005, there was no significant change in the percentage of fourth-graders performing at or above Basic, but the percentage performing at or above Proficient increased during this time. The percentage of eighth-graders performing at or above Basic was higher in 2005 (73 percent) than in 1992 (69 percent), but there was no significant change in the percentage scoring at or above Proficient between these same years.

Reading Results for Student Groups at Grade 4

White students scored higher on average in reading than their Black and Hispanic peers. The scores for all three racial/ethnic groups, as well as Asian/Pacific Islanders, increased between 1992 and 2005. Looking at the short-term trend, Black and Hispanic students each scored higher on average in 2005 than in 2003. The White – Black and White – Hispanic score gaps narrowed during this same time.

In 2005, students who were eligible for free or reduced-price school lunch and those who were not eligible had higher average scores than in 1998. In the short term, students who were eligible showed a 2-point increase from 2003 to 2005. In 2005, female students scored higher on average than their male counterparts. Male students' average scores increased by 3 points from 1992 to 2005.

Reading Results for Student Groups at Grade 8

White, Black, and Hispanic students scored higher, on average, in 2005 than in 1992. The White – Hispanic score gap decreased by 2 points between 2003 and 2005. The average score for students who were not eligible for free or reduced-price lunch decreased by 1 point between 2003 and 2005. The longer trend between 1998 and 2005 showed no statistically significant changes regardless of free-lunch eligibility.

Both male and female students' average scores showed decreases between 2003 and 2005. In the longer term, the average score for male students was 3 points higher in 2005 than in 1992.

Reading Results for the States

Examining the short-term trends between 2003 and 2005, when all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Department of Defense (DoD) schools were assessed, shows average scores for students at grade 4 increased in 7 states and in the DoD schools and decreased in 2 states. The percentage of students performing at or above Basic increased in 3 states and in the DoD schools and decreased in 2 states.

At grade 8, no state had a higher average score in 2005 than in 2003, and 7 states had lower scores. The percentage of students performing at or above Basic increased in 1 state and decreased in 6 states.

Turning to the longer trend at grade 4, there were 42 states and jurisdictions that participated in both 1992 and 2005. The District of Columbia and 19 states had higher average scores, and 3 states had lower average scores, in 2005 than in 1992. Over the same period, the percentage of students at or above Basic increased in 15 states and decreased in 3 states.

At grade 8, the first state assessment was given in 1998 in 38 states and jurisdictions. Three states had higher average scores in 2005 compared to 1998, and 8 states had lower average scores. The percentage of students performing at or above Basic increased in 3 states and in the DoD schools and decreased in 11 states.

Key Findings

Grade 4

• The national average grade 4 reading score was 2 points higher in 2005 than in 1992, and 1 point higher than in 2003.
• There was no significant difference in the percentage of students performing at or above Basic in 2005 compared to 1992.
• The percentage performing at or above Proficient increased from 29 percent in 1992 to 31 percent in 2005.

Grade 8

• The national average reading score was 2 points higher in 2005 than in 1992 but 1 point lower than in 2003.
• The percentage performing at or above Basic was higher in 2005 than in 1992 but 1 percentage point lower than in 2003.
• The percentage performing at or above Proficient decreased 1 point between 2003 and 2005 and was not significantly different from the percentage in 1992.

Results by Race/Ethnicity

Key Findings

Grade 4

• The average reading scores for White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian/Pacific Islander students were all higher in 2005 than in 1992.
• Black students' average score increased from 198 to 200 between 2003 and 2005. During this same time, average scores for Hispanic students increased from 200 to 203.
• Higher percentages of White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian/ Pacific Islander students performed at or above Basic and at or above Proficient in 2005 than in 1992.

Grade 8

• White, Black, and Hispanic students scored higher, on average, in 2005 than in 1992.
• In 2005, higher percentages of White, Black, and Hispanic students performed at or above Basic than in 1992, and higher percentages of White and Black students performed at or above Proficient than in 1992.
• The percentage of White students performing at or above Proficient decreased by 2 points between 2003 and 2005.

White - Black and White - Hispanic Score Gaps

Another way to view trends in student performance is to determine whether the score "gap" between student groups has narrowed or widened since earlier years. Score gaps are calculated by subtracting the unrounded average scale score of one student group from that of another.

Key Findings

In 2005, at both grades 4 and 8, White students scored higher, on average, than Black and Hispanic students.

Grade 4

• At grade 4, the White - Black score gap narrowed by 2 points between 2003 and 2005 but was not statistically different between 1992 and 2005.
• The White - Hispanic score gap at grade 4 narrowed by 2 points between 2003 and 2005 but was not statistically different between 1992 and 2005.

Grade 8

• The apparent difference between 1992 and 2005 in the White - Black score gap at grade 8 was not statistically significant.
• The White - Hispanic gap at grade 8 narrowed by 2 points between 2003 and 2005 but was not statistically different between 1992 and 2005.

Results by Eligibility for Free/Reduced-Price School Lunch

An indicator of a student's socioeconomic status is whether or not that student is eligible for free or reduced-price lunch under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). NAEP first began collecting information on student lunch eligibility for the reading assessment in 1998; therefore, results for these student groups are not available for 1992 and 1994.

Key Findings

In 2005, students who were not eligible for free or reduced-price school lunch scored higher, on average, than students who were eligible, at both grades 4 and 8.

Grade 4

• Both those who were eligible for free or reduced-price school lunch and those who were not eligible scored higher, on average, in 2005 than in 1998.
• Between 2003 and 2005, the average score for students who were eligible rose 2 points.
• Higher percentages of students who were eligible for free or reduced-price school lunch and of those who were not eligible performed at or above Basic in reading in 2005 than in 2003 or in 1998.
• The percentage of students who were eligible performing at or above Proficient was 3 points higher in 2005 than in 1998.

Grade 8

• Students who were not eligible for free or reduced-price school lunch showed a 1-point decrease in average reading score between 2003 and 2005.
• The percentages of students who were not eligible for free or reduced-price school lunch performing at or above Basic and at or above Proficient decreased by 1 percentage point each between 2003 and 2005.
• There were no significant differences for any group between 1998 and 2005.

Results by Gender

Key Findings

In 2005, female students scored higher on average in reading than male students at both grades 4 and 8.

Grade 4

• Male students had a higher average reading score in 2005 than in 1992.
• The percentage of male students at or above Basic increased by 1 point from 2003 to 2005.

Grade 8

• Male students' average reading score in 2005 was 3 points higher than in 1992 and 1 point lower than in 2003.
• The average score for female students decreased from 269 in 2003 to 267 in 2005 but was not statistically different from the 1992 score.
• The percentages of male and female students scoring at or above Basic and at or above Proficient decreased by 1 to 2 points between 2003 and 2005.
• The percentage of male students performing at or above Basic in reading was higher in 2005 than in 1992.

Results for States and Jurisdictions

Key Findings

Grade 4

• Eight states increased in average reading score between 2003 and 2005, and 2 decreased.
• Between 2003 and 2005, the percentage performing at or above Basic increased in 4 states and decreased in 2.
• Of the 42 states that participated in both the 1992 and 2005 assessments, 20 had higher average scores, and 3 had lower average scores in 2005.
• Between 1992 and 2005, the percentage at or above Basic increased in 15 states and decreased in 3 states.

Grade 8

• No state had a higher average reading score in 2005 than in 2003, and 7 had a lower score.
• The percentage of students performing at or above Basic increased between 2003 and 2005 in 1 state and decreased in 6 states.
• Of the 38 states that participated in both the 1998 and 2005 assessments, 3 had higher average scores in 2005, and 8 had lower average scores.
• Between 1998 and 2005, the percentage at or above Basic increased in 4 states and decreased in 11 states.

Click below to see percentages of students within each achievement level in grade 4 public schools by state.
Figure 11

For More Information

The NAEP initial release web site provides additional information on the NAEP assessments, including an interactive view of state results and links to PDF versions of all NAEP reports, a data tool for exploring results and calculating the statistical significance of differences, and a tool for examining released questions.

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