National Assessment of Educational Progress Mathematics and Reading Assessments Results

The release of Grades 4 and 8 Mathematics and Reading results for the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often referred to as “the Nation’s Report Card,” given to New Hampshire students last school year confirms the academic achievement of New Hampshire students. For both assessments in both grades, the percentage of New Hampshire students demonstrating Proficiency on the NAEP assessment increased compared to the previous assessment given in 2009. Along with Massachusetts, New Hampshire grade 4 students, on average, continue to have the highest performance compared to grade 4 students in all other states and jurisdictions throughout the nation on the NAEP Mathematics assessment. For Reading, New Hampshire grade 4 students retained their standing as one of the top-six highest performing states in the nation. Of the six, only Massachusetts had higher achievement that was statistically significant compared to New Hampshire. For grade 8, New Hampshire students were among the top-ten highest performing states in the Nation on both the Mathematics and Reading assessments. Only two states - Massachusetts and Minnesota, had higher achievement that was statistically significant compared to New Hampshire on the grade 8 Mathematics assessment. For Reading, only three states - Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey, had higher achievement that was statistically significant compared to New Hampshire’s grade 8 students.

With the exception of grade 8 Mathematics, New Hampshire students saw an Average Scale Score increase of one point in 2011 compared to the previous NAEP assessment in 2009. New Hampshire students reaching an achievement level of at or above Proficient also increased by one percentage point for grades 4 and 8 Mathematics and grade 8 Reading, while grade 4 Reading experienced an increase of two percentage points from 2009 to 2011.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress is conducted at both the state and the national level. For both grades, 4 and 8, the Scale Scores were set ranging from 0 to 500. With respect to achievement levels for the assessment, the Proficient level represents solid academic performance with a demonstration of competency of challenging subject matter. For the NAEP 2011 Mathematics assessment, nearly 200,000 grade 4 students and 165,000 grade 8 students were assessed nationwide. In New Hampshire, approximately 3,300 grade 4 students and 2,700 grade 8 students were assessed. For the NAEP 2011 Reading assessment, approximately 203,000 grade 4 students and 158,000 grade 8 students were assessed nationwide. In New Hampshire, approximately 3,300 grade 4 students and 2,600 grade 8 students were assessed. NAEP selects a representative sample of students by first randomly selecting schools and then selecting the students within those schools who will participate in a given NAEP assessment. Because of the matrix sampling NAEP does not provide individual scores for students or schools. The New Hampshire students sampled from both grades and for both NAEP assessments resembled the actual demographics of the entire New Hampshire student population for both grades.

In order to provide a better understanding of NAEP results and trend implications, New Hampshire’s NAEP State Coordinator prepared two trend analysis reports for the New Hampshire Department of Education (Grades 4 and 8 Reading Results Trend Analysis and Grades 4 and 8 Mathematics Results Trend Analysis ). Both reports look at NAEP result from 2003 to 2011, providing comparisons to the Nation, New England states, and student subgroups within New Hampshire. The reports include demographic descriptions for each state and jurisdiction in the United States, including race/ethnicity, socio-economic, English language proficiency, Disability status, and per pupil expenditure. Trend analysis is provided for each demographic subgroup as well as student performance differences based upon parental education levels. Finally, trend analysis on sub-measures of each assessment is provided.

For questions regarding New Hampshire’s NAEP 2011 Mathematics and Reading results or the NAEP 2003-2011 Trend Analysis reports, contact Tim Eccleston, New Hampshire’s NAEP State Coordinator at (603) 271-2298 or Timothy.Eccleston@doe.nh.gov. Additional NAEP information can also be found at our Web site, www.education.nh.gov/instruction/assessment/naep/index.htm or the Nation’s Report Card Web site, www.nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard.

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