Massachusetts tops the nation in annual NAEP reports.
Getting beyond the headlines, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test scores or The Nation’s Report Card provides a wealth of data on public, private and charter schools across the country. The website for NAEP results and the Massachusetts results summary has a treasure trove of data, reports and visualizations.
The NAEP reading and mathematics assessments are administered to public and private schools across the country. A representative sample of students from each state in grades 4 and 8 were administered the NAEP assessment in reading and mathematics from January to March in 2019.
The mathematics assessed by NAEP include number properties and operations; measurement; geometry; data analysis, statistics, and probability; and algebra. The assessment was administered to approximately 149,500 fourth-graders from 8,280 schools and 147,400 eighth-graders from 6,960 schools. The test was given on tablets with keyboards. Students were given sixty minutes to complete the assessment.
The NAEP reading assessment calls for students to read grade-appropriate texts reflecting many content areas and respond to both multiple choice and open-ended questions about the texts they read.The assessment was administered to approximately 150,600 fourth-graders from 8,300 schools and 143,100 eighth-graders from 6,960 schools.
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) summarized the 2019 results in their press release:
Grade 4 Reading
- Massachusetts had the top scale score (231). Massachusetts was first alone,
- 45 percent of all Massachusetts fourth graders scored Proficient or above, significantly higher than the national average of 34 percent and statistically different from 2017 (51 percent).
- In 2019, Asian/Pacific Islander students had the highest average scale score (245), followed by white students (239), black students (213) and Hispanic students (212).
- 61 percent of Asian students scored Proficient or above, as did 54 percent of whites, 24 percent of blacks, and 25 percent of Hispanics.
Grade 8 Reading
- Massachusetts was the state with the top scale score (273). New Jersey and Connecticut scored statistically the same, and all other states scored lower.
- 45 percent of all Massachusetts students scored Proficient or above, significantly higher than the national public school rate of 32 percent and statistically different from 2017 (49 percent).
- In 2019, Asian students had an average scale score of 292, whites 279, Hispanics 251 and blacks 259.
Grade 4 Mathematics
- Students in Massachusetts scored statistically the same as Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Virginia and Wyoming, and all other states scored lower.
- 50 percent of all Massachusetts students scored Proficient or above, significantly higher than the national average of 40 percent.
- In 2019, Asian students had an average scale score of 272, whites 254, Hispanic 232 and Blacks 232.
Grade 8 Mathematics
- Students in Massachusetts had the top scale score (294). New Jersey scored statistically the same, and all other states scored lower.
- 47 percent of all Massachusetts students scored Proficient or above, significantly higher than the national average of 33 percent.
- In 2019, Asian students had an average scale score of 331, whites 302, Hispanics 269 and blacks 267.