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0 <br /> �O�RNING'b°P� <br /> NEWS RELEASE <br /> Embargoed, Hold For Release Until Thursday, November 18, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. ET <br /> CONTACT: Stephaan Harris, (202)357-7504, Stephaan.Harris@ed.gov <br /> High School Seniors Show Gains on 2009 Nation's Report Card <br /> for Reading and Math, but Reading Score Declines Compared to 1992 <br /> Eleven states report results on 12th-Grade NAEP for the first time <br /> (WASHINGTON, DC)–The performance of 12th graders nationwide in reading and <br /> mathematics has improved since 2005, according to new results from the National Assessment <br /> of Educational Progress (NAEP), or The Nation's Report Card—the only nationally <br /> representative measure of what American students know and can do. However, the average <br /> score for reading was lower compared to 1992, and significant achievement gaps among major <br /> raciallethnic groups remain in both subjects. <br /> For the first time, the 2009 results also show the performance of 12th-grade public school <br /> students in the 11 states that volunteered to participate: Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, <br /> Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, South Dakota and West Virginia. <br /> States were not selected based on geography or size, and are also not representative of the <br /> nation. <br /> The 2009 NAEP tested representative samples of 12th graders from 1,670 schools across the <br /> nation. About 52,000 students were assessed in reading and 49,000 in mathematics. The test is <br /> administered and analyzed by the National Center for Education Statistics. <br /> Grade 12 reading results are reported as average scores on a 0 to 500 scale, and mathematics <br /> scores are reported on a 0 to 300 scale. Results are also reported as percentages of students <br /> performing at or above three achievement levels: Basic, Proficient and Advanced. The reading <br /> results are compared to results from five previous assessments conducted since 1992; the <br /> mathematics results are compared only to 2005, when a new framework was adopted, starting a <br /> new trend line. Reading results were based on students' responses to questions designed to <br /> measure reading comprehension across two types of texts: literary and informational. The <br /> mathematics results were based on students' responses to questions designed to measure their <br /> knowledge and skills across four content areas: number properties and operations; <br /> measurement and geometry; data analysis, statistics, and probability; and algebra. <br /> The average reading score for 12th graders overall was 2 points higher than in 2005, but 4 <br /> points lower than in 1992. Thirty-eight percent of students performed at or above Proficient in <br /> reading in 2009—an increase of 3 percentage points from 2005, but not significantly different <br /> from assessment years prior to 2005. The percentage of students performing at or above Basic <br /> was not significantly different from the percentage in 2005, but it was lower than in 1992. There <br /> was no change in the percentage scoring at the Advanced level since 2005, although it <br /> increased by 1 percentage point from 1992. <br />