NAEP results: 1998+

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) State Profiles
The National Assessment of Educational Progress is, as the name suggests, a national test that lets us know how schools are doing. While each state has its own assessments and sets its own standards for what counts as outstanding (or below-acceptable) performance, the NAEP is uniform in its categories: “proficient” in Kansas means “proficient” in other states. If you click on the link above, you’ll be taken to a page where you may select Kansas from a drop-down list of states.

A quick summary

Here’s a quick summary of how Kansas has fared over the years. Note that it started testing in math in 1998 and in reading in 2000.

Mathematics

The biggest gains, and most impressive performance, came in math.

Mathematics – Grade 4 (NAEP)Scale scores and percentage of students inSpecific achievement levels
	2000	2003	2005	2007	2009
Scale score	232	242	246	248	245
% Below basic	24	15	12	11	11
% Basic+	75	86	88	89	89
% Proficient+	28	42	47	51	46
% Advanced+	2	6	8	9	6
% Not proficient	71	59	53	49	56

There was a big jump between 2000 and 2003, but not much movement since then.

Mathematics — Grade 8Scale scores and percentage of students inSpecific achievement levels
	2000	2003	2005	2007	2009
Scale score	283	284	284	290	289
% Below basic	24	24	23	19	21
% Basic+	76	76	77	82	79
% Proficient+	34	34	34	41	39
% Advanced+	5	6	5	9	8
% Not proficient	66	66	66	59	61

Since 2003, a smaller percentage of students score proficient in grade 8 than in grade 4. And roughly 60 percent are not proficient.

Reading

What about reading scores? Not as good.

Reading – Grade 4Scale scores and percentage of students inSpecific achievement levels
	1998	2000	2002	2003	2005	2007	2009
Scale score	221	na	222	220	220	225	224
% Below basic	30	na	32	34	34	28	28
% Basic+	70	na	68	66	66	72	72
% Proficient+	34	na	34	32	32	36	35
% Advanced+	7	na	7	7	8	8	7
% Not proficient	66	na	66	68	68	64	65

Two out of three are not at grade level.

Then there’s the eighth-grade test, with roughly the same results.

Reading – Grade 8Scale scores and percentage of students inSpecific achievement levels
	1998	2000	2002	2003	2005	2007	2009
Scale score	268	na	269	266	267	267	267
% Below basic	19	na	19	23	22	19	20
% Basic+	81	na	81	77	78	80	80
% Proficient+	36	na	38	35	35	35	33
% Advanced+	2	na	3	3	3	2	2
% Not proficient	64	na	62	65	65	65	67

Clearly, there’s work to do.

NAEP schedule and components

Math and reading tests (grades 4 and 8) are administered every two years: 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017

The latest releases for all states (fourth and eighth grades) came in March, 2009: Reading and math.  ..

The latest release for math results (grades 4 and 8) came in October 2009, for tests given earlier in the year. The latest results for reading (grades 4 and 8 for 2009) were released in March 2010.