Test
scores improve for U.S. 9-year-olds
Friday, July 15, 2005 • BY
DARLENE SUPERVILLE • Associated
Press
WASHINGTON -- The nation's 9-year-olds
last year posted their best scores in the building-block
subjects of reading and math in more than three decades.
Older students didn't fare as well.
At the same time, achievement gaps
between racial groups narrowed, according to results of the
2004 National Assessment of Educational Progress announced
yesterday.
Education officials and advocates
attributed the 9-year-olds' performance to a recent emphasis
on elementary schools and getting children reading as early
as possible. They said the results also showed more
attention must be paid to students in secondary
schools.
"We need to go to work," Education
Secretary Margaret Spellings said in an
interview.
Spellings also credited No Child Left
Behind, the education law President Bush signed in January
2002 that mandates frequent testing of students to chart
their progress in reading and math.
On last year's National Assessment,
sometimes known as the nation's report card, 9-year-olds
earned their highest scores since the tests were first given
-- reading in 1971 and math in 1973.
The exams are given periodically to 9-,
13- and 17-year-olds, most recently in 1999.
On a scale of 0-500, the 9-year-olds
scored 219 in reading in 2004, compared with 212 in 1999 and
208 in 1971. In math, they scored 241 last year, 232 in 1999
and 219 in 1973.
Results were mixed for 13-year-olds, and
remained flat for 17-year-olds.
Thirteen-year-olds earned their highest
math scores ever, but their reading scores were just a few
points better than in 1971 and about the same as five years
ago.
In math, their average scores went from
255 in 1973 to 276 in 1999, and climbed to a high of 281 in
2004. In reading, the trend was 255 in 1971, rising to 259
in 1999 and holding at that level in 2004.
Seventeen-year-olds continued a trend of
flat scores in both subjects, although greater percentages
reported taking advanced math, such as second-year algebra
or calculus.
Their reading score of 285 was the same
in 1971 and 2004, while it was 282 in 1999. Math scores
increased from 304 in 1973 to 308 in 1999 before falling
back to 307 in 2004.
© 2005 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
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