A national report on the results of math and reading tests from the U.S. Department of Education for fourth and eighth graders shows Iowa followed the national trend. Mark Schneider, the commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, talked about the scores for fourth graders.
Schneider says both the reading and math scores increased since 2005 and there’s an increase in the number of students performing at or above basic and proficient levels. He says the score gap between white and black students narrowed in reading, but not in mathematics.
In Iowa, the scores for math among fourth graders went up three points from 2005. The reading scores were up four points, but that was after a drop of two points in 2005. Schneider says the eighth grade scores didn’t increase as much as the fourth grade scores.
Schneider says in both reading and math, a higher percentage of students performed at or above the basic level and the percentage of students performing at or above the proficient increased in mathematics only. The white-black score gap narrowed in mathematics. In Iowa, the eighth grade math scores rose one point, while the reading scores rose four points. Schneider says a long-term look shows positive news in math scores for fourth graders.
The overall grade score for fourth graders in math was higher than any other previous assessment. He says the achievement level percentages for at or above the basic and at or above proficient was higher than ever before. For Iowa the fourth grade math scores were 13 points higher than in 1992. The reading scores were unchanged from 1992. You can see the entire report at the website: nationsreportcard.org .