Minority Students Make Big Gains on NAEP but Gaps Remain | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights

Minority Students Make Big Gains on NAEP but Gaps Remain | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights:

Minority Students Make Big Gains on NAEP but Gaps Remain

By National School Boards Association on July 2, 2013

By Jim Hull, Senior Policy Analyst, National School Boards Association’s Center for Public Education (CPE)
Minority students have made significant gains over the past four decades in both math and reading, according to the 2012 long-term NAEP results. While most white students made significant gains as well, achievement gaps narrowed considerably since minority students made much larger gains than their white peers. However, large achievement gaps still remain.

Reading Results

9 Year Olds

• U.S. 9 year old have made significant gains.
  • Since the first year of NAEP in 1971, student achievement in reading has increased significantly from 208 to 221 (13 points, or just over a year’s worth of learning).

• Racial achievement gaps have narrowed significantly over the past four decades.
  • The Black-White achievement gap narrowed from 44 points in 1971 to 23 points in 2012.
    • Black students increased their scores 36 points over this time period, while White students improved their scores 15 points.