The 2009 NAEP Reading Scores and the Need to Learn from New Jersey’s Literacy Program

Reading scores for American students have not budged much since two years ago, according to the Nation’s Report Card released yesterday by the Institute of Education Sciences. The report is based on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a test administered to samples of students nationwide to measure reading comprehension across literary and informational texts. 

The scores remain underwhelming. A third of students, the report shows, are unable to read at basic levels in the fourth grade.
 

• Two thirds of fourth graders performed at the “basic” reading level or higher. At the basic level, a 4^th grader can “recognize a main idea not explicitly stated in an article,” or “use information across text” to infer a character trait in a story.
• One third of 4^th grade students performed at the “proficient” reading level or higher. At this level, a student can “use information from an article to provide and support an opinion,” and “provide cross-text comparison of two characters’ feelings” in a story.
• Racial and ethnic gaps persist in the 2009 scores. Gaps in achievement between racial and ethnic groups didn’t narrow or widen between 2007 and 2009, nor did the gap between students who are and are not eligible for free- or reduced-price lunch.
• Between 2007 and 2009, scores increased in three states (DC, Kentucky, and Rhode Island) and decreased in four states (Alaska, Iowa, New Mexico, and Wyoming).