TEA News Releases Online

Nov. 1, 2011

Texas Hispanic and African-American students rank
second on eighth-grade NAEP math test

AUSTIN – Texas Hispanic and African-American students earned the second highest score among their peer groups on the 2011 eighth-grade National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics test.  The state’s white eighth grade students ranked fourth, missing out on the second place position themselves by less than one point.

Only Hispanic students in Montana earned a higher scale score on the math test than did eighth-grade Hispanic Texans. Only African-American students in Hawaii earned a higher average score than did their counterparts in Texas.

White students in the District of Columbia earned an average scale score of 319, the highest score for that ethnic group. Texas students ranked fourth, with less than a fraction of a point separating this group from students in Massachusetts and New Jersey. Massachusetts students had the second highest scale score at 304.2876, while Texas received an average score of 303.5460.

Overall, the state ranked 10^th among the states with an average scale score of 290, substantially above the national average score of 283.

“Our Texas eighth graders turned in an outstanding performance. Their performance surpassed levels earned in 2009 when the NAEP was last given. This summer, we learned that the state’s 2011 graduates earned a record high score on the math section of the ACT. Clearly, our increased training for math teachers and improved math curriculum standards are paying off,” said Commissioner of Education Robert Scott.  “However, we know we still have room to grow, which is why we are currently revising our math standards to make sure our improvement continues.”

NAEP 2011 Grade 8 Mathematics 
Scale score range 0-500

Fourth-grade students outpaced most of their ethnic group peers as well and received overall scores that were statistically significantly higher than scores for their national counterparts.

African-American Texans earned the fourth highest score among African-Americans across the country, with students in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Hawaii earning slightly higher scores.

Scores for white Texans ranked seventh, behind the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, Minnesota and Colorado.  Hispanic fourth graders in Texas earned the 12^th highest score. Students in the following jurisdictions earned higher scores: Maryland, Alaska, North Carolina, Montana, Virginia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Florida, Department of Defense schools and Wyoming.

NAEP 2011 Grade 4 Mathematics

NAEP Reading

NAEP, which is called the nation’s report card because it is given to a sampling of students in all states and territories, showed less progress for Texas students in the area of reading.  The state’s overall scores in both grades were slightly lower than the national scores.  However, when compared by ethnic groups, Texas’ three major student groups earned higher scores than their peer groups across the country. Nationally, scores were largely flat between the 2011 and 2009 results as well.

“Our state is seeing little change in the area of reading and English language arts on three tests given to students across the country – the NAEP,ACT and SAT.  We introduced new improved English language arts and reading curriculum standards into Texas classrooms in the 2009-2010 school year, and began providing new instructional material in 2010. The new State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness also significantly ramps up expectations for this area. I am optimistic that these efforts combined will begin to produce improved results soon,” Scott said.

The student group that produced the best results compared to their peers was fourth-grade African-American Texans whose scores were the eighth highest in the country. Scores for white fourth-grade students ranked 12^th, while scores for Hispanics ranked 15^th.

NAEP 2011 Grade 4 Reading  

Reading scores for Texas eighth-grade students are higher than those for the state’s fourth graders and are higher than the national scale score for the three major ethnic groups, but the students don’t fare as well in the state-by-state comparison.

African-American Texans earned the 11th highest average score in the country, while scores for white Texas ranked 15th and Hispanics ranked 24th.

NAEP 2011 Grade 8 Reading

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