NATION'S REPORT CARD: TRIAL URBAN DISTRICT ASSESSMENT IN MATHEMATICS AND READING 2003

Prepared by Charles E. Smith,
Executive Director

Contact: Lawrence Feinberg
(202) 357-6938

NATION'S REPORT CARD: TRIAL URBAN DISTRICT ASSESSMENT IN MATHEMATICS AND READING 2003

An Executive Summary

The 2003 Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) provides the first comparable data ever on mathematics achievement in ten of the nation's largest urban school districts. It also gives information on student reading performance in these districts, which enroll high proportions of low-income and minority students. Six of the districts took part in NAEP's first trial urban district assessments in 2002, and two of them—Atlanta and Chicago—showed reading gains from a year ago.

The 2003 results for grades 4 and 8 come from urban district samples in these two districts, plus Boston, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, San Diego, and Washington, DC. In each district, a representative sample of students took NAEP under uniform conditions in late January, February, and early March of 2003, at the same time the assessment was administered to state and national samples of students.

The performance of students in Charlotte-Mecklenburg exceeded the national public school averages in mathematics at both grades and matched those in reading. Student performance in all nine other districts was below national averages in both subjects and grades, but there were substantial variations. In many cases, when results are disaggregated, achievement is about the same as that for students in the same subgroups nationwide.

The three million students in the ten districts account for six percent of U.S. public school enrollment. One out of six of the nation's limited-English proficient students, one out of seven minority students, and one out of eight of the nation's low-income students (based on eligibility for free or reduced-price school lunch) are in the participating ten districts.

Overall achievement—after Charlotte-Mecklenburg—was highest in New York City, San Diego, Houston, and Boston. Among black students, achievement was at or above that of black public school students nationwide in all subjects and grades tested in Boston, Charlotte, Houston, and New York City. For example, in fourth grade mathematics, 54 percent of blacks nationwide reached NAEP's Basic achievement level. In Charlotte 73 percent of blacks were at or above Basic; in Houston, 62 percent; New York City, 58 percent; and Boston, 55 percent.

Hispanic students in Charlotte, Houston, and New York City consistently matched or exceeded the national public school averages for Hispanics. Although white enrollment is relatively small, white students in nearly all of the urban school districts scored at or above the national public school averages for whites.

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