NATION'S REPORT CARD: TRIAL URBAN DISTRICT ASSESSMENT IN READING AND WRITING 2002

NATION'S REPORT CARD: TRIAL URBAN DISTRICT ASSESSMENT IN READING AND WRITING 2002

An Executive Summary

Prepared by Charles E. Smith, Executive Director

The first ever NAEP 2002 Trial Urban District Assessments in Reading and Writing being released today yielded a wealth of baseline data about the performance of fourth and eighth graders in six of the nation’s urban school districts – Atlanta, Chicago, District of Columbia, Houston, Los Angeles, and New York City.

On the surface, the report contains few surprises. The performance of students in all six districts was lower than the national average in most categories. A notable exception was that Houston and New York City fourth graders had average scale scores and percentages at or above Proficient in writing comparable to the national average.

However, the real news may be found in some of the disaggregated data contained in the NAEP report. A few highlights follow:

Black fourth graders in Houston and New York City achieved average scores in Writing that were significantly higher than the national average for Blacks.

The percentage of New York City Black fourth graders performing at or above Proficient in Writing was significantly higher than the national average for Blacks.

In Reading and Writing, White fourth graders in Atlanta and the District of Columbia scored significantly higher than the national average for Whites in both average scores and percentages at or above Proficient. New York City Whites had an average score significantly higher than the national average for Whites in Writing.

In the category of fourth-grade students eligible for free/reduced price school lunch, Houston and New York City produced average scores in both Reading and Writing that were comparable to the national average. In the percentages at or above Proficient in writing, Houston, Los Angeles, and New York City students eligible for free/reduced price school lunch performed at a level comparable to the nation as a whole in that category.

The Trial Urban District Assessment program has had the strong support of the Council of the Great City Schools and its executive director, Michael Casserly. The participating urban districts all volunteered and were approved by the National Assessment Governing Board.

The 2002 TUDA data will serve the districts as a benchmark for studying changes in the performance of representative samples of their students and of particular subgroups. Clearly, the urban districts have a huge challenge in bringing student performance to acceptable standards. However, the willingness of school district leaders and the Council of the Great City Schools to put their schools on the line with NAEP is a clear signal that they are serious in their efforts to be accountable and strongly committed to improving achievement.

Later this year, the 2003 Trial Urban District Assessment in Reading and Mathematics will be released. It will include the six districts in the 2002 assessment plus four new ones – Boston, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Cleveland and San Diego.

Following is a summary of findings from the 2002 assessments:

Reading – Grade 4

Students in all six urban districts performed significantly below the nation as a whole in average scores and percentages at or above Proficient.

The average scores for students in Houston and New York City were higher than those in the other districts and were not found to differ significantly from each other. The percentages of fourth graders performing at or above Proficient were not found to differ significantly across the six districts.

Whites in Atlanta and the District of Columbia produced average scores and percentages scoring at or above Proficient that were significantly higher than Whites in the nation as a whole, while the performance of Whites in the other four participating urban districts was comparable to the national average in both categories.

Blacks in Houston and New York City had average scores and percentages scoring at or above Proficient that were comparable to the national average for Blacks, while the performance of Blacks in the other participating urban districts was significantly below the nation in both categories.

Average reading scores of Hispanics in the District of Columbia, Houston, and New York City were comparable to the national average for Hispanics, while the percentages of Hispanics in Houston and New York City at or above Proficient were on par with that of the Hispanic national average.

Houston and New York City fourth graders eligible for free/reduced price school lunch had average scores comparable to the national average in this category.

Reading – Grade 8

Students in all six urban districts performed significantly below the nation as a whole in average scores and percentages at or above Proficient.

The average scores for students in Chicago and Houston were higher than those in the other districts and were not found to be significantly different from one another. The percentage of students performing at or above Proficient in Houston was significantly higher than the percentages achieved by Atlanta, the District of Columbia, and Los Angeles.

The average scores of Whites in Atlanta and Chicago were comparable to that of Whites in the nation as a whole, while Houston Whites scored significantly higher than the national average. All four districts registered percentages at or above Proficient that were not significantly different from that of the nation. The District of Columbia sample size was too small to permit a reliable estimate, and data for New York City was not published because the district did not meet the required 70 percent school participation rate.

Blacks in Chicago and Houston achieved average scores comparable to the national average for Blacks, and in both of those cities as well as Los Angeles the performance of Blacks at or above Proficient was not significantly different from that of the nation as a whole for Blacks.

Hispanics in Chicago, the District of Columbia, and Houston had average reading scores as well as percentages at or above Proficient comparable to the national average for Hispanics.

Writing – Grade 4

The average score for students in the nation was higher than the average score in each of the six districts except New York City and Houston, where the average scores were not found to be significantly different from the national average score. The same was true for the percentage of students performing at or above Proficient.

Among the districts, New York City’s average score was higher than those in all other districts except Houston. The average score for students in Houston was higher than average scores in Atlanta, Chicago, and the District of Columbia. The percentage of students performing at or above Proficient ranged from 11 per cent in the District of Columbia to 27 per cent in New York City.

At Grade 4, White students in Atlanta, the District of Columbia, and New York City achieved average scores significantly higher than the national average for Whites, while the other three urban districts had scores comparable to the nation as whole for Whites.

The average scores of Blacks in Houston and New York City were significantly higher than the national average achieved by Blacks, while Atlanta and Los Angeles Blacks had average scores comparable to the national average for Blacks. The percentage of New York City Black fourth graders performing at or above Proficient was significantly higher than the national average for Blacks, while Atlanta, Houston, and Los Angeles had performance comparable to that national average.

Hispanics in all districts except Atlanta (sample size too small to permit a reliable estimate) performed comparably to Hispanics across the nation in average scores, while the District of Columbia, Houston, and New York City had performance at or above Proficient that was comparable to the nation as a whole for Hispanics.

Houston, Los Angeles, and New York City students eligible for free/reduced price school lunch had average scores and percentages at or above Proficient comparable to those at the national level in that category.

Writing – Grade 8

Students in each of the six urban districts performed significantly below the nation as a whole in average scores and percentages at or above Proficient.

The average score in Houston was higher than the average scores in Atlanta, the District of Columbia, and Los Angeles. The average score in Chicago was higher than the average scores in the District of Columbia and Los Angeles and not found to differ significantly from those of Houston and Atlanta. The percentages of eighth graders performing at or above Proficient in Chicago and Houston were not found to differ significantly from each other, and both were higher than the comparable percentages in the District of Columbia and Atlanta.

At Grade 8, Whites in Houston scored above the national average for Whites, while Atlanta and Chicago produced average scores comparable to their counterparts in the nation as a whole. Houston Whites also produced a percentage at or above Proficient that exceeded the national average for Whites.

Black eighth graders in Houston scored comparably to the national average and had a percentage at or above Proficient comparable to the nation as a whole in that category.

In Chicago, the District of Columbia, and Houston, Hispanics produced average scores and percentages at or above Proficient comparable to Hispanics in the nation as a whole.