2011 NAEP Scores: Another Step Toward Top 20

Here's the message Stu Silberman sent out yesterday afternoon...

Dear friends and colleagues,

More good news has arrived about our students' scores on reading and math on the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (or NAEP-often called the nation's report card). Our results this time are at or above the national average in both subjects for both fourth- and eighth-graders. Additional exciting news is in the disaggregated results for students who receive free and reduced-price lunch, students with disabilities, African-American students and Hispanic students.

Of course, this doesn't mean we can relax our efforts: our kids still need to achieve at higher levels to be sure they can meet future challenges, and our achievement gaps are still clearly too large. We still have a lot of work to do. Nevertheless, these results show Kentucky moving into national leadership, and we should celebrate that fact even as we continue the important work of lifting student achievement even higher.

And now the details, both in graphs and rankings.

In fourth grade reading, Kentucky students ranked:

• 11^th overall (down from 9^th in 2009)
• 3^rd   among students qualifying for free and reduced lunch
• 3^rd   among students with disabilities
• 9^th   among African-American students*
• 2^nd  among Hispanic students*

In 8^th grade reading, Kentucky students ranked:

• 13^th  overall (up from 16^th in 2009)
• 3^rd    among students qualifying for free and reduced price lunches
• 6^th    among students with disabilities
• 26^th  among African-American students*
• 1^st    among Hispanic students*

In fourth grade math, Kentucky students ranked:

• 25^th  overall (up from 30^th in 2009)
• 19^th  among students qualifying for free and reduced price lunches
• 12^th  among students with disabilities
• 23^rd  among African-American students*
• 8^th    among Hispanic students*

In eighth grade math, Kentucky students ranked:

• 31^st overall (up from 34^th in 2009)
• 20^th among students qualifying for free and reduced price lunches
• 17^th among students with disabilities
• 26^th among African-American students*
• 27^th among Hispanic students*

You can find more detailed information about these results here:  http://www.nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata    
* Some other states have no reported results for African-American or Hispanic students. The rankings listed here are adjusted to the equivalent of 50 state rankings for fairness of comparison.