Assessment/Accountability MCAS
National Assessment of Educational Progress

Results for Massachusetts on NAEP 2000 Mathematics

What Is NAEP?

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as 'the Nation's Report Card', is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. Since 1969, assessments have been conducted periodically in reading, mathematics, science, writing, US history, civics, geography, and the arts.

Under the current structure, the Commissioner of Education Statistics, who heads the National Center for Education Statistics in the US Department of Education, is responsible by law for carrying out the NAEP project. The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), appointed by the Secretary of Education but independent of the department, governs the program.

NAEP does not provide scores for individual students or schools; instead, it offers results regarding subject-matter achievement, instructional experiences, and school environment for populations of students (e.g., fourth-graders) and subgroups of those populations (e.g., female students, Hispanic students). NAEP results are based on a sample of student populations of interest.

National NAEP

National NAEP reports information for the nation and specific geographic regions of the country. It includes students drawn from both public and nonpublic schools and reports results for student achievement at grades 4, 8 and 12.

These assessments follow the curriculum frameworks developed by the NAGB and use the latest advances in assessment methodology. For example, NAEP assessments include a large percentage of constructed-response questions and questions that require the use of calculators and other materials. Innovative types of questions have been used in assessments such as the arts (theatre, music, and visual arts) and science to measure students' ability to perform hands-on tasks.

As the content and nature of the NAEP instruments evolve to match instructional practice, we reduce the ability of the assessment to measure change over time in student performance. While short-term trends can be measured in many of the NAEP subjects (e.g., mathematics, reading), the more reliable instrument of change over time is the NAEP long-term trend assessment.

State NAEP

Since 1990, NAEP assessments have also been conducted on the state level. States that choose to participate receive assessment results that report on the performance of students in that state. In its content, the state assessment is identical to the assessment conducted nationally. However, because the national NAEP samples were not, and are not currently designed to support the reporting of accurate and representative state-level results, separate representative samples of students are selected for each participating jurisdiction/state.

In 2000, state NAEP assessed mathematics and science at grades 4 and 8. In state NAEP in mathematics, 41 state and 6 jurisdictions participated.

Two Samples

Many educators have expressed concern that students with special needs were not accurately represented in previous NAEP samples at the state and national levels. Rules for test accommodations were changed to allow greater participation by student with special needs and to be consistent with assessment requirements under Title I and the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The results of the 2000 NAEP assessments are reported for two samples. The sample in which accommodations were not permitted can be used to examine trends since the program's commencement, because it is most like the samples in previous NAEP administrations. The sample in which accommodations were permitted includes more students with special needs, and will be used to examine trends from 2000 onward.

Highlights: State Results on NAEP 2000 Grade 4 Mathematics

Grade 4 Mathematics Achievement, Massachusetts Public School Students 2000

• For the sample in which accommodations were not permitted, public school students in Massachusetts performed above the national average on the NAEP 2000 State Assessment in Mathematics. The average scale score for Massachusetts was 235, higher than the national average of 226.
• For the sample in which accommodations were permitted, public school students in Massachusetts performed above the national average on the NAEP 2000 State Assessment in Mathematics. The average scale score for Massachusetts was 233, higher than the national average of 225.
• Massachusetts students continued to show improvement on the grade 4 NAEP mathematics assessment since the Commonwealth began participating in state-level NAEP assessments in 1992. This improvement can be seen in three ways:
  1. The average scale score for grade 4 public school students in Massachusetts in 2000 was 6 points higher than the average scale score in 1996 (229), and 8 points higher than the average scale score in 1992 (227).
  2. The percentage of Massachusetts students who scored below the Basic level decreased from 1996 to 2000. In 2000, 21 percent of Massachusetts students were below Basic, compared to 29 percent in 1996 and 32 percent in 1992.
  3. The percentage of Massachusetts students who scored at or above the Proficient level increased from 1996 to 2000. In 2000, 33 percent of Massachusetts students scored at or above Proficient, compared to 24 percent in 1996 and 23 percent in 1992. Nationally, 25 percent of students scored at or above Proficient in 2000.
• Based on average scale scores, Massachusetts was one of the top jurisdictions on the grade 4 mathematics assessment for both samples.
  • For the sample in which accommodations were not permitted, other top achieving states were Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, North Carolina, Texas and Vermont.
  • For the sample in which accommodations were permitted, other top achieving states were Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Texas and Vermont.
  • All other jurisdictions scored lower than Massachusetts in both samples.

Gender. Results are reported by gender for the sample in which accommodations were not permitted.

• Males in Massachusetts had an average scale score of 237, which was 10 points above the national average (227).
• Females in Massachusetts had an average scale score of 233, which was 8 points above the national average (225).
• Both males and females performed higher in 2000 than in 1996 and in 1992.
• The four-point difference between males' and females' scale scores in 2000 was not statistically significant.
• 36 percent of male students scored at or above Proficient in 2000. This was higher than 1996 (27 percent) and 1992 (25 percent).
• 31 percent of female students scored at or above the Proficient level in 2000. This was higher than 1996 (22 percent) and 1992 (21 percent).

Race/Ethnicity. Results are reported by race/ethnicity for the sample in which accommodations were not permitted.

• White students' average scale score was 241. This was higher than their average scale scores in 1996 (233) and 1992 (227). The percentage of White students at or above Proficient (39%) was higher than in 1996 (28%) and in 1992 (27%).
• Black students' average scale score was 212. This was higher than their average scale scores in 1996 (208) and 1992 (194), but the differences are not statistically significant.
• Hispanic students' average scale score was 210. This was similar to their score of 211 in 1996.
• Asian/Pacific Islander students' average scale score was 239. This was higher than their scores in 1996 (237) and 1992 (229), although the differences are not statistically significant. (Because the sample of Asian/Pacific Islander students was small, the standard error is large and the difference between 2000 and 1992 are not statistically significant.)

Highlights: State Results on NAEP 2000 Grade 8 Mathematics

Grade 8 Mathematics Achievement, Massachusetts Public School Students 2000

• For the sample in which accommodations were not permitted, public school students in Massachusetts performed above the national average on the NAEP 2000 State Assessment in Mathematics. The average scale score for Massachusetts was 283, higher than the national average of 274.
• For the sample in which accommodations were permitted, public school students in Massachusetts performed above the national average on the NAEP 2000 State Assessment in Mathematics. The average scale score for Massachusetts was 279, higher than the national average of 273.
• Massachusetts students continued to show improvement on the grade 8 NAEP mathematics assessment since the Commonwealth began participating in state-level NAEP assessments in 1992. This improvement can be seen in three ways:
  1. The average scale score for grade 8 public school students in Massachusetts in 2000 was 5 points higher than the average scale score in 1996 (278), and 10 points higher than the average scale score in 1992 (273).
  2. The percentage of Massachusetts students who scored below the Basic level decreased from 1996 to 2000. In 2000, 24 percent of Massachusetts students were below Basic, compared to 32 percent in 1996 and 37 percent in 1992.
  3. The percentage of Massachusetts students who scored at or above the Proficient level increased from 1996 to 2000. In 2000, 32 percent of Massachusetts students scored at or above Proficient, compared to 28 percent in 1996 and 23 percent in 1992. Nationally, 26 percent of students scored at or above Proficient in 2000.
• Based on average scale scores, Massachusetts was one of the top jurisdictions on the grade 8 mathematics assessment for both samples.
  • For the sample in which accommodations were not permitted, only one state-Minnesota (288)-had a higher average scale score than Massachusetts (283). Massachusetts performed comparably to Connecticut, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon and Vermont. All other jurisdictions scored lower than Massachusetts.
  • For the sample in which accommodations were permitted, two states-Minnesota (287) and Montana (285)-had higher average scale scores than Massachusetts (279). Massachusetts performed comparably to Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, Wyoming and Department of Defense Dependents' Schools (Overseas). All other jurisdictions scored lower than Massachusetts.

Gender. Results are reported by gender for the sample in which accommodations were not permitted.

• Males in Massachusetts had an average scale score of 285, which was 9 points above the national average (276).
• Females in Massachusetts had an average scale score of 281, which was 8 points above the national average (273).
• Males performed significantly higher in 2000 than in 1996 and in 1992. Females scored significantly higher in 2000 than in 1992 only.
• The four-point difference between males' and females' performance in 2000 was not statistically significant.
• 34 percent of male students scored at or above Proficient in 2000. This was statistically different from 1992 (26 percent), but not statistically different from 1996 (29 percent).
• 30 percent of female students scored at or above Proficient in 2000. This was statistically different from 1992 (21 percent) , but not statistically different from 1996 (26 percent).

Race/Ethnicity. Results are reported by race/ethnicity for the sample in which accommodations were not permitted.

• The average scale score for Hispanic students in 2000 (259) was higher than in 1996 (242) and in 1992 (241).
• White students' average scale score in 2000 (289) was higher than in 1996 (283) and in 1992 (278). The percentage of White students at or above Proficient (37 percent) was higher than in 1992 (26 percent).
• Black students' average scale score was 254. This was higher than their average scale scores in 1996 (250) and 1992 (244), but the differences are not statistically significant.
• Asian/Pacific Islander students' average scale score was 295. This was higher than their scale score in 1996 (277).

Differences in Mean Scale Scores on NAEP Grade 4 Mathematics, 1992-2000: Massachusetts, Northeast and Nation

Distribution of Achievement Levels on NAEP Grade 4 Mathematics, 1992-2000: Massachusetts, Northeast and Nation

Differences in Mean Scale Scores on NAEP Grade 8 Mathematics, 1992-2000: Massachusetts, Northeast and Nation

Distribution of Achievement Levels on NAEP Grade 4 Mathematics, 1992-2000: Massachusetts, Northeast and Nation

Average scale and achievement level results for public school students at grade 4Changes in Average Scale Scores on Grade 4 and Grade 8 NAEP Mathematics, 1992-2000, by Race/Ethnicity: Massachusetts and Nation

White	Asian/Pacific Islander*
Black	Hispanic
* In some years, the sample of Asian/Pacific Islander students was too small to report average scale scores and standard errors. For those years, no point is shown on the graph.