Alaska and NAEP

Looking at Patterns of

Performance by Race in Alaska Compared to the Nation

Prepared by Jeanne Foy

Alaska State NAEP Coordinator

NAEP: the Common Measurement of Student Achievement among States

The National Assessment of Educational Progress is called the “gold standard of assessment”

Created in 1969; the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) mandated state participation in NAEP reading and math every other year

Alaska has NAEP data for 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009 (2011 reading and math scores will be released in fall of 2011)

NAEP Trends Show Alaska Stronger in Math than Reading First we will look at how Alaska did

overall compared to other states for grades 4 and 8 in reading and math in 2009

Need to look at subgroup performance and demographics to get a deeper understanding of student achievement

Ethnic groups show different patterns of achievement compared to the nation

Alaska NAEP Scores Weakest for Grade 4 Reading •Green states had

higher scores than Alaska.

•Red states had lower scores than Alaska.

•Yellow states had the same scores as Alaska.

Fewer States Outscore Alaska for Gr. 8 Reading than Gr. 4

Grade 4 Math Ranking Is Better than for Grades 4 and 8 Reading

Alaska Falls in the Middle of State Scores for Gr. 8 Math

Performance by Ethnic Group Reveals More of the Picture

NCLB focused attention on racial achievement gaps

NAEP scores by racial group shows gaps within a state

NAEP state scores for each racial group can also be compared to the national average for that group

Racial Achievement Gaps in Alaska State Tests since 2005

NAEP Scores Show Gaps within State and to the Nation

Methodology. . .

Looking at gaps between Alaska NAEP scores for a racial group and the national performance on NAEP for that group

2009Gr. 4 Reading White Black Hispanic

Asian/Pacific Island

National Public 229 204 204 234

Alaska 226 204 215 208Difference

in Score -3 0 11 -27

Tables will show the difference in scores between Alaska and the nation by race.

Difference from National Scores Reveal Trends in Performance

Gr. 4 ReadingDifference in Alaska Score Compared to the Nation

  2003 2005 2007 2009

White x -3 x -3

Black 12 13 x x

Hispanic 10 8 x 11

Asian/PI -18 -21 -14 -27

AkNat/AmInd -17 -22 -18 -27

•An x indicates there is no difference from the Alaska ethnic group score to the national score for that ethnic group.

• A negative number indicates the Alaska score is lower than the national score.

•A positive number indicates the Alaska score is higher than the national score.

Note: All NAEP scores must be checked to see if differences are statistically significant. Scores that fall within the standard error (plus or minus a certain number) are not considered to be different. All differences in scores in these tables are statistically significant.

Comparisons to Nation across Time Reveal Patterns

Gr. 4 ReadingDifference in Alaska Score Compared to the Nation

  2003 2005 2007 2009

White x -3 x -3

Black 12 13 x x

Hispanic 10 8 x 11

Asian/PI -18 -21 -14 -27

AkNat/AmInd -17 -22 -18 -27

For grade 4 reading:•White students have performed at the national average or slightly below the national average for White students.

• Black students have performed at the national average or above the national average for Black students.

•Hispanic students have generally performed above the national average for Hispanic students.

•Asian/PI and Alaska Native/American Indian students perform below the national average for those racial groups.

All Gaps Are Not Equal: Need to Look at Placement of Gaps

Gr. 4 ReadingDifference in Alaska Score Compared to

the Nation  2003 2005 2007 2009White x -3 x -3Black 12 13 x xHispanic 10 8 x 11Asian/PI -18 -21 -14 -27AkNat/AmInd -17 -22 -18 -27

Asian/PI and Alaska Native/American Indian students have similarly sized gaps compared to the national group, but scores for these groups are not similar.

Demographic Data Provides Useful Background

English Language Learners (ELL) percentage for each ethnic group

Hispanic students in Alaska have a lower ELL percentage than the nation; Asian/PI and Alaska Native/American Indian students in Alaska have higher ELL percentages than the nation.

 2009 Gr. 4 Reading White Black Hispanic Asian/PI

AkNat/ AmInd

National Public 1 1 35 18 6

Alaska 1 3 14 32 21

Alaska in Top Ten States for Gr. 4 for Percentage of ELL Students

National Public 10California 29

Texas 21Nevada 20

New Mexico 16Arizona 15

Colorado 11Oregon 11Alaska 10Hawaii 10

Washington 10Kansas 9Florida 8

Minnesota 8Utah 8D.C. 7

Illinois 7Massachusetts 7

New York 7Arkansas 6Nebraska 6

North Carolina 6Rhode Island 6

Virginia 6Wisconsin 6

DoDEA 6

Connecticut 5Idaho 5

Maryland 5South Carolina 5

Delaware 4Georgia 4Indiana 4

Iowa 4Oklahoma 4Michigan 3Montana 3

New Hampshire 3New Jersey 3

Pennsylvania 3Alabama 2Kentucky 2Louisiana 2Missouri 2

Ohio 2South Dakota 2

Tennessee 2Vermont 2

Wyoming 2Maine 1

Mississippi 1North Dakota 1West Virginia #

Percentage of ELL Students in Each State for 2009 NAEP Gr. 4 Math

Alaska in Top Three States for Gr. 8 for Percentage of ELL Students

National Public 6California 19

Alaska 10New Mexico 10

Nevada 8Colorado 7

Arizona 6Hawaii 6Kansas 6Oregon 6

Texas 6Florida 5

Minnesota 5New York 5

North Carolina 5Arkansas 4

Utah 4Wisconsin 4

DoDEA 4Connecticut 3

D.C. 3Idaho 3

Illinois 3Indiana 3

Montana 3Nebraska 3

Oklahoma 3Rhode Island 3

South Carolina 3Virginia 3

Washington 3Delaware 2

Georgia 2Iowa 2

Maine 2Maryland 2

Massachusetts 2Michigan 2

New Jersey 2Pennsylvania 2

Wyoming 2Alabama 1Kentucky 1Louisiana 1

Mississippi 1Missouri 1

New Hampshire 1North Dakota 1

Ohio 1South Dakota 1

Tennessee 1Vermont 1

West Virginia #

Percentage of ELL Students in Each State for 2009 NAEP Gr. 8 Math

NAEP Uses School Lunch Data for Student Economic BackgroundPercentage of students eligible

for Free or Reduced Lunch for each ethnic group

 2009 Gr. 4 Reading White Black Hispanic Asian/PI

AkNat/AmInd

National Public 29 74 76 34 64

Alaska 28 54 48 54 73

About 75% of Alaska Students Are White or Alaska Native/AmIndian

kdkd

2009 Grade 4

Math  White Black HispanicAsian/

PIAkNat/AmInd Unclassified

National Public

54 16 22 5 1 2

Alaska 50 4 7 8 24 7

Population Percentage of Each Group

NAEP Maps Graphically Illustrate Achievement

This map for grade 4 reading shows few states (the states in green) have White students that score better than the national average for White students.

Reading Gaps Compared to National Scores Improve in Gr. 8

Gr. 8 ReadingDifference in Alaska Score

Compared to the Nation  2003 2005 2007 2009White -3 x x xBlack x x 7 xHispanic x 9 11 13Asian/PI -15 -10 -7 -19

AkNat/AmInd -13 -11 -13 -14

Gr. 4 ReadingDifference in Alaska ScoreCompared to the Nation

  2003 2005 2007 2009

White x -3 x -3

Black 12 13 x x

Hispanic 10 8 x 11

Asian/PI -18 -21 -14 -27AkNat/AmInd -17 -22 -18 -27

White students for gr. 8 reading generally perform at the national average for White students.The gaps for Asian/PI and Alaska Native/American Indian compared to the national scores for those groups are smaller for gr. 8 than for gr. 4.

Another Way of Looking at Gaps

Looking at reading scores for the same year also shows a decrease for gaps between Alaska and national scores for Asian/PI and Alaska Native/American Indian students between gr. 4 and gr. 8.

More Positive Gaps for Alaska Ethnic Groups for Math Scores

Gr. 4 MathDifference in Alaska Score Compared to the Nation  2003 2005 2007 2009White x x x xBlack 6 x 5 xHispanic 7 x x 5Asian/PI -16 -13 -16 -19AkNat/AmInd -7 -7 -12 -11

Gr. 8 MathDifference in Alaska Score Compared to the Nation

  2003 2005 2007 2009White 4 x 4 xBlack 11 12 12 8Hispanic x 11 10 10Asian/PI -9 -25 -14 -18AkNat/AmInd -5 x -5 x

White, Black, Hispanic students performed at the national average or better for those ethnic groups for grade 4 and grade 8.

In 2005 and 2009, for grade 8, Alaska Native/American Indian students had no statistically different score from the national average for that group.

Again, Looking at Placement of Gaps Is Important

Alaska Overall Scores Show Growth from 2003 for 3 NAEP Tests

Alaska NAEP scores show improvement from 2003-2009 in all but gr. 4 reading

Gr. 4 Reading

Year All Students

2003 212

2009 211

Score Difference x

Gr. 8 Reading

Year  All Students

2003 256

2009 259

Score Gain 3

Gr. 4 Math

Year All Students

2003 233

2009 237

Score Gain 4

Gr. 8 Math

Year All Students

2003 279

2009 283

Score Gain 4

Alaska Overall NAEP Trends Mirrored in State Tests

Biggest gains in gr. 8 reading, gr. 4 and gr. 8 math.

For More Information about NAEP in Alaska

http://www.eed.state.ak.us/tls/assessment/naep.html

NAEP State Coordinator:

Jeanne.Foy@alaska.gov