A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

Is the Trend Up or Down?

Reading, writing, math, and science have been the focus of much of the educational debate during the past 20 years. Are American students learning more or less in these subjects? How is it possible to compare today's students with those in the past?

Some answers to these questions can be found in NAEP 1992 Trends in Academic Progress. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has regularly conducted since the early 1970s, assesses random samplings of the nation's students attending public and private schools. These assessments provide important information over time about student achievement and the contexts for schooling. By readministering materials and replicating procedures from assessment to assessment, NAEP can determine trends in academic achievement in core curriculum areas and the extent to which the U.S. can meet the challenge of accomplishing its national education goals.

The trends report presents data on science, mathematics, reading, and writing performance based on a variety of multiple-choice and other types of questions. The report provides a basis for describing students' overall achievement in each of the four curriculum areas. To prepare the report, NAEP assessed representative samples of students in grades 4, 8, and 11 for writing and of students ages 9, 13, and 17 for the other three curriculum areas. Approximately 31,000 students were involved in NAEP's 1992 trend assessments. The report characterizes student performance at five levels along the proficiency scales and presents the percentages of students reaching each level. It also includes results for individual tasks in reading and writing.

Trend Results

In general, the trends in science and math show noteworthy improvements during the past decade, while the trends for reading show declines during the same period for some groups.

At all three ages, science performance declined significantly in the 1970s but improved significantly during the 1980s. Compared to 1969 70, average achievement in 1992 was higher at age 9, essentially the same at age 13, and lower at age 17.
Average mathematics proficiency improved between 1973 and 1992 at ages 9 and 13. The data at age 17 parallel the science trends, with declines in performance between 1973 and 1982 followed by recovery. However, performance in 1992 at age 17 had returned to about the initial 1973 level.
Reading performance at age 9 improved significantly between 1971 and 1980, and then declined significantly between 1980 and 1992, returning essentially to the original level. At age 13, little change occurred from assessment to assessment, but average performance was higher in 1992 than in 1971. Seventeen-year-olds made significant gains between 1971 and 1984, although virtually no change has been observed since then. Still, average reading achievement at age 17 was higher in 1992 than in 1971.
Between 1984 and 1992, writing performance of 11th-graders showed little change. Also, writing performance has remained relatively stable at grade 4, despite a significant decrease in 1990 followed by a recovery in 1992. At grade 8 there was a significant improvement between 1984 and 1992.

The trend report also includes data on average proficiency based on race/ethnicity and gender; the levels of courses students are taking; whether they are using computers in the classroom; how much reading they do in school, for homework, and for fun; the amount of time they watch television; and other factors that are related to student performance.

The full report, NAEP 1992 Trends in Academic Progress-319 pages plus a 235-page data appendix-is available from GPO for $41 (stock #065-000-00672-3). The Report in Brief-31 pages that just includes overall data-is $2.25 from GPO (stock #065-000-00671-5). -###-

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