2007 NAEP Results

The 2007 reports from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Reading and Mathematics tests have been released. To see Oklahoma's results, head to the Oklahoma State Profile. Here is the press release from the Oklahoma State Department of Education:

Oklahoma one of only 14 states to make gains in mathematics
Garrett: results in math, reading being analyzed for ongoing instructional efforts

OKLAHOMA CITY – State Superintendent Sandy Garrett said there is valuable information in the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the results currently are being reviewed by state curriculum directors to help ongoing improvement efforts in math and reading instruction. Stronger performance in mathematics is particularly notable.

NAEP is administered every other year to a sample of students from each state for Grade 4 and 8 reading and math. The sample from each state is not the same in terms of demographics but rather is supposed to be a statistical reflection of the student demographics for each particular state. Results are reported as scale scores ranging from 0 to 500.

In 2007, a sample of approximately 2,800 Oklahoma students took portions of each of the four NAEP exams. The sample was comprised of 40 percent minority students (20 percent were American Indian, 10 percent were Black, 8 percent were Hispanic and 2 percent were Asian) and approximately 52 percent of the sample qualified for free and/or reduced lunch, a federal poverty indicator. Oklahoma students who participated in NAEP did so sometime between late January 2007 and March 2007.

Garrett said that Oklahoma’s 2007 NAEP results, as compared to the previous series of tests in 2005, include the state being 1 of only 14 states to make gains at both Grade 4 and 8 mathematics, gains at Grade 4 reading, and the state remaining statistically unchanged in Grade 8 reading but statistically at the national average.

“NAEP is unlike any other assessment in which Oklahoma participates,” Garrett said. “It is a challenging exam that requires essay and short-answer responses. NAEP results can be helpful in pinpointing areas for additional instructional focus.”

State and local curriculum directors will be using NAEP results and sample questions in their professional development efforts with Oklahoma teachers. Garrett said she is urging lawmakers to invest more in Oklahoma’s state tests of reading and mathematics because they are currently multiple-choice only. The types of questions on the state tests should be expanded, Garrett said, to be more “NAEP-like” and include open-ended questions requiring essay and short-answer responses. Such questions are more expensive to develop and score on a statewide level.

Garrett also said she and her staff would be following the suggestion of the U.S. Department of Education to focus analysis of NAEP performance from 2003 to 2007 because the time span:
- Helps gauge the impact of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law enacted in 2002;
- Includes comparison data for all 50 states as 2003 was the first year every state participated in NAEP; and
- Includes a more scientific sampling of Oklahoma students.

“Like the nation, we have had dramatic student demographic changes and soon should be a minority-majority state in terms of our student population,” Garrett said. “The percentage of our students taking the test who are white has fallen while the percentage of American Indian, Hispanic and low-income test-takers has climbed. It’s helpful for us to look specifically at recent years to see if we’ve been responding effectively to greater and changing demands in the classroom.”

It is important to note that NAEP results for each state include only public school students while NAEP national results reported by the National Center for Education Statistics today include both public and private school results.

Key NAEP findings for Oklahoma on the 2007 mathematics assessment include:

• Oklahoma is one of only 14 states to make gains at both Grades 4 and 8 from 2005 to 2007.

• Oklahoma is one of only 23 states to make gains at Grade 4 and one of only 26 states to make gains at Grade 8 from 2005 to 2007.

• In 2007, Oklahoma came close to reaching the national average scale score in both Grade 4 and Grade 8.

• Oklahoma American-Indian students (1 out of every 5 Oklahoma students) are out-performing their peers nationally in 2007. In Grade 4, they scored a 234, compared to 229 for their national peers. Moreover, while 28 percent of American

• Indian students scored Below Basic nationally, 20 percent of American Indian students in Oklahoma did. For Grade 8, American Indian students scored a 269, compared to the 265 their national peers scored.

• There was no statistical difference between Oklahoma and the nation in Black and Hispanic performance at Grade 4 and no difference at Grade 8 in Black performance in the 2007 results.

• Oklahoma students who qualified for free and reduced lunch in Grade 4 outperformed (230) students nationally living in poverty (227) and there was no statistical difference between the nation (265) and Oklahoma (264) at Grade 8.

• In Oklahoma, the percentage of students who performed as “at or above Basic” was not statistically different from that for the nation’s public schools in Grade 4 and came close to being considered statistically the same in Grade 8 (66 percent for Oklahoma, compared to 70 percent nationally).

• Oklahoma has made steady gains in Grade 4 and 8 math since 2003, the year after NCLB took affect.

Key NAEP findings for Oklahoma on the 2007 reading assessment include:

• Oklahoma students have made gains at Grade 4 since 2003, but the scaled score at Grade 8 for Oklahoma, as well as that for the nation, has been statistically level. Moreover, there is no statistical difference between Oklahoma’s scale score for Grade 8 and the nation’s score in reading.
• With the exception of Hispanics, all subgroups in Oklahoma at Grade 4 and Grade 8 either made gains or performed statistically the same in reading from 2003 to 2007. At Grade 4, white students increased their score from 220 to 223; Blacks climbed to 204 from 195; American Indian students rose to 213 from 206, but Hispanics fell to 198 from 200.
• At Grade 8, there was no statistical difference in White, Black and American Indian student performance, but Hispanic students decreased their score to 241 from 250 in 2003.
• The percentage of Oklahoma students at or above Basic has risen from 60 percent in 2003 to 65 percent in 2007; however, there has been no statistical change in Oklahoma and across the nation in the percentage of students at Grade 8 scoring at or above Basic.
• Oklahoma students’ scale score of 217 at Grade 4 came close to being the same statistically as that of the nation’s (220) in 2007.

Download additional graphics regarding Oklahoma's performance on the 2007 NAEP (pdf)

Download Frequently Asked Questions regarding NAEP (Word)