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On the Academic Achievement of New Jersey's Public School Children: I. Fourth and Eighth Grade Mathematics in 1992 NAEP

Author(s):
Wainer, Howard
Publication Year:
1994
Report Number:
RR-94-29
Source:
ETS Research Report
Document Type:
Report
Page Count:
20
Subject/Key Words:
Academic Achievement, Educational Assessment, Grade 4, Grade 8, Mathematics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), New Jersey, Public Education

Abstract

(20pp.) This report is the beginning of a series that examines the performance of New Jersey's school children relative to other children in the United States and the world. The measure of performance used was the 1992 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) Mathematics Exams and their linked versions used in the 1991 International Assessment (IAEP). The report focuses on the 41 states in the assessment, explicitly excluding Guam, the Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia. All results are reported on a uniform scale that can be used in a normative manner--for example comparing one state with another or one state with the nation as a whole--or as an absolute measure, denoting proficiencies as Basic, Proficient or Advanced. What is required to perform at each of these levels obviously increases as the student progresses through school, but always refer back to the five NAEP content areas: 1) numbers and operations; 2) measurement; 3) geometry; 4) data analysis, statistics, and probability; and 5) algebra and functions. Conclusions include: 1) once results were standardized to reflect a single (national) demographic composition, New Jersey was ranked fourth among the participating states; 2) the U.S. finished next to last when the performance of its students was compared with that of the students in the other 14 participating OECD nations in the 1991 IAEP; 3) New Jersey's students were ranked sixth on the same assessment when their performance was placed on the same scale; and 4) New Jersey's best students, its top 5%, when compared with the performance of the top 5% of all other OECD nations, ranked third, trailing only Taiwan and Korea. (JGL)

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