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2003 MATHEMATICS & READING RESULTS

Results of the NAEP Mathematics and Reading assessments administered last winter to 11,357 students at 251 schools in Maine indicate that our 4^th graders continue to show improvement in Mathematics while scores for Reading and 8^th grade Mathematics remain stable at respectable levels. 

The previous NAEP Mathematics state assessment was in 2000; Reading was last administered in Maine in 2002.  Under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) regulations, both subjects will be assessed in Maine every two years, with the next administration occurring in 2005.  While NAEP does not provide results at the school or district level, it provides important information for Maine because it is the only objective, national measure of the individual states’ educational progress towards proficiency in Reading and Mathematics and, as such, can be used to confirm the results of state-developed assessments such as the Maine Educational Assessment (MEA).  However, while MEA results are used in Average Yearly Progress (AYP) calculations, NCLB regulations prohibit the use of NAEP data for this purpose.

Maine’s scores at both grades and in both subjects are higher than the national average:

Mathematics Ranking

At both 4^th and 8^th grade, eight states have higher scores than Maine in Mathematics, with their scores ranging from 241 to 243 at 4^th grade and 285 to 291 at 8^th grade.  Minnesota’s score (291) is significantly higher than any other state or jurisdiction at 8^th grade.  Maine’s scores are 238 at 4^th grade and 282 at 8^th grade.  At 4^th grade, scores increased significantly (8 points) over 2000, while they remain stable at 8^th grade.  NAEP also reports results in percentages of students at Achievement Levels of Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, and Advanced.  In Maine, the 10% more 4^th graders moved out of Below Basic as another 10% moved into Proficient in 2003.  At 8^th grade, only Massachusetts had a greater percentage of students at Proficient and Advanced levels than Maine.

Reading Ranking  

Maine’s average scaled score for 4^th grade Reading was 224.  Only 3 other states (Connecticut , Massachusetts, and New Hampshire) had higher scores (228) than Maine .  At 8^th grade, only Massachusetts and Department of Defense Schools had higher scores (273) than Maine’s at 268.

Among the states with higher average scaled scores at 4^th grade, Massachusetts and New Hampshire test reading at the end of 3^rd grade; Connecticut does not.  All three have ongoing literacy initiatives, as does Maine .

Gaps

The gender gap in NAEP 2003 Mathematics scores for 4^th grade decreased by 50% from the NAEP 2000 assessment to 3 points in favor of the boys; for 8^th grade, it virtually disappeared.  The rural-urban gap in average scaled scores was also virtually nonexistent at both grades. 

Other scaled score gaps in Mathematics remained smaller than for the Nation; in 4^th grade, the difference in scores for students attending school in a suburban area and students attending school in a rural or urban area was three times as large for the Nation as for Maine; at 8th grade the difference in Maine was about two-thirds that for the Nation.  Generally, scores are lower for rural and urban areas, but the difference is less pronounced in Maine .  Also, the difference in scores for poor and non-poor students in Maine was approximately half that of the nation.  

A comparison of the gaps in Mathematics scores between students with disabilities and those without in Maine, Minnesota (a state with higher scores at both grades), and the Nation shows an interesting pattern:

NAEP cautions that these data cannot be generalized to all students with disabilities, but the chart indicates that the gaps are smaller at the lower grade and that higher exclusion rates are not necessarily associated with higher scores.  Also, the magnitude of the difference does not appear to be linked to higher or lower performance of the jurisdiction’s students overall.

  Mathematics Results

Among the five subjects or “strands” in the Mathematics assessment, the greatest increase in scores in Maine was in Algebra for both grades (13 points at 4^th grade; 7 points at 8^th grade).  The smallest increases were in Measurement for the 4^th grade and in Number Sense and Operations for the 8^th grade.  Scores did not decline in any of the subscale scores reported for the separate strands at both grades.

Trends in Mathematics Instruction

Calculator use was addressed by several questions in questionnaires accompanying the assessment.  In general, calculators appear to be integrated into mathematics instruction to some extent but in a restricted manner in 4^th grade.  92% of the teachers reported giving instruction in the use of calculators.  81% of the students reported that they used calculators on homework, but 94% of the teachers said they did not permit ‘unrestricted use of calculators.’  78% of the teachers did not permit use of calculators on tests.  About one-third of the items on NAEP and two-thirds of the items on the Maine Educational Assessment (MEA) involve the use of calculators.

Several attitudes towards mathematics were associated with scores higher or lower than the average for Maine .  66% of the 4^th graders said they ‘found math useful in solving every day problems,’ and this response was associated with scores 15 points higher than the average.  A negative response to the statement that ‘there is only one way to solve math problems’ was associated with scores 26 points higher than the average.  Interestingly, whether or not a student believed ‘math is mostly memorization’ had no effect upon scores.

77% of the 4^th grade teachers surveyed in Maine had more than 10 years experience, and 92% possessed a regular certification; 14% said they held a leadership role in mathematics instruction in their schools.  Teachers reported that 94% of parents of children assessed in Maine review homework ‘at least occasionally.’ and 82% of the schools ‘involve parents in the classroom.’

4^th grade questionnaires also indicated that 79% of Maine teachers surveyed ‘place a heavy emphasis’ upon numbers and operations,’ and 70% of the students spend ‘about 15 minutes a day on math homework.’

At 8^th grade, 70% of Maine students reported having 15 to 30 minutes of mathematics homework a night.  Both teachers and schools indicated that 37% of 8th grade students received at least 4 hours of mathematics instruction a week in Maine; this was up from 17% in 1996 and reflects National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) standards.  75% of the 8^th grade teachers surveyed in Maine said their schools had extra-curricular mathematics activities.  78% of the schools reported ‘little or no problem with student violence.’

The following factors were associated with scores higher than the average for the State:

Maine schools containing grades 5-8 were associated with higher scores than the State average for 8^th grade mathematics, and schools containing grades 7-12 were associated with lower scores than the State average.

Reading Results

The 2003 Reading results follow the release of the 2002 results this past spring. Because NAEP is a survey involving the generation of statistical predictions of scores based upon a representative sample of students across the state and the nation, it takes time to generate significant changes in scores.  While a small population showing a change in performance might affect a state assessment, where every child in a grade takes the test and receives a score, the same is not likely in NAEP, which takes a much broader measure of student performance.

There was not a significant difference in average scaled scores for the Nation or for Maine in NAEP Reading assessments of 2002 and 2003.  In Maine, percentages of students at each of the Achievement Levels remained unchanged statistically from 2002 in 4^th and 8^th grades.

2002 and 2003 Reading results, including the information collected by the questionnaires accompanying the assessment and an extended discussion of the gender gap, were reported in Maine’s NAEP newsletters #3 and #4, which can be viewed at the MEA/NAEP web site (http://www.maine.gov/education/mea/meahome.htm); click on the NAEP logos on the lower right corner of the MEA home page. 

NAEP has also set up a site for independent research into data and trends at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/researchcenter/datatools2.asp.

Cautions on 2003 Results

This was the first year that all states participated on the state level, and results from state and national samples were combined to generate average scaled scores for each.  At 4^th grade, 187,600 students in 7100 schools were sampled nationwide; 155,000 students in 5700 schools were sampled at 8^th grade.  100% of the schools selected for NAEP sampling in Maine participated in 2003.

An increase from previous years in the size of the student sample produced results reflecting more precise distinctions between populations in terms of academic performance because of the smaller sampling error generated. Where in previous assessments a different of a point or two in average scaled scores may not have been statistically significant according to NAEP, such differences might or might not now be considered significant.  All rankings and statements of statistical significance reported here are determined by NAEP statisticians and not by Maine officials.

Upcoming Assessments

The National Assessment Governing Board approved the following schedule for NAEP state assessments at 4^th and 8^th grade through 2011: 

J. H. Kennedy, NAEP State Coordinator for Maine (207-624-6636)                                                  Department of Education, 23 State House Station, Augusta, Maine 04333