Minorities narrow gap in reading, math scores

Black and Hispanic pupils posted their strongest results in math.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Black and Hispanic pupils are narrowing the achievement gap with whites in reading and math, but overall the nation's progress is small or slipping.
The 2005 scores for grades four and eight come from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the most respected measure of how pupils perform nationwide. The results are noted in both academic and political circles because they cover math and reading -- the two building-block subjects that schools are scrambling to improve.
Across the country, math scores were up in grades four and eight. In reading, fourth-graders virtually held steady and eighth-graders declined.
The strongest results came in math, where black and Hispanic pupils in both grades posted their highest scores since the test began in the early 1990s. In reading and math, blacks and Hispanics either shrank their test-score gap with whites or lost no ground.
That's significant because schools face unprecedented pressure to improve achievement by minorities under President Bush's No Child Left Behind law. Black and Hispanic pupils lag behind whites in access to quality teaching, college degrees and other measures of success.
"This is an encouraging report," Bush declared from the Oval Office on Wednesday. "It shows there's an achievement gap in America that is closing."
Still fall behind
In perspective, minorities still fall behind by sizable margins. Based on their average score in math, for example, many black fourth-graders don't have the skills to classify numbers as even or odd, or to determine the next number in a given pattern.
"The absence of really bad news isn't the same as good news," said Ross Wiener, policy director for The Education Trust, which advocates for poor and minority pupils. "If you're concerned about education and closing achievement gaps, there's simply not enough good news."
The goal of the test is for pupils to show they can handle challenging subject matter and apply it to real-life situations, a skill level known as proficient. Less than four in 10 pupils in both grades have reached at least that level in either math or reading.
In reading, almost no state improved its performance significantly in either grade, and some states saw declines. In math, several states got better, especially at fourth grade.
"Congratulations to the states that showed progress," said John Castellani, president of the Business Roundtable, an association of corporate executives that is campaigning to improve math and science education. "But don't break out the champagne yet."
Results
A total of 36 percent of fourth-graders were at least proficient in math, up 32 percent from 2003. Among eighth-graders, 30 percent were proficient or better, up from 29 percent.
In reading, the news was less promising, if not deflating.
The fourth-graders essentially held steady, as 31 percent scored at or above proficient, the same as last time. Their average test score did increase by one point.
Meanwhile, eighth-graders got a little worse in reading -- 31 percent showed mastery over challenging work, a one-point drop from 2003.
Much higher numbers of pupils in both subjects showed at least basic skills.
The results in reading mirror a long-term trend in which 9-year-olds posted their best scores ever in 2004 but 13-year-olds and 17-year-olds showed no improvement.
Schools must do more to teach older pupils sophisticated skills, such as taking ideas from different places and drawing a conclusion, said Cathy Roller, director of research and policy for the International Reading Association. "We need to put as much emphasis on that as we are basic comprehension skills," she said.
As usual, the numbers left much room for interpretation. Education analysts said the country's focus on early math and reading was paying dividends. But "there's no dancing around the flat eighth-grade performance in reading," said Darvin Winick, chairman of the National Assessment Governing Board, the bipartisan panel that oversees the test.
Scores for minorities rose. Among blacks, 13 percent of fourth-graders were proficient in math, up from 10 percent in 2003, when the test was last given. A total of 9 percent of black eighth-graders successfully handled challenging math, up from 7 percent.
Hispanic children showed a similar trend, with 19 percent of Hispanic fourth-graders reaching a proficient level or better in math, up from 16 percent; and 13 percent of Hispanic pupils in grade eight showing solid math skills, up from 12 percent last time.