2009 U.S. Math Tests: Racial/Ethnic Gaps Persist

The Department of Education released today the results of the 2009 math test, known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress, that was given to 329,000 fourth- and eighth-grade students.¹  Sam Dillon of the New York Times characterizes the results as sluggish and disappointing.²

Scores on the most important nationwide math test increased only marginally for eighth graders and not at all for fourth graders, continuing a six-year trend of sluggish results that suggest the nation will not come close to bringing all children to proficiency by 2014, a central goal of the Bush-era federal education law, No Child Left Behind.

According to Mr. Dillon, the fact that racial and ethnic gaps still persist even since 2007 makes it especially disappointing.  Here's a summary of the results by racial/ethnic group from the NCES.

Among Fourth-Graders
White and Asian/Pacific Islander students continued to score higher on average than Black, Hispanic and American Indian/Alaska Native students in 2009.  Asian/Pacific Islander students also scored higher on average than White students.

Among Eight-Graders
In 2009, both White and Asian/Pacific Islander students scored higher on average than Black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native students.  The average score for Asian/Pacific Islander students was also 8 points higher than the score for White students.

1National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
2Sam Dillon, “Sluggish Results Seen in U.S. Math Scores”, The New York Times, Oct. 14, 2009

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