PROVIDENCE – The latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test results, released last week, show Rhode Island public-school students improved in math in both the fourth and eighth grades, and they also improved in fourth-grade reading.
Overall, the 2007 test results show 80 percent of the state’s fourth graders and 65 percent of the state’s eighth graders have reached the “basic achievement level” in math; that’s up from 76 and 63 percent in the 2005 tests, state education officials said.
In addition, 65 percent of the fourth graders met that standard in reading, up 3 percentage points, and 69 percent of eighth graders, down 2 percentage points.
Some of the greatest improvements were among student groups that have trailed the state average: black students, Hispanic students, and students living in poverty, officials said. Black fourth graders, for example, improved by 13 percentage points in math, while Hispanic fourth graders improved by 14 percentage points.
