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The NAEP 2000 Grade 4 Reading Report
Card
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Hello, and welcome to today's
StatChat. I'm sure that you have many questions regarding
today's release of the NAEP Reading Report, so let's get right to
them... |
| Amie from San Antonio, Texas asked: |
| I would like to know
how the reading subtests for 4th grade Hispanic students compare
with those for the general population and with Anglo and African
American students. I would also like to know how English language
learners fared on the NAEP, compared with the general population. If
separate figures are available for Hispanic students who are English
language learners, that would be very helpful. How do these outcomes
compare with previous cohorts of 4th graders in the same populations
mentioned above? Thank you very much for the
information. |
| Peggy Carr: |
Thanks for the question Amie. Good
question! (1) The 2000 NAEP Reading data show that Hispanics and
Black students scored significantly below White students. However,
Hispanic and Black students did not differ. (2) The gaps between
these groups and white students are large and have not changed since
1992. (3) Separate results are not reported for LEP students in the
report, although these data available on the web. Similarly, you can
explore the relationship between LEP status and Hispanics on the
web. The N's may be too small however. |
| Blake from Upper Marlboro, Md. asked: |
| Since the Information
Age is upon us, do we know what impact computers and the Internet
has had on our children's reading accomplishments in
general? |
| Peggy Carr: |
Another good question. We did not explore
the impact of technology on achievement in the 2000 assessment, but
we plan to do for the upcoming 2002 assessment.
|
| John from Newark, DE asked: |
| How do these most
recent NAEP results fit in with the findings of the National Reading
Panel about the teaching of reading? |
| Peggy Carr: |
The NAEP report does not address the
specific topics referenced in the National Reading Panel report.
However, we are planning a special study on reading fluency for 2002. It
will be a follow-up from a 1992 study. Stay tuned! |
| NED from Baltimore, Maryland asked: |
| GREAT REPORT-A RESOURCE
FOR ALL! Can you provide a hypothesis to account for the NAEP
performance differences found between Hispanic students for whom
Accommodations were not permitted & Hispanic students for whom
Accommodations were permitted? Also could you provide any thoughts
regarding why these differences were not found in other
race/ethnicity groups? |
| Peggy Carr: |
NED. Our data show that students who
require accommodations, regardless of their race/ethnicity,
generally scored lower on the NAEP. Since Hispanics are more likely
to be classified as LEP than other students, it is reasonable to
expect that the impact of accommodations would be more evident on that group.
Peggy |
| Sally from Lehi, Utah asked: |
| Will a similar
assessment be undertaken for secondary students? If so, when and
what instruments will be used? |
| Peggy Carr: |
Sally, In 2002, NAEP is planning a
reading assessment for 4th, 8th, and 12th graders at the national
level and 4th and 8th graders at the state level.
Peggy |
| sheila from washington, dc asked: |
| What new information in
this report is shared regarding what teachers do around reading to
help students? Also, Are there any new findings about what students
do during out-of-school activities (leisure and at home)? Thank
you |
| Peggy Carr: |
Excellent question Sheila! NAEP
respondents complete a background questionnaire about instructional
practices (e.g., writing in response to reading, time spent reading
in school, and learning new words) in the classroom as well as
activities (e.g., reading for fun, discussing what you read, T.V.
watching) outside the school environment. Generally students are
watching less T.V., doing more homework, reading more pages for
school. However, they are not reading more for fun. See the website
for more neat findings. Peggy |
| John from Boston, MA asked: |
| How do these reading
assessments compare to anything that is done
internationally. |
| Peggy Carr: |
In 1992 4th grade American students
were second best in the world according to an international reading
assessment. However,these results are not directly comparable to
NAEP findings for many reasons. For example, the NAEP reading
assessment is a comprehension test with high standards, the
international assessment focused more on basic skills.
Peggy |
| Bill Carlson from Yucaipa, CA asked: |
| Our state university
system has been producing reading teachers equipped with flawed
teaching methods for over a decade. This has been disasterous for
many children (and teachers!). What is being done to correct this
injustice which is still being perpetrated in much of the university
system? |
| Peggy Carr: |
Bill, I understand your concern, but
the NAEP assessment does not address this issue. Check the
Department of Education's website for information on new initatives. Peggy
|
| Sheila from S.F., California asked: |
| Is there a way to put
the scale numbers that you use into a more easily understandable
terminology? For example what is excellent, good, fair, poor as far
as reading scales go? |
| Peggy Carr: |
Sheila, have you seen the NAGB
achievement levels featured in the report? The Basic, Proficient,
and Advanced levels are described in great detail and have been
superimposed onto the NAEP scale. You might also find it interesting
to see our description of what items are charactertic of certain
scale scores (see page 22 of the report). Finally, on page 17 thru
20 you will see how students at each achievement level score on
exemplar items. Peggy |
| Ben from Springfield, Illinois asked: |
| Are the students who
are tested picked randomly or does the school select who takes the
tests? |
| Peggy Carr: |
Ben, Students are select randomly! The
schools have no idea who will be selected. If you would like to know
more about the NAEP complex sampling procedure, see a publication
entitled How Does NAEP Select Schools and Students?"
Peggy |
| Michael from Syracuse, NY asked: |
| Are there any plans to
begin testing students more often? Also can we get scores for
schools and school districts? |
| Peggy Carr: |
Michael...two good questions! The
National Assessment Governing Board has a published schedule for
NAEP assessments available on their website http://nagb.org. Currently,
a NAEP assessment is planned every year, although state assessements
are planned for even years only. However,President Bush's plan "No
Child Left Behind" proposes to test children annually at the state
level in reading and math in 4th and 8th grades using NAEP. No final
decision has been reached as of yet. Peggy
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| Laura Barrett from Massachusetts asked: |
| When will the
state-by-state results for this test be released, and do you know if
they show anything notable regarding different state approaches to
reading? |
| Peggy Carr: |
Laura, We did not conduct a state
assessment for reading in 2000. We plan to conduct a reading
assessment for 4th and 8th grades in 2002 for states. With regard to
your question about different approaches to reading, there are a few
questions about instructional practices. I suggest you visit our
summary data tables available on the web to explore such data for
the previous assessments for states (92,94,98) Please note that in
July and September of this year, we anticipate publishing state
results for math and science. Peggy |
| James from Ft Worth, TX asked: |
| Do ELL students take a
Spanish version of the test? Are these results
available? |
| Peggy Carr: |
Not for reading. The NAEP reading
assessment is a measure of reading in English.
Peggy |
| Jonathan from Topeka, Kansas asked: |
| Is there some place on
your website where I can find samples of the questions used in this
test and in other tests that you do? Could I use them in my local
school district if I wanted to? |
| Peggy Carr: |
Yes, there are hundreds of released
items on our website. We also have item results and sample
responses at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/itmrls/ Use them... they are a
great resource! Peggy |
| Tom from Bangor, Maine asked: |
| Following up on an
earlier question. Is there any possibility that we can assess the
negative impact (if one exists) on how computer work adversely
effects traditional reading skills? |
| Peggy Carr: |
Tom, we are currently conducting
several technology-based assessment instruments (in math and
writing). They are in the early stages of development. Once again, stay tuned for
what we discover. Peggy |
| Thanks for all of your
excellent questions. Unfortunately, I could not get to all of them,
but please feel free to contact the NAEP staff if you need any
assistance. I hope that you found this session to be helpful and the
report to be interesting. |
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