In 2007, the achievement gap between White and Black scores in reading and mathematics at the 4th grade was smaller than in 1992, while not measurably different at the 8th grade or between Whites and Hispanics in either grade.

The main National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) program has assessed student reading and mathematics performance since the early 1990s. NAEP thus provides a picture of the extent to which student performance in each subject has changed over time, including the achievement gaps between White and Black and White and Hispanic students.

In reading, the achievement gap between White-Black 4th-graders was smaller in 2007 than in any previous assessment. However, the gap between White-Hispanic 4th-graders was not measurably different in 2007 compared with 1992. In 2007, at the 4th-grade level, Blacks scored, on average, 27 points lower than Whites (on a 0–500 scale), and Hispanics scored, on average, 26 points lower than Whites (see table 16-1). At 8th grade, there was no measurable difference in the White-Black or White-Hispanic reading achievement gaps in 2007 compared with 1992 or 2005. In 2007, at the 8th-grade level, Blacks scored, on average, 27 points lower on the reading assessment than Whites, and Hispanics scored, on average, 25 points lower than Whites.

In mathematics, the achievement gap between White-Black 4th-graders was lower in 2007 than in 1990 (26 vs. 32 points), but there was no measurable change over the last two years. The gap between White-Hispanic 4th-graders increased in the 1990s before decreasing in the first half of the 2000s, but the gap in 2007 (21 points) was not measurably different from that in 1990. Among 8th-graders, a similar trend existed in both the White-Black and White-Hispanic score gaps: increases occurred in the 1990s before decreasing to the current levels, which are not measurably different from those in 1990. The White-Black 8th-grade mathematics gap was lower in 2007 than in 2005, but there was no measurable change in the White-Hispanic gap. In 2007, among 8th-graders, the White-Black mathematics gap was 32 points, and the White-Hispanic gap was 26 points.