The Nation's Report Card: U.S. History Highlights 2001

Results for the 2001 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) U.S. history assessment show that the average scores of fourth- and eighth-grade students have improved since 1994. The average score of twelfth-grade students, however, has not changed significantly.

This history assessment was first administered to nationally representative samples of fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students in 1994. The figure above shows national average scores in 1994 and 2001 based on a 0-500 NAEP U.S. history scale at each grade.

In 2001, the average scores of fourth- and eighth-graders improved in comparison to 1994. The 2001 score for twelfth-graders was not statistically different from the 1994 score.

It should be noted that every test score has a standard error -- a range of a few points plus or minus the score -- which accounts for potential score fluctuation due to sampling error and measurement error. Statistical tests that factor in these standard errors are used to determine whether the differences between average scores are significant. Estimates based on smaller subgroups are likely to have relatively large standard errors. As a consequence, some seemingly large differences may not be statistically significant. Only statistically significant differences are cited in this report.