Percentage distribution of 4th- and 8th-grade public school students, by school location and selected student and school characteristics: 2003

Student Reading and Mathematics Performance in Public Schools by Urbanicity

Table 14-1. Percentage distribution of 4th- and 8th-grade public school students, by school location and selected student and school characteristics: 2003

	Grade 4					Grade 8
Student or school characteristic	All public schools	All central city schools	Large central city schools¹	Urban fringe schools	Rural schools	All public schools	All central city schools	Large central city schools¹	Urban fringe schools	Rural schools

Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Sex
Male	50.5	50.1	49.8	50.5	51.0	50.2	50.2	48.8	50.1	50.3
Female	49.5	49.9	50.2	49.5	49.0	49.8	49.8	51.2	49.9	49.7
Race/ethnicity²
American Indian	1.2	0.9	0.6	0.7	2.3	1.3	1.0	0.7	0.8	2.1
Asian/Pacific Islander	4.0	5.4	6.7	4.9	1.4	4.3	5.9	9.2	5.5	1.4
Black	17.4	31.3	34.0	13.0	10.1	17.3	30.3	34.1	14.1	10.1
White	58.6	33.9	20.6	61.6	78.6	61.4	36.9	21.1	64.3	79.0
Hispanic	18.0	27.9	37.9	18.9	7.0	15.2	25.5	34.8	14.7	6.9

Percent of students in school eligible for free or reduced-price lunch
0–10	15.2	5.9	6.1	24.5	11.3	17.7	6.8	6.9!	28.0	13.3
11–25	17.7	9.9	5.0	23.2	17.6	21.5	13.0	6.3	26.7	22.0
26–50	24.6	18.2	11.1	22.2	34.2	27.8	24.1	15.2	22.7	37.9
51–75	19.9	20.1	16.5	15.4	26.0	18.5	24.2	23.6	14.6	18.8
76–100	22.5	45.9	61.3	14.7	11.0	14.5	31.9	48.0	8.0	8.1

Percent of minority students in school
0–10	29.9	7.8	1.7!	27.8	54.4	30.5	7.4	1.4!	28.2	53.8
11–25	18.9	12.0	6.3	24.0	18.7	20.2	12.8	6.6	26.1	18.8
26–50	16.4	16.6	9.4	18.9	12.8	18.0	20.0	9.4	18.6	15.3
51–75	13.0	19.1	16.7	12.1	8.1	12.9	21.3	19.2	12.3	6.2
76–100	21.8	44.5	66.0	17.2	6.0	18.5	38.4	63.4	14.7	6.0

! Interpret data with caution (estimates are unstable).
¹ “Large central city” includes all students enrolled in schools that are located in a “central city” of a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) of at least 2.5 million in total population.
² American Indian includes Alaska Native, Black includes African American, Pacific Islander includes Native Hawaiian, and Hispanic includes Latino. Race categories exclude Hispanic origin unless specified.
NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. An MSA is a Census Bureau designation encompassing a “large population nucleus together with adjacent communities that have a high degree of economic and social integration with that core.” The majority of large central city schools in this indicator are in what are commonly considered to be inner cities. A few schools not thought to be in what is commonly considered to be an “inner city” are included in this category because within each MSA the largest city is designated a “central city,” even if the geographic area of this city does not technically meet the Census requirements concerning population size and commuting patterns to be designated as a “central city” area. For more information about community type and the National School Lunch Program, see supplemental note 1. For more information on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), see supplemental note 4.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2003 Reading Assessment, previously unpublished tabulation (January 2005).

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