Book Description

This report presents the mathematics assessment results from the 1992 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The assessment included nearly 250,000 fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students attending approximately 10,000 schools across the nation and the states. Students' performance is categorized into three achievement levels: Basic, Proficient, and Advanced. Among the major findings were that: (1) for the nation there were statistically significant increases in average mathematics proficiency in all grades and in both public and private schools from 1990 to 1992; (2) despite these positive findings, 60 percent of the students in grades 4, 8, and 12 were estimated to be at or above the Basic level on the 1992 mathematics assessment; (3) considerable variation in performance existed within and across states and territories; (4) increases in mathematics proficiency between 1990 and 1992 did little to alter the relative standings of the demographic groups; (5) gains were noted in the content areas of numbers and operations, measurement, geometry, data analysis, and algebra, and (6) one-fifth of the 4th graders, two-thirds of the 8th graders, and 90 percent of the 12th graders demonstrated ability in solving two-step problems involving multiplication and division. Chapter 1 contains overall achievement results for the states by grade and by state. Chapter 2 contains results for the nation and states by the demographic groups of race/ethnicity (White, Black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, American Indian); gender; type of community (advantaged urban, disadvantaged urban, extreme rural, and other); parents' highest level of education; and type of school (public, Catholic, private). Chapter 3 contains national and state mathematical content areas of estimation, numbers and operations, measurement, geometry, statistics, algebra, and functions. The four appendices, one-third of the document, discuss NAEP's anchor-level results, the guidelines for sample participation, state contextual background factors, and an overview of the procedures used in the 1992 mathematics assessments. (MDH)