Results of a national math test show that fourth graders and eighth graders in the United States made modest, steady gains while the scores of 12th graders declined slightly over prevous years.

The test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, sometimes called the nation's report card, showed at all tested grade levels a growing gap between the scores for black and Latinos as compared to whites.

"Scores for U.S. fourth and eighth grade students show continued progress over the last ten years. Scores for twelfth graders were higher in 2000 than in 1990, but lower than in 1996. Despite this progress, gaps between White students and Black and Hispanic students remain relatively unchanged since 1990," stated Gary W. Phillips, Acting Commissioner of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). 

The Nation's Report Card: Mathematics 2000 presents national results on students' mathematics performance. The report also includes performance data collected on fourth-and eighth-graders in states and other jurisdictions. The assessment included approximately 13,500 fourth-graders, 15,700 eighth-graders, and 13,400 twelfth-graders nationwide. Approximately 102,000 fourth-graders in 46 states and other jurisdictions, and approximately 98,000 eighth-graders in 44 states and other jurisdictions participated in the state NAEP mathematics assessment. 

The NAEP achievement levels used in the assessment set standards for what student performance should be, and the achievement levels also reflected the same pattern as the student scores. At the fourth and eighth grades, the percent of students at or above the Proficient and Basic levels has increased consistently from 1990 to 2000, and the percent below Basic has consistently declined. In addition, the percent of students at or above the Advanced level was higher in 2000 than in 1990 and 1992. For grade 12, the percent of  students at or above the Basic and Proficient levels was higher in 2000 than in 1990 and the percent below the Basic level was lower in 2000 than in 1990. 

White, Black, and Hispanic students all showed improvement over the decade, achieving higher scores in 2000 than in 1990 at grades 4 and 8. White students had higher scores in  2000 than in 1990 at grade 12. 

In the 2000 assessment, White students, in all three grades, had higher scores, on average, than Black or Hispanic students, and the differences in scores were substantial.  For example, in New York, about 15 percent of white eighth graders in the state cannot manage math at a basic level; among blacks, that figure is 56 percent, and among Latinos, 53 percent. These scores are consistent with national averages. These large gaps between subgroups' performance have remained relatively unchanged since 1990. 

At the state level, a group of nine states clustered at the top for highest average scores for fourth-graders in 2000: Minnesota, Massachusetts, Indiana, Connecticut, Iowa, Texas, North Carolina, Kansas, and Vermont. (The average scores for these states did not differ significantly from one another.) At the eighth grade, students from three states tied for the lead in 2000: Minnesota, Montana, and Kansas. 

Fourth-graders in eight states had higher scores in 2000 than in both 1992 and 1996: Alabama, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Wyoming. Eighth-graders in eight states had higher scores in 2000 than in 1990, 1992 and 1996: Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Virginia, and West Virginia. 

For further information on The Nation's Report Card: Mathematics 2000,  visit NAEP web site at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/. All NAEP reports can be ordered by calling toll-free 1-877-4ED-Pubs (1-877-433-7827), TTY/TTD 1-877-576-7734; e-mailing at edpubs@inet.ed.gov; or via the Internet at http://www.ed.gov/pubs/edpubs.html.