No improvement for New York state on national math exam

Math scores for students in New York state have hardly budged in the last two years, challenging results from the state’s own exams that show significant score increases.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress, commonly known as NAEP, or the nation’s report card, is out today and New York’s results on the math exam have changed little from 2007.

Two years ago, 43 percent of the state’s fourth graders were proficient or higher in math, while this year, that number is 40 percent. In 2007, 31 percent of eighth graders scored at or above proficient, and in 2009 it was 34 percent.

While the NAEP scores, released this morning, show no significant changes, the state’s yearly math exams tell a different story. Between 2007 and 2009, fourth graders gained nine scale score points and eighth graders gained 18 points. According to the NAEP exam, fourth graders’ average scale scores decreased by two points and eight grade students’ scores rose by three points.