NAEP 1996 Trends in Academic Progress. Achievement of U.S. Students in Science, 1969 to 1996; Mathematics, 1973 to 1996; Reading, 1971 to 1996; Writing, 1984 to 1996. Report in Brief (Revised).

An important feature of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is its ability to document trends in academic achievement on core curriculum areas over an extended period of time. This report presents the major results of the NAEP 1996 science, mathematics, reading, and writing long-term assessments. These results chart trends going back to the first year in which each NAEP assessment was given: 1969-70 in science, 1973 in mathematics, 1971 in reading, and 1984 in writing. Trends in average performance differences between White and Black students, White and Hispanic students, and male and female students are also discussed. In general, the trends in science and mathematics show early declines or relative stability followed by improved performance. Because it represents educational objectives that were established in 1969 for 17-year-olds and 1970 for 9- and 13-year-olds, the long-term science trend assessment may represent a more constrained view than the 1996 main science assessment, as this revision clarifies. In reading and writing the results are somewhat mixed; although some modest improvement is evident in the trend for reading assessments, few indications of positive trends were evident in the writing results. More in-depth understanding is achieved by examining the types of abilities associated with different levels on the NAEP scale and the percentages of students who have gained these levels across the trend assessment. This information is summarized. (Contains four figures and nine tables.) (SLD)