Idaho Students Still Outpacing the Nation in Reading

Idaho students are outperforming students across the nation in reading, on average, according to the most recent results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released Wednesday.

NAEP is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do. Its major goals are to measure student achievement and to report change in performance over time. NAEP provides results for the nation and for the states, but does not provide scores for Idaho school districts, schools, classrooms, or individual students.

In 2009, 69 percent of Idaho's fourth grade students and 77 percent of eighth grade students performed at or above grade level in reading, greater than the national average at both grade levels.

"While we celebrate these successes and are pleased to see Idaho students performing so well, we recognize there is still more work that needs to be done," Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna said.

The full NAEP 2009 Reading results are available online.

~ Melissa M.