| WV sees nation's only increase in 8th-grade NAEP reading scores
By Ryan Quinn, Education Reporter for the Gazette Mail
West Virginia was the only state in the nation to see its eighth-grade average reading score on the National Assessment of Educational Progress increase significantly over 2013, but it was among 22 states to see their eighth-grade math scores significantly fall from two years ago, according to 2015 data released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Education.
The Mountain State also saw no statistically significant changes in its average reading or math scores for public students in fourth grade, the only other grade included on the NAEP reporting website, The Nation's Report Card.
The 2015 NAEP scores are based on tests given to nearly 600,000 students in almost 14,000 schools.
The NAEP, the biggest nationally representative assessment of the nation's students, is given to a sample of students every two years.
The nationwide average reading score for public school students stayed the same from 2013 to 2015 in fourth grade, at 221, while it dropped in eighth grade by two points, to 264.
Comparatively, West Virginia's average reading score for fourth grade grew one point, to 216 â not deemed a significant difference by the federal education department on its 0 to 500 point scale â but it saw a three-point increase in eighth grade, to reach 260, a significant increase and four points shy of the national average. Reading increases in neither grade make the Mountain State's scores significantly different than where they were in 1998, the department's data note.
READ REST OF STORY WV sees nation's only increase in 8th-grade NAEP reading scores By Ryan Quinn, Education Reporter for the Gazette Mail
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