Earlier this month, the National Center for Education Statistics released the preliminary findings of its state/NAEP standards mapping study. For this initial research while the full report is prepared, researchers analyzed the shares of students reaching proficient on each state’s annual math and reading assessments and identifies the corresponding NAEP scale score for that percentage. The states are then assigned a NAEP achievement level based on that score. The summary of their findings is presented in the table below.
For most states, their standards mapped to NAEP Basic rather than NAEP Proficient for math and reading across grades 4 and 8. State-level proficiency is often said to be somewhere between NAEP Basic, which denotes partial mastery, and NAEP Proficient, which denotes competency over challenging subject matter. (Note: 13 states were excluded from the Grade 8 math analysis because they offered a specific end-of-course assignment for their eighth graders and participation on the standard eighth grade assessment fell below 85%. This analysis includes Puerto Rico.)
However, there were more states whose standards mapped to NAEP proficiency in math than in reading. Eleven states’ fourth grade math standards mapped to NAEP Proficient, while another 11 state’s eighth grade math standards mapped to NAEP Proficient. These were sometimes, but not always, the same states. In reading, there were nine states whose eighth grade standards mapped to NAEP Proficient, but only two for fourth grade reading.
States whose 4th grade math standards mapped to NAEP Proficient: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, DC, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont
States whose 8th grade math standards mapped to NAEP Proficient: Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Montana, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee
States whose 4th grade reading standards mapped to NAEP Proficient: Massachusetts, Rhode Island
States whose 8th grade reading standards mapped to NAEP Proficient: Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan New Jersey, North Dakota Rhode Island, Tennessee
Finally, there were between one and three states whose standards mapped only to Below NAEP Basic. Only two states had standards map to NAEP Proficient for both 4th and 8th grade across math and reading: Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
As the researchers note, this mapping exercise is not intended to be a comment on the quality of any state’s standards, and state and NAEP assessments are developed differently and used for different purposes. Nevertheless, understanding how states’ standards compare to NAEP is an important context as states and other researchers compare state performance to the “gold standard” benchmark assessment that NAEP offers. The comparison adds another piece to the overall picture of what states expect of their students in these key subject areas.
