Our Students Score Well on the Nation's Report Card

Today, the National Assessment of Educational Progress reported AISD students ranked second in fourth grade math and third in eighth grade math in the percentage of students scoring at the proficient or advanced levels. In reading, our students ranked third in both fourth and eighth grade. AISD’s English-language learners outperformed their peers in both the nation and large cities for the first time. I'm proud of our students and teachers for their accomplishments and I am pleased that our district’s hard work continues to pay off.

AISD met its goal with dramatic decreases in the percentage of Austin’s students excluded from the NAEP assessments. For example, fourth grade students excluded from the reading assessment due to limited English proficiency and/or disabilities decreased from 20 percent in 2005 to 4 percent in 2013.

Despite the changing composition of the students who were tested, Austin continued to perform well in comparison to the nation, large cities and urban districts.

Results for mathematics were particularly strong, a testament to the district’s emphasis on numeracy, integration challenging content within the curriculum and the investment of resources to provide supports for students.

The Nation’s Report Card also reported:

• Austin’s economically disadvantaged students outscored their peers in both the nation and large cities on the eighth grade reading assessment for the first time.
• Austin’s English-language learners outscored their peers in both the nation and large cities on the fourth grade reading assessment for the first time.
• Austin’s students in all groups outscored their peers in large cities on the eighth grade math assessment, and white students and English-language learners outscored their peers nationwide.
• Austin’s students in most groups outscored their peers in both large cities and the nation on the fourth grade math assessment.
• Even with dramatic decreases in the percentage of students excluded in the assessment, Austin’s fourth and eighth grade students still made significant gains over time in both reading and math.

Since 2005, Austin ISD has participated in NAEP’s Trial Urban District Assessment administration. Representative samples of students from a total of 21 school districts across the United States participated in the 2013 assessment of fourth and eighthgrade students in reading and mathematics, providing an opportunity to benchmark progress over time as well as performance against students in other participating urban districts, large U.S. cities and the nation.