Washington's scores dipped in eighth-grade math and reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Fourth grade scores stayed about the same.
New results from a federal test of fourth- and eighth-graders show a first-ever decline in math scores, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
The drop from 2013 was slight — one point on the fourth-grade test and two points on the eighth-grade test on a scale that ranges from 0 to 500.
The average eighth-grade reading score also dropped two points.
Still, the scores for both grades on both tests remain substantially higher than they were in the 1990s and officials caution that it’s too soon to know if the decline is a blip, or a reversal of the longer trend.
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The test scores released Wednesday are from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a measure of student achievement that is more or less consistent over time and throughout the country, unlike state achievement tests.
Washington state’s eighth-grade results for math and reading were a few points lower than in 2013 and about the same for fourth-grade. Washington also shows long-term progress for each grade and test, despite the latest dips.