The overall proficiency scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in math and reading among 12 graders remained unchanged in 2013 from 2009, hovering at 26 and 38 percent, respectively.
The above results were drawn from a national sample of students, with an additional 14 pilot states that produced results on a state-level basis.
These average proficiency scores ranged from 50 percent in reading among Connecticut students to 28 percent in West Virginia. In math, Massachusetts had the highest score among pilot states at 34 percent, with West Virginia at the lower end of the spectrum, showing 14 percent proficiency.
The stagnation in 12th grade proficiency rates mirrors that of fourth and eighth graders on NAEP assessments, meaning students are not demonstrating meaningful achievement gains as they advance towards the end of their secondary education.
Kara Kerwin, president of The Center for Education Reform, called the fourth and eighth grade 2013 scores ”a disgrace,” upon their release last November.