Atlanta 7/10/03 - Today’s release of the 2002 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Writing scores for Georgia’s fourth- and eighth-grade students shows that students in the state still perform lower on average in writing than their peers nationally. NAEP, called “the nation’s report card,” is administered to students across the nation in fourth, eighth, and twelfth grades, and is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas.

Georgia’s eighth-graders did not improve demonstrably upon the 1998 results, averaging 147 (up just one point from 146). The percentage of students who performed at or above the Proficient level in 2002 (25%) was somewhat higher, however, than in 1998 (23%). Fourth-grade writing scores also lagged behind national results. The average scale score for Georgia fourth-graders was 149, four points below the national average of 153. Because fourth grade was assessed for the first time in 2002, there were no 1998 results to compare the progress of Georgia’s fourth-grade students.

Georgia Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox expressed disappointment in the results, saying that they “demonstrate significant room for improvement. We’re definitely not where we want to be, but we’re going to use these NAEP results to assess and address the educational needs of our students and our schools as we work to lead the nation in improving student achievement. What we need is a greater emphasis on writing in the classroom and across the curriculum, and you’re going to see that as a result of the work that we’re doing to revise and strengthen our Quality Core Curriculum (QCC).”

The revised curriculum will be completed this fall and implemented in fall of 2004, Cox said. “Writing won’t be just a language arts component; we’re going to have kids writing in all curriculum areas because all of the research clearly shows that it leads to improved learning. As with all other content areas, we’re going to use national and international standards and best practices as models in writing instruction and assessment.”

While white eighth-graders performed lower than white students across the nation and showed no improvement from the 1998 administration of the test, eighth-grade African-American students performed at higher levels than blacks across the nation (138 to 134), and significantly improved upon the 1998 results (138, up from 132 four years earlier). Additionally, the percentage of African-American students in eighth-grade who performed at or above the Proficient level was higher in 2002 (14%) than in 1998 (9%).

Cox hailed these scores as a bright spot showing that Georgia’s “efforts to eliminate the achievement gap between students are working. We saw the same trend in the NAEP Reading scores [released in June]. It shows that we’re doing a better job with those students who need more help. As we move forward with the implementation of No Child Left Behind, the NAEP scores show that we’re already working toward the goal of the law: a system that educates all of our students well, regardless of race, background, or socioeconomic status.”