The 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress – NAEP – science scores show that Kentucky’s 8th graders outperformed the nation.

The NAEP science grading scale ranges from 0 to 300

Key results from the 2011 NAEP science assessments for 8th graders include:

• Disaggregated scale scores show that, in all but one category, Kentucky students outperformed the nation. The only Kentucky group that did not have higher scores than the nation was 8th-grade white students, whose average scale score was 160, compared to the national average of 163 for the same group.
• The average science score for 8th-grade students in Kentucky was 157. This was higher than that of the nation’s public schools (151). The average score for students in Kentucky in 2011 (157) was not significantly different from that in 2009 (156).
• The percentage of students in Kentucky who performed at or above Proficient was 34 percent. This was greater than that for the nation’s public schools (31 percent).
•  The percentage of students in Kentucky who performed at or above Proficient in 2011 (34 percent) was not significantly different from that in 2009 (34 percent).
• The percentage of students in Kentucky who performed at or above Basic was 72 percent. This was greater than that for the nation’s public schools (64 percent).
•  The percentage of students in Kentucky who performed at or above Basic in 2011 (72 percent) was not significantly different from that in 2009 (71 percent).

NAEP is a project of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), reporting on the academic achievement of elementary and secondary students in the United States.

 To read a full Kentucky Department of Education press release on the results, click here.