BPS math scores on the rise on national assessment

BOSTON - Results of the urban portion of the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) released today at a national press conference in Boston showed that students in the Boston Public Schools had impressive gains in moving students into the proficient category in math. Mayor Thomas M. Menino delivered the opening remarks and Superintendent Thomas W. Payzant attended the press conference announcing the results of the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA), which was administered in grades 4 and 8 in mathematics and reading and given in 11 cities in 2005.

"I believe it's important for the Boston Public Schools to participate in this testing program because it provides us the only opportunity to measure how we perform relative to similar districts nationwide," Mayor Menino said. "I am pleased to see our improvement from the last round of testing and to see that our students are doing well under this comparison."

BPS students demonstrated the greatest gains in math at both grade 4 and 8 (see attached charts). The percent of students scoring at or above proficient in grade 4 math increased by 10 points from 2003 to 2005 while the increase at grade 8 was six points. Boston students had the highest jumps of the 11 participating on any of the subject tests with the 10 and 6 point gains in math. The scores in reading were similar to 2003 and to the average for all large cities and to the other districts.

"The performance on the math tests is notable because it's an area where we needed to see accelerated improvement," Superintendent Payzant said. "We have implemented an ambitious and challenging mathematics curriculum and have instituted a series of supports for our teachers and these results show that the work is taking hold."

When looking at the 44 comparisons reported in the TUDA results (10 other urban districts plus the average for large cities in the four subject areas), BPS students outperformed or equaled the performance in 34 comparisons, including outpacing their peers in 23 and equaling their performance in 11. All of these were statistically significant.

Overall, only one district had a higher score than Boston on the grade 8 reading test and just two districts scored higher on grade 8 math. Also, only three districts had a higher score on the grade 4 reading test than Boston with four districts scoring higher on grade 4 math.

This is the second time Boston has participated in TUDA. The other districts in 2005 were Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, San Diego and the District of Columbia.

TUDA is unique in that it is the only nation-wide examination that breaks out the performance of urban students. This provides each participating district with the ability to measure how it is performing when compared to districts of similar size and population.

Representatives from the National Assessment Governing Board, National Center for Education Statistics and the Council of Great City Schools were also present at the press conference. Boston is the first host of an announcement of NAEP test results. All previous releases were held in Washington, D.C.

For more information on NAEP and TUDA, please visit www.nationsreportcard.gov.

Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA)
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
Progress among large urban districts in percentage of students
scoring proficient or higher, 2003 to 2005
Mathematics: Grade 4

Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA)
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
Progress among large urban districts in percentage of students
scoring proficient or higher, 2003 to 2005
Mathematics: Grade 8