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FOCUS ON THE CONTENT AREAS

NCES 2007–460

National Assessment of Educational Progress

U.S. Department of Education

Mathematics

2005

Performance in Puerto Rico

What is The Nation’s Report Card

TM

?

The Nation’s Report Card

™

informs the public about the academic achievement of elementary and secondarystudents in the United States. Report cards communicate the ﬁndings of the National Assessment ofEducational Progress (NAEP), a continuing and nationally representative measure of achievement in varioussubjects over time. The Nation’s Report Card

™

compares performance among states, urban districts, publicand private schools, and student demographic groups.

individual students is protected, and the identitiesof participating schools are not released.NAEP is a congressionally mandated project of the National Center for Education Statistics withinthe Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S.Department of Education. The Commissioner of Education Statistics is responsible for carrying out theNAEP project. The National Assessment GoverningBoard oversees and sets policy for NAEP.For over three decades, NAEP assessmentshave been conducted periodically in reading,mathematics, science, writing, history, geography,and other subjects. By making objectiveinformation available on student performanceat the national, state, and local levels, NAEPis an integral part of our nation’s evaluation of the condition and progress of education. Onlyinformation related to academic achievement andrelevant variables is collected. The privacy of

C o n t e n t s

M AR C H 2 0 0 7

1 E x e c u t i v e S u m m a r y 2 T h e M a t h e m a t i c s A s s e s s m e n t 2 S t u d e n t P e r f o r m a n c e 4 N u m b e r P r o p e r t i e s a n d O p e r a t i o n s 1 0 M e a s u r e m e n t 1 6 G e o m e t r y 2 2 D a t a A n a l y s i s a n d P r o b a b i l i t y 2 8 A l g e b r a 3 4 T e c h n i c a l N o t e s a n d D a t a A p p e n d i x

Performance is summarized across the entireNAEP mathematics assessment and for five contentareas on a 0–500 scale. Average scores for studentsin Puerto Rico at grades 4 and 8 for 2005 arepresented in figures 1 and 2. Averages for publicschool students in the nation (excluding PuertoRico) are shown for comparison. Because thescales were developed separately for each contentarea within each grade, direct comparisons shouldnot be made between the average scores for thecontent areas. Question-level results presented inthe report provide specific examples of studentperformance within each of the five areas. Foreach sample question, the percentage of correctresponses is reported for Puerto Rico and thenation.At grade 4, students in Puerto Rico scored lower,on average, than students in the nation overall andwithin each content area. There was no significantdifference between the performance of male andfemale students in Puerto Rico overall. Femalestudents in Puerto Rico scored higher than malestudents in geometry, but there was no differencebetween the performance of male and femalestudents in the other content areas.Students in Puerto Rico also scored lower atgrade 8 than students in the nation overall andwithin each content area. There was no significantdifference between the performance of male andfemale students in Puerto Rico overall. Femalestudents in Puerto Rico scored higher than malestudents in the data analysis and probabilitycontent area, but there was no difference betweenthe performance of male and female students inthe other content areas.

Executive Summary

In 2005, public school students in Puerto Rico at grades 4 and 8 participated in a Spanish-language version of theNational Assessment of Educational Progress in mathematics for the second time. Approximately 3,000 studentsin 100 public schools were assessed at each grade. Puerto Rico also participated in NAEP in 2003, but becausechanges were implemented for the 2005 administration, results for the two years cannot be compared.

191243188241197236181236175235183237

0 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 500

Puerto Rico Nation

Average scale scoreOVERALLNUMBER PROPERTIESAND OPERATIONSMEASUREMENTGEOMETRYDATA ANALYSIS ANDPROBABILITYALGEBRA

Figure 1

Average fourth-grade NAEP mathematics scores in 2005, bycontent area

MATHEMATICS 2005 PERFORMANCE IN PUERTO RICO 1

222281224280225275198274218276218278OVERALLNUMBER PROPERTIESAND OPERATIONSMEASUREMENTGEOMETRYDATA ANALYSIS ANDPROBABILITYALGEBRA

0 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 500

Puerto Rico Nation

Average scale score

Figure 2

Average eighth-grade NAEP mathematics scores in 2005, bycontent area

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics,National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2005 Mathematics Assessment.