Students at ages 9 and 13 have posted significant gains in both reading and mathematics since the early 1970s, while the average scores for 17-year-olds were not significantly different in either subject, according to the new long-term trend report on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

The Nation’s Report Card: NAEP 2008 Trends in Academic Progress charts the educational progress of students at ages 9, 13, and 17 in reading and mathematics on the NAEP.

The report compares results from the most recent NAEP long-term trend assessments, which were given in the 2007–08 school year, to results from 2004 and to the first years the reading and mathematics assessments were given in 1971 and 1973, respectively.

The report provides national results only.

Gaps in reading scores between White and Black students have narrowed for all three age groups since 1971, though those gaps did not change significantly from 2004 to 2008. Reading score gaps between White and Hispanic students were smaller in 2008 than in 1975 at ages 9 and 17, though there were no significant changes from 2004 to 2008.

The Nation’s Report Card: NAEP 2008 Trends in Academic Progress and additional data collected from the 2008 long-term trend assessments are available online at http://nationsreportcard.gov.