NAEP Scores Show LAUSD Lags
Study: LAUSD lags behind other big-city districts in reading, math
Los Angeles Unified's fourth and eighth graders perform the worst in reading out of 11 of the nation's big-city school districts, according to a national report released today.
Fourth graders came in eighth in their performance in math, compared to districts in Boston, Houston and New York among others, while eighth graders did better than two school districts -- District of Columbia and Atlanta -- according to the 2007 National Assessent of Educational Progress, better known as the "Nation's Report Card."
Math and reading scores of LAUSD's fourth and eighth graders showed no improvement over last year, and continues to lag both the state and national averages, according to NAEP, which calculated the district's achievement trends based on standardized tests.
But district officials said Wednesday a review of the district's performance over four years shows gains that outpace those in the other 10 school districts.
"Looking at the trend, we're going in the right direction, but we still have a lot to do," said Esther Wong, assistant superintendent of planning, assessment and research at LAUSD. "The work that we've done and the focus continues to show at least promising practices in what we need to do."
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