Nation's Report Card: LAUSD at Bottom
L.A. kids still in U.S. cellar in grades 4 and 8
By Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer
Math and reading scores of Los Angeles Unified's fourth- and eighth-graders showed no improvement over last year and continue to lag behind both state and national averages, according to a national report released today.
In reading, performance of students in fourth and eighth grades in the Los Angeles Unified School District was the worst among 11 of the nation's largest urban school districts, according to the report card by the National Assessment of Education Progress.
In math, fourth-graders ranked eighth among peers in districts including Boston, Houston and New York, while eighth-graders fared better than peers in just two districts: the District of Columbia and Atlanta.
But LAUSD officials said Wednesday that a review of the district's performance over four years shows it is making gains that outpace those in the 10 comparable 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."
For the full story and to access the NAEP reading and math reports, click here.
For the L.A. Times story, click here.
If you have questions about the NAEP results, Peggy Carr, NCES Associate Commissioner, will
be answering questions about the release through an online question and answer session. You can submit questions by sending an email to tuda2007questions@ed.gov by Monday, November 19.
Answers to the questions will be posted here on November 20 at 3 p.m.