This indicator represents the average score in mathematics of each state’s fourth grade public school students on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The NAEP mathematics assessment is a congressionally authorized measure of student performance that is conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics. The assessment measures students’ knowledge and skills in mathematics and students’ ability to apply that knowledge in the content areas of number properties and operations; measurement; geometry; data analysis, statistics, and probability; and algebra. Student performance is presented in terms of average scores on a scale from 0 to 500.

The NAEP program does not, and is not designed to, report on the performance of individual students or schools. Not all students participate in NAEP assessments; a sample of schools and students is selected to represent each participating state. Hundreds of thousands of students from several thousand schools across the nation typically participate in the NAEP mathematics assessment. The results from the assessed students are combined to provide accurate estimates of the overall performance of students in the nation and in individual states. Students with disabilities or limited English language proficiency are allowed to use certain accommodations (e.g., extra testing time or individual rather than group administration). All data presented here represent scores from tests taken with accommodations offered.

Data source: Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress.