Business leaders in Tennessee cannot find the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) talent they need to stay competitive. Students' lagging performance in K-12 is a critical reason why. The good news is that the nation's most effective STEM education programs can help turn the tide. Students have made progress in math over the…

Making robust and reliable information about schools accessible is one of the most powerful ways to foster engagement and promote informed decisions that will shape our communities. Though education data is frequently collected and aggregated at the state level, data is rarely synthesized across cities. This report provides comparable information…

This report portrays various performance indicators that are intended to facilitate an assessment of the postsecondary education system in Indiana. Descriptive statistics are presented for Indiana and five other comparison states as well as the nation. Comparison states were selected according to the degree of similarity of population…

Guided by a new framework, the NAEP science assessment was updated in 2009 to keep the content current with key developments in science, curriculum standards, assessments, and research. The 2009 framework organizes science content into three broad content areas. Physical science includes concepts related to properties and changes of matter, forms…

This paper profiles Tennessee's test score trends through 2008-09. Between 2005 and 2009, the percentages of students reaching the proficient level on the state test and the basic level on NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) increased in grade 8 reading and math. At grade 4, trends on the state test and NAEP differed somewhat. In…

A representative sample of 122,000 eighth-graders participated in the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science assessment, which is designed to measure students' knowledge and abilities in the areas of physical science, life science, and Earth and space sciences. This report covers the overall results, achievement level…

Each state and jurisdiction that participated in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2011 reading assessment receives a one-page snapshot report that presents key findings and trends in a condensed format. Overall results, achievement level percentages and average score results, comparison of the average score in 2011 to other…

Each state and jurisdiction that participated in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2011 mathematics assessment receives a one-page snapshot report that presents key findings and trends in a condensed format. Overall results, achievement level percentages and average score results, comparison of the average score in 2011 to…

This descriptive report is part of a broader project collecting, organizing, and analyzing multiple sources of data from the four-state REL Appalachia region, comprised of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The purposes of that broader project are: (1) to increase awareness of and understanding about critical education issues in the…

This paper profiles Tennessee's test score trends through 2008-09. In 2004, the mean scale score on the state 4th grade reading test was 501 for non-Title I students and 486 for Title I students. In 2009, the mean scale score in 4th grade reading was 512 for non-Title I students and 495 for Title I students. Between 2004 and 2009, the mean scale…

Each state and jurisdiction that participated in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2009 reading assessment receives a one-page snapshot report that presents key findings and trends in a condensed format. Overall results, achievement level percentages and average score results, comparison of the average score in 2009 to other…

This paper profiles the student subgroup achievement and gap trends in Tennessee for 2010. In grade 8 (the only grade in which subgroup trends were analyzed by achievement level), Tennessee showed across-the-board gains--improvements in reading and math at the proficient-and-above, and advanced levels for all racial/ethnic subgroups, low-income…

In 1998 for the first time, the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) administered a writing assessment at the state level. This report describes the writing achievement of Tennessee eighth-grade students and compares their overall performance to students in the Southeast region of the United States and the nation (using data from the…

The 1998 NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) state level reading assessment measured fourth- and eighth-grade students' reading proficiency in situations that involved reading for three purposes: reading for literary experience, reading to gain information, and reading to perform a task (grade 8 only). This report describes the…

This report provides selected results from the 2002 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for Tennessee's public-school students at grades 4 and 8. Since 1992, reading has been assessed in four different years at the state level (at grade 4 in 1992 and 1994, and at both grades 4 and 8 in 1998 and 2002). Tennessee participated in all…