The National Indian Education Study (NIES) utilizes the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and contextual questions to describe the condition of education for fourth- and eighth-grade American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students in the United States. NIES is conducted under the direction of the National Center for Education Statistics on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Indian Education.

• an in-depth look at the findings from the student, teacher, and school administrator survey questions that were focused on AI/AN culture and language;
• information about the achievement of AI/AN students at grades 4 and 8 on the NAEP reading and mathematics assessments—for the nation as well as for 15 states with relatively large proportions of AI/AN students;
• an examination of contextual factors that are associated with higher- and lower-performing AI/AN students; and
• an exploration of composite variables (i.e., variables built upon multiple discrete student survey questions) related to AI/AN cultural knowledge, interest in reading about cultures (both their own and others), engagement at school, and perceptions about effort in school.

Results are reported for three mutually exclusive categories of schools as well as for an overall category:

• low density public schools (where less than 25 percent of all the students in the school were AI/AN);
• high density public schools (where 25 percent or more of all the students in the school were AI/AN);
• Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools; and
• all AI/AN students (includes all AI/AN students sampled throughout the nation in public, private, BIE, and Department of Defense schools).

The survey results presented in this report are focused primarily on the responses of fourth- and eighth-grade AI/AN students to selected survey questions. Approximately 7,000 fourth-graders and 6,300 eighth-graders participated in the NIES 2019 student survey. Teachers and school administrators also completed surveys.

Average scores in NAEP reading and mathematics for AI/AN fourth- and eighth- graders from earlier NAEP assessments in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2015 are compared to their average reading and mathematics scores in 2019.

The NIES survey questions, as well as the report itself, were created in close collaboration with the NIES Technical Review Panel (TRP). The NIES TRP is composed of AI/AN educational stakeholders from across the country.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has released two reports based on the 2018 NAEP Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) study: a brief highlights report and a longer statistical analysis report. This statistical report presents detailed information about the 2018 NAEP ORF study, the first such NAEP study since 2002. The study was administered to a nationally representative sample of over 1,800 fourth-graders from 180 public schools. Students who participated in the study first completed the NAEP fourth-grade reading assessment. Then they read four short passages out loud to assess their oral reading fluency (i.e., the ability to read text aloud with speed, accuracy, and proper expression) as well as two kinds of word lists to assess their foundational skills (i.e., word reading and phonological decoding). Both the NAEP reading tasks and oral reading tasks were administered to students digitally, with student responses recorded on tablets.

The results indicate that for an estimated 1.3 million public school fourth-graders (36 percent) who performed below the NAEP Basic achievement level in reading in 2018, and in particular for an estimated 420,000 fourth-graders whose performance placed them in the lowest third of the below NAEP Basic level, fluent reading of connected text, such as paragraphs, is a major challenge. The challenge with fluency and foundational skills is particularly pronounced among Black and Hispanic students. These students read a passage at half the rate of a NAEP Proficient fourth-grader; misread 1 out of every 6 words, which are more likely to be content words that are important for comprehension, not function words (e.g., the, and, on); focus on individual words or phrases instead of the meanings of sentences and passages; read in a monotone voice, indicating lack of text comprehension; and show little knowledge of spelling-sound correspondence.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has released two reports based on the 2018 NAEP Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) study: a brief highlights report and a longer statistical analysis report. This highlights report presents the key concepts and findings of the 2018 NAEP ORF study, the first such NAEP study since 2002. The study was administered to a nationally representative sample of over 1,800 fourth-graders from 180 public schools. Students who participated in the study first completed the NAEP fourth-grade reading assessment. Then they read four short passages out loud to assess their oral reading fluency (i.e., the ability to read text aloud with speed, accuracy, and proper expression) as well as two kinds of word lists to assess their foundational skills (i.e., word reading and phonological decoding). Both the NAEP reading tasks and oral reading tasks were administered to students digitally, with student responses recorded on tablets.

The results indicate that for an estimated 1.3 million public school fourth-graders (36 percent) who performed below the NAEP Basic achievement level in reading in 2018, and in particular for an estimated 420,000 fourth-graders whose performance placed them in the lowest third of the below NAEP Basic level, fluent reading of connected text, such as paragraphs, is a major challenge. The challenge with fluency and foundational skills is particularly pronounced among Black and Hispanic students. These students read a passage at half the rate of a NAEP Proficient fourth-grader; misread 1 out of every 6 words, which are more likely to be content words that are important for comprehension, not function words (e.g., the, and, on); focus on individual words or phrases instead of the meanings of sentences and passages; read in a monotone voice, indicating lack of text comprehension; and show little knowledge of spelling-sound correspondence.

These online Highlights present overviews of results from the NAEP 2019 mathematics report and the 2019 reading report. Highlighted results include key findings for the nation, states/jurisdictions, and the 27 districts that participated in the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) at grades 4 and 8. Results are presented in terms of average scale scores and as percentages of students performing at the three NAEP achievement levels: NAEP Basic, NAEP Proficient, and NAEP Advanced. Highlighted results include performance data for demographic student groups, five selected percentiles, and NAEP survey questionnaires.

The 2019 average scores were higher for grade 4 mathematics, lower for grade 8 mathematics, and lower at both grades for reading compared to averages scores in 2017. Over the long term, however, the national average scores in both subjects were higher for both grades compared to the initial assessment years (1990 for mathematics and 1992 for reading). At the state level, average mathematics scores were mainly steady across states/jurisdictions at both grades since 2017: at grade 4, scores were higher in nine and lower in 3 states/jurisdictions. Average reading scores were lower compared to 2017 in 17 states/jurisdictions at grade 4 and in 31 states/jurisdictions at grade 8; one state/jurisdiction at each grade had a score increase since 2017.

Average mathematics and reading scores across the participating TUDA districts were relatively stable since 2017: mathematics scores increased in five TUDA districts at grade 4 and in four districts at grade 8; one district at grade 4 and three districts at grade 8 had lower mathematics scores since 2017. Only one TUDA district had a higher reading score in 2019 compared to 2017. Reading scores were lower compared in 2017 in three districts at grade 4 and in 11 districts at grade 8.

Highlighted results include responses of students and teachers to survey questionnaires designed to collect information about students’ educational experiences and opportunities to learn both in and outside of the classroom.

Full results for each subject are available in the 2019 NAEP Mathematics Report and the 2019 NAEP Reading Report.