NAEP Overview: The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a nationwide test that measures student performance in grades 4, 8, and 12 across the U.S. It provides insights into educational trends, guiding decisions to improve education.
2024 Arkansas Results:
- Arkansas’ math and reading scores are below the national average.
- The gap between Arkansas and the national average has widened.
- Arkansas’ scores have dropped to their lowest in 21 years, further widening the gap with neighboring states.
A more comprehensive summary of the NAEP results can be found in our OEP Policy Brief.
The 2024 results for Arkansas revealed that the state’s math and reading scores were below the national average (Figure 1). Arkansas’ 8th grade math scores remained steady, while 4th grade math scores slightly improved. 8th grade reading scores were similar to 2022, but 4th grade reading scores continued to decline, reaching a 21-year low with a scaled score of 210. This drop may be linked to COVID-19 disruptions, affecting foundational learning for these students who were likely in kindergarten during the pandemic. The persistent decline in math and reading scores among 4th and 8th grade students in Arkansas mirrors national trends. While Arkansas’s performance continues to lag behind surrounding states in most areas, 8th grade reading is an exception, where scores are more comparable.
Figure 1: Average Scale Score on Arkansas’ NAEP Exams, 2003-2024
Comparison to Border States:
- Arkansas scores lower in both 4th and 8th grade math compared to its border states, despite similar percentages of FRL students.
- In 4th grade reading, Arkansas’ scores continue to decline, while its border states show slight improvement.
- In 8th grade math and reading, Arkansas is trending downward, while its border states are improving, causing a widening gap.
In 4th grade reading, Arkansas continues to decline, while border states show slight improvement, aligning more closely with national averages. In 4th grade math, Arkansas and its border states are diverging, with the border states showing greater improvement. Arkansas is also trending downward in 8th grade math (Figure 2) and reading, while its border states are improving, leading to a growing gap. Despite serving a similar percentage of Free and Reduced Lunch students as its border states (Arkansas 50%, Border States (LA, MO, MS, OK, TN, Tx) 60%), Arkansas continues to score lower in both 4th and 8th grade math.
Figure 2: NAEP Mean Scale Score for 8th Grade Mathematics: Arkansas, Border States, and US 2003-2024
Disparities Between Student Groups:
- Gaps have grown in most categories, except for the 4th grade reading gap between FRL and Non-FRL students, which narrowed.
- In 8th grade reading, the gap between White and Black students narrowed due to improved scores among Black students.
- The gap between White and Hispanic students has steadily increased due to a larger decline in Hispanic students’ scores.
- The gap between FRL and Non-FRL students increased, particularly in 4th grade, due to improvements among Non-FRL students.
The gaps in math scores between student groups in Arkansas have widened over time, particularly between White and Black students, and White and Hispanic students, with White students showing larger score increases. Additionally, the gap between students eligible for Free/Reduced Lunch (FRL) and those not eligible has also increased, particularly in 4th grade, due to consistent scores among FRL students and improvements among Non-FRL students.
In 2024, 4th grade White students saw their lowest NAEP reading scores in 21 years, with a narrowing gap between White and Black students due to improved scores among Black students. Meanwhile, Hispanic students experienced a steady decline in reading scores over the past five years, with 2024 marking their lowest scores in 21 years, leading to an increasing gap between them and White peers (Figure 3). Additionally, the gap between FRL and Non-FRL eligible students widened slightly in 8th grade reading, while it decreased slightly among 4th graders due to a decline in Non-FRL scores and a small increase for FRL students.
In 2024, score gaps widened for most student groups, with the notable exception of 4th grade reading between FRL and Non-FRL Eligible students, where the gap narrowed. The gap between Black and White students also narrowed slightly, due to increased scores among Black students and a slight decrease among White students.
Figure 3: Arkansas’ NAEP Mean Scale Score for 8th Grade Reading, White and Hispanic, 2003 to 2024
ATLAS vs. NAEP:
- Arkansas students generally perform better on the ATLAS exam than on the NAEP, except for 4th grade math where NAEP proficiency is higher.
Proficiency rates on the ATLAS exam tend to be higher than those on the NAEP across most grade levels and subjects, suggesting that students generally perform better on the ATLAS assessment (Figure 4). However, this trend does not hold for 4th grade math, where the NAEP reports higher proficiency rates. This comparison between NAEP and ATLAS is crucial to better understand the performance of Arkansas students and to guide necessary improvements for their success.
Figure 4: Arkansas’ 2024 NAEP Percent Proficient and ATLAS Percent Proficient, by Grade and Content Area.
Conclusion:
- While the 2024 NAEP results raise concerns about educational performance in Arkansas, they are just one data point. Other sources like the ATLAS exam provide a more complete picture of student learning.
Given all of this, should we truly be worried about the NAEP scores? Ultimately, it’s just one more data point in the broader picture of information we gather to assess our systems. As we often emphasize, triangulating data is crucial, but we also want to avoid over-assessing. In Arkansas, we have another valuable data source that provides a clear view of the actual learning happening in our schools. Soon, we’ll be announcing the 2024 OEP Awards to honor schools that are surpassing expectations and achieving impressive academic growth despite demographic challenges.