National Center for Education Statistics
May 2010
The much anticipated reading TUDA results for 2009 are out today—and the news is a bit surprising. Five cities saw statistically significant gains since 2002 in grade 4 (Atlanta, Chicago, D.C., L.A., and New York City) and two in grade eight (Atlanta and L.A.); Boston gained since 2007 in grade 4 but not grade 8 (it did not participate in 2002). Atlanta’s 2002-2009 gains were the biggest—fourteen points in both grades—while L.A., the other double hitter, saw gains about half that size in both grades. The only city to lose ground was Cleveland, whose scores went down in both grade 4 and grade 8. Unfortunately, the Forest City’s 2009 scores also clocked in below the national average for large cities in both grades, along with those of Baltimore, Detroit, D.C., Fresno, L.A., and Milwaukee. Atlanta, despite its gains, did not score significantly different from the national average, and neither did Houston or San Diego. Subgroup findings for our two big gainers are also worth noting. In grade 4 and grade 8, Atlanta’s white students scored higher than the national average for big cities, while black and free- or reduced-price lunch students tested about the same (there was not enough data for Hispanic students). On the other hand, L.A.’s black students were on par with big cities, while its other subgroups—white, Hispanic, and FRL students mostly clocked in below average. Check out the findings for yourself here.
