1A13 Nine-year old black students made a large increase in their performance on the reference skills exercises, with the greatest increase (7.1%) occuring between the first and the second assessments. 2A13 In all three assessments, nine-year-old girls performed better on the reference skills than 9-year-old boys. There was little change in the 9 year olds girls' relative differences from the national average. 3A13 While 3.9% below the national average in the first assessment of reference skills, the 9 year old SE group's difference from the nation has narrowed to 1.3% in the third assessment. 4A13 The Southeastern group for age 9 significantly increased its performance on the reference skills by 7.4 percentage points between the first and the third assessments. 5A13 The performance advantages for the following 9 year old groups in the 1st assessment of reference skills declined in the 3rd assessment, i.e., the Central region, females, whites, and students whose parents have post high school education. 6A13 The difference in performance of 9 year olds on the reference skills between the national average and students in disadvantaged-urban communities increased from the 1st (12.3% below the nation) to the 3rd assessment (13.1% below). 7A13 Nine-year-old students who reported at least one parent had graduated from high school were 1.8% above the nation in the first assessment of reference skills, but declined slightly to 1.6% below the nation in the third assessment. 8A13 Nine-year-olds' performance increased more on reference skills than on inferential or literal comprehension over the three reading assessments. 9A11 Performance leads held by the following age 9 groups in 1971 assessment of inferential comprehension decreased in 1980 the Central region, females, whites, the post high school education and the advantaged-urban groups. 10A11 At the time of the first assessment, the age 9 rural group was 2.8% below the national average in inferential comprehension, but by the third assessment, they were only slightly below the nation. 11A11 Among 9-year-olds, the gap in performance on inferential comprehension between blacks and the national average at the time of the first assessment (-13.6%) has now narrowed to -8.7% in the third assessment. 12A11 The cumulative gain of 9-year-old black students in inferential comprehension was 8.4 percentage points from the first to the third assessment. This is much greater than the gain for non-blacks (2.5%). 13A11 For age 9, males made gains (3.8%) in inferential comprehension from the first to the third assessment, although they remain below national levels. Females continued their performance lead over the nine years, 1971-80. 14A11 The gap in inferential comprehension between 9-year-olds in the Southeast and all 9-year olds narrowed from -4.7% in the first assessment to -1.6% in the third assessment. 15A11 Nine-year-old students in the Southeast registered an increase of 6.5 percentage points in inferential comprehension between the first and third assessments. 16A11 Nine-year-olds who attend schools in disadvantaged-urban communities improved their literal comprehension skills over the three assessments, narrowing the gap between them and the nation from 11.4% to 8.4%. 17A11 Nine-year-old students who attend schools in rural communities reduced their difference with the national average in literal comprehension to 0.9% from the first to the third assessment. 18A11 Nine-year-old students whose parents have not graduated from high school gained by 5.0 percentage points in literal comprehension over the three assessments, narrowing the gap between them and the national average. 19A11 In literal comprehension, 9-year-old black youngsters were 14.2 percentage points below the nation in 1971 and 10.7 percentage points below the nation in 1975, but the gap has narrowed to 7.1 percentage points in 1980. 20A9 The largest increase in performance for 9 year olds on reading exercises from the first to third assessment occurred for black students (9.9%). The increase for white students for that time period was 2.8 percentage points. 21A9 Students in rural communities evidenced a significant change (6.0 percentage points) in reading achievement from the first to the third assessment. 22A9 Nine year old students in the Central states evidenced a significant change (2.2 percentage points) in reading achievement from the first to the third assessment. 23A9 Nine year old students in the Northeast evidenced a significant change (4.1 percentage points) in reading achievement from the first to the third assessment. 24A9 Nine year old students in the Southeast evidenced a significant change (7.5 percentage points) in reading achievement from the first to the third assessment. 25A9 Of the 14 reporting groups NAEP used for age 9, the advantaged urban group is the only group that did not evidence a significant change in reading from the first to the third assessment. 26A9 Southeastern 9-year-olds improved in reading by 8.4 percentage points from the first to the third assessment eliminating any significant difference between their performance and the nation's. 27A9 Nine year old males performed significantly below the national level on each administration of the literal comprehension exercises. However, their overall gain from the 1st to the 3rd assessment was larger than the ove rall gain of females. 28A9 Nine year old male students evidenced a significant change (4.4 percentage points) in reading achievement from the first to the third assessment. 29A9 Nine year old students in the Western states evidenced a significant change (3.4 percentage points) in reading achievement from the first to the third assessment. 30A9 Nine year old female students evidenced a significant change (3.5 percentage points) in reading achievement from the first to the third assessment. 31A9 Nine year old students, in disadvantaged urban areas evidenced a significant change (5.2 percentage points) in reading achievement from the first to the third assessment. 32A13 Three groups at each age -- students in the Southeast, blacks and males -- narrowed the gaps in reading between them and the nation, although each continues to perform below the national average. 33A23 Nationally, the performance level of 17-year-olds declined significantly (2.1%) in inferential comprehension from the first to the third assessment. 34A17 The only significant overall gain in reading among the 13 year-olds reporting groups from the first to the third assessment occurred for black students (4.2%). 36B11 More than half of the students assessed prefered movies to either television or reading. Almost half of the 17-year-olds selected reading a book as their least favorite choice of activity. 37B11 The proportion of students who enjoy reading "very much" drops from 81% for age nine, to 50% for age 13, to only 42% for age 17. 38B More students value reading as a source of information than as a source of enjoyment, self-understanding or culture. 43B12 Most teenagers can identify metaphors, puns, hyperboles, and so forth, when they are given specific examples and directions. Their skill in this over the last 10 years does not seem to have declined. 44B23 The percentage of 17-year-olds writing adequate analyses to substantiate their opinions about the mood of a literary work declined from 51 percent to 41 percent, between 1971 and 1980. 45IV On the 1979-80 national reading assessment, students from homes in which a language other than English is often spoken generally performed below students for whom English is the dominant language. 46I4 Among students from homes in which English is not the dominant language, those attending advantaged urban and private schools and those who have a parent with post high school education, performed near or above national reading levels. 48IV In reading, 17 year old white students from homes in which English is not the dominant language performed about a percentage point below the nation and 5 %age points below white students for whom English is the dominant language in the home. 49IV In reading, 17 year old Hispanic students from homes in which English is not the dominant language perform 9 percentage points below the nation, which is also true of Hispanic students for whom English i s the dominant language in the home. 50IV In reading, 17 year old black students from homes in which English is not the dominant language perform 26 percentage points below the nation and 14 points below black students for whom English is the d ominant language in the home. 51IV Among students from homes in which English is not the dominant language, a relatively high percentage are Hispanic, live in the Northeast or West, and are attending school a year below the modal grade for their age. 52C1 Although Hispanic students' reading performance remains below the national level, Hispanics have made some significant gains in reading from 1974 to 1980. 53C1 In certain areas of reading, the performance gains among Hispanic students at age 9 and among several groups of Hispanic students at ages 13 and 17 exceed those of students nationally. 54C1 The greatest improvement in reading performance for Hispanic 9-year-olds was on exercises assessing literal comprehension (5.9%). 55C3 The greatest improvements by Hispanic students in reading occurred at age 9. The gain by 9-year-old Hispanics (5.3%) more than doubled that of 9-year-old nationally (2.6%). 56C1 Seventeen-year-old Hispanic students performance stayed about the same between reading assessments. Big-city students showed an improvement in exercises assessing inferential comprehension. 57C1 Thirteen-year-old Hispanic's reading performance stayed about the same between 1974 and 1979; big-city 13-year-old Hispanic students improved their performance on literal comprehension exercises by 5.9 points. 58C1 Nine-year-old hispanics attending schools in cities of 200,000 or more improved 8.4 percentage points in reding from 1974 to 1980. 60B3 Performance on multiple-choice and short answer-answer items shows that by age 17 the majority of students were able to make accurate initial inferences about the passages they read. 61B3 In general, students were better at discussing their personal reactions to a passage then they were at analyzing the passage itself. 62B3 Disadvantaged - urban students performed below the national averages in the 1979-1980 Reading - Literature Assessment, while advantaged - urban students performed above national average. 63B3 Across tasks, girls read better than boys, and are more successful in explaining their judgements. 64B11 In general, females read more than males, whites more than blacks, advantaged students more than disadvantaged. 65B01 When asked to discuss the theme and main idea of literary passages, students tended most frequently to retell the story or poem. 66B1 Almost all children in the 1979-80 assessment of reading and literature recognized the value and utility of reading. 67B1 By age 17, most students read a range of materials that were appropriate to their age level. 69B1 By age 17, most students expressed their initial ideas and judgments about what they read, particularly when these involved personal reactions. 70B1 Older students provided more evidence to support their assertions than younger students. 71B2 While students learn to read a wide range of material, they develop very few skills for examining the nature of the ideas that they take away from their reading. 72B3 Between 1970 and 1980, both 13- and 17-year olds became less likely to try to interpret what they read and more likely to simply make unexplained value judgements about it. 73B11 About 10% of the surveyed students at each age do not read at all in their spare time. 74B When asked to respond to literary works and explain their response in writing by analyzing the work, only 5%-10% of teenagers demonstrated strong analytic skills, 25-40% tended to "retell" the work, and 10-15% proved unable to do it at all. 75B9 More than a quarter of the teenagers assessed say it is usually hard for them to finish a book they have started. 77B8 Most teenagers (two-thirds or more) do no homework or less than one hour per night. 78B11 Most students believe reading is important and enjoy it at least "somewhat". However, less than half of the 13-year-olds and 17-year-olds enjoy it "very much". 79B11 A third to more than half the teenagers have problems concentrating on their reading, finishing classroom silent reading in time, finding books that interest them and reading l ong books. 80B11 About one student in six, at each age, has difficulty finding a book on a subject that is easy to read. 81B11 Most students think they are good readers. 82C10 The performance of 17-year-old Hispanic students was similar to that of the national average for this age population, indicating consistency in performance from a second to third reading assessment of reference skills. 83C10 Nationally, 13-year-olds gained by 2.6 percentage points on reference skills exercises, while Hispanic students' performance remained stable on these exercises. 84C10 Although 9 year-old Hispanics as a whole did not experience a significant gain in reference skill, two reporting groups did: big-city communities (13.9%) and females (8.5 %). 86A42 The proportion of Southeasterners in the highest achievement group at ages 9, 13 and 17 grew from the first to the third assessment. 88A39 The largest proportion of 9-year old students in the Northeast and central regions were in the highest achievement group. The reverse was true for the South and West wh ere the largest proportion were in the lowest achievement group. 89A35 At ages 9 and 13, performance in literal comprehension increased significantly from the first to the third assessment in the lowest achievement group while 17 year-olds in the lowest achievement group did not increase significantly. 90A35 At age 9, the performance in literal comprehension of the lowest achievement group increased in each assessment, while the lowest achievement group at age 13 showed a significant increase only from the first to the second assessment. 91A35 Regarding performance in literal comprehension, 9-year-olds in the highest achievement group remained stable, 13-year-olds declined significantly, and 17-year-olds ev idenced a slight decline from the first to the third assessment. 92A39 Generally, the achievement-group data indicate that most of the significant increases in reading performance at all three ages occurred in the lowest achievement gro up of the national sample. 93A35 There were no significant increases in reading across the three assessments for age 13 in the overall national results. 94A35 At age 17, mean performance in reading remained stable in the lowest achievement group, while declining significantly in the higher achievement group across the ni ne-year span. 95A35 At age 17, the slight downward trend in overall reading performance from the first to the third assessment may have resulted primarily due to the decline of those students in the higher achievement group. 96A34 For 13- and 17-year olds in the highest achievement group, a significant decline in reading occurred between the first and second assessments, but appeared to be arrested by the third assessment. 97A35 The increased mean performance in reading at age 9 between the first and third assessments appears to have occurred primarily in the lower achievement groups, w hile mean performance in the highest achievement groups remained stable. 98A35 At age 13, mean reading performance in the lower achievement group tended to increase across assessments, but this is not the case in the higher achievement gr oup where a decline was evidenced. 99A34 For 17-year-olds, the overall change in reading performance by the lowest achievement group is a slight but nonsignificant increase from the first to the thir d assessment. 100A34 In the highest achievement group for 9-year-olds, mean performance in reading remained stable across the third assessments. 101A33 Significant changes occurred in mean reading performance for 9-year-olds in the lowest achievement group with successive assessments. 102A33 Thirteen-year-olds in the lowest achievement group improved significantly in reading from the first to the third assessment. 103A33 Reading results for 17-year-olds in the lowest achievement group indicate a significant increase between the first and second assessments, although no cha nge was observed between the second and the third assessments. 104A31 The only significant progressive decline in reference skills over the 1971-80 span is by the parents graduated from high school group. It declined from 0.1% above the nation in 1971 to 2.9% below in 1980. 105A31 The performance on reference skills exercises of 17-year-old students in the Western region has remained stable in each assessment, with no significant differences from the nation. 106A31 Seventeen-year-old males performed significantly below the national average in inferential comprehension in the second assessment, but performed slight ly below the national level in the third assessment. 107A31 The following age 17 groups have narrowed the gap in reading reference skills between them and the national average over the three assessments: white, parents with post high school education, advantaged-urban, female, central, and NE regions. 108A27 Two groups of 17-year-olds declined significantly in inferential comprehension between the 2nd and 3rd assessments: 2.9% by students with parents gr aduated from high school and 4.1% by the rural group. 109A27 Age 17 students with neither parent graduated from high school and with only one graduated were a bit further below the national level of performanc e in inferential comprehension in the 3rd assessment than in the 1st assessment. 110A27 For age 17 females, the post high school and the advantaged-urban groups remained above the national level in the 3rd assessment of inferential com prehension. The distance between them and the nation is not as great as in the 1st assessment. 111A27 The third assessment of reading shows that 17-year-old students in the Northeastern and Central regions are no longer significantly above the nati onal average in performance on inferential comprehension exercises. 112A27 Several age 17 groups declined significantly in inferential comprehension from the 1st to the 3rd assessment: NE by 3.7%, females by 2.6%, white s by 2%, parents not graduated from high school by 4% and parents with post high school by 3%. 113A27 For age 13, the performance differences in reference skills between the nation and the Central region and the advantaged-urban group continued t o increase significantly, further widening the distances between them and the nation. 114A27 The gap in literal comprehension between those 17-year-olds attending schools in disadvantaged-urban communities and the national average has b ecome a bit wider over the three assessments. 115A27 Seventeen-year-olds in the Southeast have narrowed the gap in literal comprehension between them and the rest of the country from the first to the third assessment. 116A27 From the second to the third assessment of literal comprehension, two age 17 groups declined significantly: the parents with post high schoo l group by 1.4% and the advantaged-urban group by 3.1%. 117A26 For age 17, the parents graduated from high school and the parents with post high school education groups declined 2.6% and 1.7% respective ly from the first to the third assessment of reading. 118A22 Thirteen-year-old students who attend schools in rural communities have narrowed the gap in reference skills between the first and third as sessments so that the differences between them and the nation is no longer significant. 119E20 In reading, white students performed above the nation and black and Hispanic students performed below the national average in reading at e ach age. 120E2 At ages 13 and 17, those who described themselves as poor readers performed 17% to 20% below the national average, while those who descri bed themselves as "very good" readers performed 9% to 10% above the nation. 121E5 Twenty-nine percent of the 13-year-olds indicated that no homework had been assigned. This category of 13-year-olds performed below the national average in reading, but not as far below as those who did not do their homework. 122E5 Thirty-one percent of the 17-year-olds indicated that no homework had been assigned, and this category of 17-year-olds performed below the national average in reading. 123E5 Most (85%) of the 9-year olds indicated that they attended kindergarten, and these students performed above the national average on th e reading comprehension exercises. 124E6 Those 9-year-olds indicating that they had not attended kindergarten performed 14 percentage points below the national average in rea ding. 125E9 At age 9, students in the Northeast performed on reading comprehension exercises significantly above the national average, but at ag es 13 and 17 they performed near the nation. 126E9 Students in the Southeast performed on comprehension exercises significantly below the national average at ages 9, 13 and 17. 127E9 In reading comprehension, females performed significantly above, and males significantly below, the national average at all ages. 128E21 Word comprehension exercises tended to be the most difficult task for 9- and 13-year-olds. Word comprehension and contextual rel ationships were the most difficult tasks for the 17-year-olds. 129E5 Performance in reading among 17-year-olds increased with increasing time spent on homework. Performance among 13-year-olds impr oved when homework went up from "less than one hour" per day to "between one and two hours." 130E5 Fewer than one-fourth of the 17-year-olds indicated spending either less than one hour or between one and two hours per day on homework, and only 9% of them indicated spending more than two hours on homework. 131E4 Nine- and 13-year-olds who indicated reading for enjoyment three or more hours per day performed below the national average. 134E4 For each age, one or two hours per day of reading for one's enjoyment appears to be associated with higher performance than n o reading or less than one hour of reading. 135E4 At each age, most students -- 59% of the 9-year-olds, 72% of the 13-year-olds, 75% of the 17-year-olds -- indicated that the y sent none or less than one hour per day reading for their own enjoyment. 137E4 Nine-year-olds who indicated that they watched television daily for us to three or four hours performed 5 percentage points above the nation on the reading comprehension exercises. 138A31 Two age 17 groups narrowed the gap in reference skills significantly between them and the nation over three assessments: b lacks and the Southeast. 139A42 Fewer 13-year-old black students appeared in the highest achievement group in the third assessment than in the first asse ssment. 141A31 Some age 17 groups performed significantly below national levels in the 1st and 3rd assessments of reference skills, sho wing no upward trends in overall performance: parents not graduate from high school, rural, and Disadvantaged-Urban. 142A44 Between the first and second reading assessments, 13 year old black students in the Southeast showed a significant incr ease, while those in the Western region evidenced a significant decline. 144A43 Nine-year-old black youngsters in all regions except the West registered significant increases from the first to the t hird reading assessment. 146A44 For 17-year-old white students, a slight increase occurred in the Southeastern and Western regions from the first to the third assessment, and a slight decrease was observed in the Northeastern and Central regions. 147A44 Black students at age 17 showed no significant change in reading achievement in any of the regions from the first to the third assessment, although the Western region showed a slight decrease. 148A44 Between the second and third reading assessments, 13-year-old Black students in the Western and Northeastern region s showed significant increases. 149A43 In each region of the country, 9-year-old white students showed significant gains from the first to the third read ing assessment. In all regions except the Central, significant gains also occurred between the second and third assessments. 150A43 At age 9, significant increases in the Southeastern and Central regions occurred with each successive reading ass essment, while only the increase between the second and third assessments was significant for the Northeastern region. 151A43 At age 13, a significant increase occurred in reading for whites in the Western region of the country from the f irst to the third assessment, while the other regions remained fairly stable. 152A42 At all ages, groups with a larger proportion in the highest achievement group than in the lowest achievement gr oup are: females, whites, the parents with post high school group and the advantaged-urban group. 153A39 Over 40% of the 9 year old black students tended to be in the lowest achievement group in each reading assessm ent, but their proportions within achievement class doubled from the first to the third reading assessment. 154A39 More 9-year-olds within the parents with post high school group were in the highest achievement group than th e lowest in each reading assessment, but their proportions increased in the lowest achievement group by the 3rd reading assessment. 155A40 The distribution of 13-year-old students in the Northeastern, Central and Western regions across achievement groups remained fairly constant over the three reading assessments. 156A40 The distribution of 13-year-old students in the Southeast changed from the first to the third assessment. In the third assessment, the proportion of Southeasterners in the highest achievement group had increased from 18% to 22%. 158A22 Thirteen-year-old students in the Northeast were significantly above the national average in the second as sessment of reference skills, but were no longer significantly above the nation in the third assessment. 159A22 Thirteen-year-old Southeasterners, males and blacks performed significantly below national averages level s in each assessment of reference skills, gradually closing the performance gap between them and the nation. 160A18 At age 13, females, whites and the parents with post-high-school education groups were not as far above the national levels of performance in the 3rd assessment of reference skills as they were in the 1st assessment. 161A18 Four age 13 groups gained significantly in reference skills from the 2nd to the 3rd assessment: the Cen tral region gained by 3.0%, whites by 3.0%, blacks by 5.0%, and the parents not graduated from high school group by 3.4%. 162A18 Four age 13 groups declined significantly in inferential comprehension from the first to the third ass essment: whites by 1.3%, the post high school by 2.4%, the not graduate from high school by 2.0%, and the graduated from high school by 7.9%. 163A18 Three age 13 groups showed an upward trend in inferential comprehension over three assessments: the Southeast with the group-nation difference changing from 3.6% to 2.5%; the disadvantaged-urban from 10.4% to 6.0%; and males from 2.1% to 1.8%. 164A18 Black 13-year-olds improved significantly in inferential comprehension between the first and third a ssessments, and, as a result, the gap in inferential comprehension between this group and the nation changed from 12.8% to 9.4%. 165A18 Three groups of 13-year-olds have narrowed the gap in inferential comprehension between them and th e nation from the first to the third assessment: Southeast gained by 3.8%, males by 1.8%, and blacks by 5.3%. 166A18 The advantage of the following age 13 groups in literal comprehension are not as much in the 3rd a ssessment as they were in the 1st assessment: NE, whites, females, the parents with post high school and the advantaged-urban groups. 167A18 A significant gain in literal comprehension, 5.2 percentage points, was made by 13-year-old stude nts in the disadvantaged-urban group from the second to the third assessment. 168A18 The thirteen-year-old rural group was 3.9% below the national average in the first assessment of literal comprehension, but in the third assessment, the difference narrowed to a nonsignificant 2.6%. 169A17 Of the 14 reporting groups used by NAEP, only among blacks was there a significant mean increas e in reading performance from 1970-79. 170A17 Mean performance in the overall reading ability of 13-year-olds for the nation over the three assessments remained stable. 171A15 Thirteen-year-olds declined significantly, 1.7%, between the first and second assessments on reference skills exercises, but gained 2.6% in this area between the second and third assessments. 172A15 The performance of 13-year-olds on inferential comprehension remained relatively stable from the first to the third assessment. 173A15 In literal comprehension, 13-year-olds showed a significant increase of 1.6 percentage poin ts from the first to the third assessment. 174A15 Nationally, the performance results of 13-year-olds indicate no significant changes in rea ding over the three reading assessments. 175A13 Nine-year-old students in rural communities gained in performance on reference skills -- 7.3% across the three assessments. As a result, this group moved from 3.9% below the national average to 1.4% below during the 1971-80 period. 176A13 Nine-year-old black students were 15.3% below the national average in reference skills i n the first assessment, and were 10.4% below the nation in the third assessment. 177D3 When asked to respond in writing to a variety of reading passages, students performed a t a startlingly low level on analyzing or generalizing skills tasks, and showed little evidence of being able to support or defend their views. 178E20 Most students -- 95% at age 9, 98% at ages 13 and 17 -- thought it is very important t o be able to read, but the percentages who enjoy reading very much decreased with age -- 81% at age 9, 50% at age 13 and 42% at age 17. 179E20 At all ages, students who read almost every day performed higher on the reading compr ehension exercises than those who reported less frequent spare-time reading. 181E20 At each age, black students in the advantaged urban group performed closer on readin g/literature exercises to national levels than did black students in the rural or the disadvantaged-urban group. 182E20 At ages 13 and 17, increased time spent on homework tended to be associated with hi gher performance on the reading comprehension exercises. 183E1 Almost all students at ages 9, 13 and 17 thought reading is important, but fewer o lder students reported that they enjoy reading "very much." 185E2 At age 9, those who reported that they enjoy reading "somewhat" performed higher in reading than those who reported that they enjoy reading "very much." 186E2 At age 9, only a very small percentage (2.6%) of students described themselves a s "poor" readers while almost 40% described themselves as "very good" readers. 187E2 At ages 13 and 17, about 5% of the sample described themselves as "poor" reader s while about one-fourth described themselves as "very good" readers. 188E2 Many more 9-year-olds than 13- or 17-year-olds reported reading "almost every day." 189E2 At all ages, students who read "almost every day" performed significantly hig her than those who reported less frequent spare time reading. 190E2 Although more students at all ages reported reading both fiction and nonfict ion, this was most evident at age 9 where nearly 50% read both. 191E2 At all ages, students who read fiction and nonfiction about equally and tho se who read mostly fiction performed higher on the reading comprehension exercises than those who read mostly nonfiction. 193E5 More 17-year-olds (13%) than 13-year-olds (6%) responded that they had hom ework but did not do it. 194E7 The student most likely to read with comprehension tends to: think readin g is important, enjoy reading, read for enjoyment almost daily, watch television moderately, spend some time on homework daily, and have attended kindergarten. 195E9 Many students grasp the primary meaning of reading materials and seem to read with comprehension; however, they are not nearly as successful at supporting their own multiple-choice selections or at evaluating the materials they read. 196E9 The mean percentage of correct responses for 9-year-olds on reading com prehension exercises was 58%; it was 74% for 13-year-olds and 79% for 17-year-olds. 198E13 In reading comprehension, students who attend school in extreme rural communities performed significantly below the national average at ages 9 and 13, but at age 17, they performed near the national level. 199E13 At all three ages, students who attend school in disadvantaged-urban communities performed below the national average in reading comprehension, though the gap narrowed by age 17. 200E13 On reading comprehension exercises, students who attend school in ad vantaged-urban communities performed above the national average at all ages, though their advantage decreased with age. 201E13 At all three ages, students whose parents have not graduated from h igh school performed significantly below the national average in reading comprehension. 202H17 The proportions of 9- and 13-year-olds who have at least one pare nt who has graduated from high school increased in achievement class 1 (lowest achievers) in reading from the second to the third assessment. 203H14 The proportion of 9-year-olds in big cities in achievement class 1 (lowest achievers) decreased from the second to the third reading assessment. 204H14 The proportion of 13-year-olds who attend schools in disadvanta ged-urban communities in the lowest quartile decreased in reading, with an accompanying substantial increase in the highest achievement group from the 2nd to the 3rd assessment. 205D3 During the 1970s, several traditionally advantaged groups show ed the largest declines in reading performance, while groups traditionally below the national level were closing the performance gap between themselves and the national average. 206D9 During the 1970s, students attending school in disadvantage-u rban and extreme-rural areas gained in reading at age 9, while performance of students attending school in advantaged-urban areas remained stable. 207D13 For all age groups, in the 1980 reading assessment, patterns of performance on reference study skills were similar in most respects to performance on comprehension items. 208D11 At age 9 the representation of the advantaged-urban group i n the top reading achievement group declined by more than 5% from 1971 to 1980. At age 13, these proportional changes were less dramatic. 209H7 In the Southeast, the proportion of 9-year-olds in the hig hest (fourth) achievement group increased in reading from the 1974 to the 1980 assessment. 210G Nationally, 64.4% of the 9-year-olds and 67.2% of the 13- year-olds responded correctly to their respective sets of study skill exercises in 1980. 211F9 Overall, there were few changes in reading performance d uring the 1970s -- especially among the teenagers in the 8th and 11th grades. Most changes occurred for 4th graders and these changes were positive. 212F8 Only one NAEP reporting group of 11th graders experienc ed a decline in reading achievement during the 1970's: those in the Central region. 213F8 Gains in reading performance occurred for black studen ts in the 11th grade during the 1970s. This was observed particularily among students in the Northeast, Southeast, males, and students who attend schools in rural communities. 214F8 For the black population groups, all at the 4th-grade (age 9) level and most at the 8th-grade (age 13) level gained in reading during the 1970s. Only 8th graders (age 13) who attend school in advantaged urban communities declined. 215F8 During the 1970s some losses in reading performance occurred among the groups of 17-year-old 11th graders: This was true, for example, among males and for students in the Northeastern and Central regions of the country. 216F8 During the 1970s, several 9-year-old eighth grade gr oups made gains in reading: students in the Southeastern and Western regions, and those who attended school in disadvantaged-urban schools. 217F6 In the highest quartile, 9-year-olds in their moda l grade experienced a significant gain in reading during the 1970s. This pattern also pertained to 9-year-olds as a whole. 218F6 Among students in the lowest quartile, fourth gra de 9-year-olds and eighth grade 13-year-olds gained in reading during the 1970s, but 11th grade 17-year-olds showed no significant change in reading. 219F5 During the 1970's, 13-year-olds in the lowest qu artile gained slightly (1.4%) in reading, while their peers in the highest quartile remained stable. Seventeen-year-olds in the lowest quartile also remained stable in reading performance. 220F5 During the 1970s, a greater gain occurred in re ading for 9-year-olds in the lowest quartile than for any other age population. Nine-year-olds in the highest quartile also gained, but not as much. 221F4 Gains in reading by 9- and 13-year-old black s tudents during the 1970s had the positive effect of substantially closing the performance gap between themselves and students nationally. 222F4 During the 1970s black 9-year-olds made subst antial gains in reading, which were greater than the reading performance gains of their white counterparts. 223F3 During the 1970s, 9-year-olds made significa nt gains in reading, while 13- and 17-year-old students performed at nearly the same levels in each assessment. 224F11 During the 1970s, black eighth graders in t he highest quartile increased in reading performance. Often, gains by blacks in the modal grades exceeded gains by whites n the modal grades. 225F11 In the lowest performance quartile, black students in the modal grades appropriate for 9-, 13- and 17-year-olds increased in reading performance during the 1970's. Fourth graders in the highest quartile also increased in reading. 227D16 In the 1980 assessment, for evaluation ta sks that required supporting evidence, the acceptable response percentages of 13-year-olds ranged from 4-11 percent. The patterns was essentially the same at age 17. 228D15 Fourteen percent of 9-year-olds gave ade quate written responses to items asking for an inference or expression of feeling, but only 2% gave adequate responses to an item that required an evaluation with supporting evidence from the passage. 229D15 In the 1980 assessment, students genera lly did very poorly when asked to explain, or defend in writing, a judgment or point of view about a passage. However, performance levels depended greatly on the nature of the task required. 231D15 In the 1980 assessment, the mean perce ntages of acceptable responses for ages 9 (3 items), 13 (13 items) and 17 (16 items) were 9.8%, 47.8% and 42.2% respectively for the open-ended items which required responding to written works. 232D14 In the 1980 reading assessment, the p erformance patterns on study skills items across the three age groups and among the various reporting groups closely paralleled those for comprehension. 233D13 The performance means on reference s kills items were higher at the end of the 1970s for 9-year-olds and were stable for the teenagers. 234D9 During the 1970s students who repor ted that neither parent had graduated from high school gained more (or declined less) than students whose parents had higher educational levels. 235D9 During the 1970s, the disadvantage d-urban groups of 13- and 17-year olds narrowed the gap somewhat between themselves and the national average. 237D8 During the 1970s, gains in readin g performance for 9-year-old blacks were highest in the Southeast and Central regions, 12.7 and 9.7 percent respectively. This trend was less evident at ages 13 and 17. 238D8 Between the first (1970) and thi rd (1980) assessments, Black students posted the largest gain in reading at age 9, made the only significant gain at age 13, and slightly narrowed the gap between themselves and the national average at age 17. 239D3 Overall reading performance was stable or improved for the 1970s. On inferential items, however, performance declined for 17-year-olds and showed no gain for 13-year-olds. 240D4 During the 1970s, the overall p erformance gains in reading achievement of 9-year-olds were the largest ever reported by NAEP for any learning area. The largest gains occurred in the latter half of the decade. 241E28 For all ages, when group resul ts on the study skills exercises are compared with results on the comprehension exercises, patterns of performance are remarkably similar. 242E28 At all ages, groups that perf ormed below the national average on study skills exercises are: males, blacks and Hispanics, the disadvantaged urban group, the parents not graduated from high school group, and less than modal grade. 243E28 At all ages, groups that per formed above the national average on study skills exercises are: females, whites, the advantaged urban group, parents with post high school group, and those in the modal grade. 244E28 Seventeen-year-olds were as ked 30 questions about a long expository passage. The mean percentage of correct responses was 38.3%. 245E28 Thirteen-year-olds were as ked 25 questions about a long expository passage. The mean percentage of correct responses was 43.2%. 246E25 At each age, more females than males correctly responded to the reading comprehension exercises. This difference was greater on the literary passages than on the expository ones. 247E25 Certain groups at each a ge consistently performed below the nation on both literary and expository types of passages: males, Blacks, Hispanics, disadvantaged urban, and parents not graduated from high school. 248E25 Certain groups at each age consistently performed above the national average on both literary and expository types of passages: females, whites, the advantaged urban, and parents with post high school education. 249E23 At all ages, those stu dents who responded that they liked the passages clearly performed higher in reading than those who were undecided or who disliked the passages. 250E21 These groups at all a ges performed below the national average on the reading comprehension tasks: Southeast, males, blacks, Hispanics, the disadvantaged urban group, and parents not graduated from high school group. 251E21 The following groups at all ages performed above the national average on reading comprehension tasks: females, whites, advantaged urban group, parents with post high school group, and students who are in, rather than below, the modal grade. 252E15 With regard to perf ormance differences in reading comprehension, if you are white, parent education makes more difference than where you live; whereas for blacks, where you attend school makes more difference than parent education. 253E15 While for whites, parental education seems to be a potent factor in explaining performance differences in reading comprehension, type of community is the more potent factor in explaining differences among black students. 254E14 Black students wh ose parents have higher levels of education performed also below the national levels in reading comprehension. 255E14 At all ages, bla ck students who attend schools in advantaged-urban communities performed closer to national levels in reading comprehension of performance than those who attend school in rural or in disadvantaged communities. 256E14 Those white stu dents who have neither parent with a high school diploma performed below the national levels in reading comprehension. 257E14 Higher levels of parental education are related to higher performance of students in reading comprehension, but the greatest impact appears to be on the performance of white students. 258E14 Increasing le vels of parental education are associated with higher levels of performance in reading comprehension, and differences between males and females decrease as level of parental education increases, particularly at ages 13 and 17. 259E13 At ages 13 a nd 17, females who read mostly nonfiction are among the lower performing groups. 260E13 At ages 13 and 17, females who read mostly fiction performed higher in reading comprehension than males who read mostly fiction. However, males who read mostly nonfiction performed higher than females who read mostly nonfiction. 261E13 At all age s, males who read mostly fiction performed higher in reading comprehension than males who read mostly nonfiction. 262E13 At all ag es, slightly more girls than boys tend to read both fiction and nonfiction about equally. 263E13 More gir ls than boys read mostly fiction, especially among teenagers. More males than females reported reading mostly nonfiction; their percentage was double that of females at the junior and senior high levels. 264E13 At all ages, more than twice as many boys as girls reported that they never read during their spare time. 265E13 At age 17, the reading comprehension performance of males and females who read almost everyday is almost identical. 266E13 The p erformance in reading comprehension of males and females who read the same amount of time tended to be more similar than the performance of males and females overall. 267E13 Some of the differences between boys' and girls' reading comprehension may be attributed to the amount of time spent reading in their spare time. At all ages, females tend to read more than males in their spare time. 268E13 At all three ages, students in or above the modal grade (4th, 8th or 11th grade) performed better in reading comprehension than those one grade below the modal level. 269E13 At all three ages students who reported that at least one parent has had some post-high-school education or at least one parent who has graduated from college performed significantly above the national average in reading comprehension. ööööööööööö ööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööö 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ööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööö ööööööööö1023M3 At ages 9 and 13, there was very little sex difference in mathematics performance; but at age 17, males tended to outperform females. 1024M3 There was very little sex difference in attitudes toward mathematics or in the math courses taken through Algebra 2, although more males tended to take trigonometry, calculus or computer programming in high school. 1025M3 At ages 13 and 17, there has been a significant increase in computer usage in the schools between 1978 and 1982. Although there was no significant change in enrollment in traditional math courses, enrollment in computer sciences doub led. 1026M3 Between 1978 and 1982, the number of students reporting access to computers for learning mathematics increased from 12% to 23% for age 13 and from 24% to 49% for age 17. 1027M3 Between 1978 and 1982, the number of students who reported that they knew how to program a computer rose dramatically -- from 8% to 20% at age 13 and from 12% to 22% at age 17. 1029M3 Between 1978 and 1982, students' familiarity with the metric system of measurement increased dramatically -- up 2 percentage points for age 9, 9 points for age 13 and 4 points for age 17. 1030M4 Between 1978 and 1982, there was a decrease on items assessing knowledge of the English measurement system: 9-year-olds were down 3 percentage points, 13-year-olds were down 1 point and 17-year-olds were down 5 points. 1031M9 Nearly two-thirds of the 9-year-olds showed proficiency in skills like counting, reading numbers and place value when the task involved considering the number as a whole, e.g., 67 is sixty-seven or 243 is two hundred forty-three. 1032M9 About three-fourths of the 9-year-olds were successful when the task called upon the child to consider place-value (e.g., 38 is 3 tens and 8 ones). 1033M9 Between 1978 and 1982, the 9-year-olds' performance increased on non-place-value math exercises and on place-value ideas that are easily learned by rote. 1034M9 Nine-year-olds' performance in 1982 was strongest on addition facts, slightly lower on subtraction facts and lowest on multiplication facts. 1035M10 There was a slight improvement - 2 percentage points - for age 9 on the basic math facts exercises between 1978 and 1982, largely due to the improvements in multiplication skill. 1036M10 At age 9, between 1978 and 1982, performance has increased about 10 percentage points on the multiplication facts. 1037M10 In 1981-82, both 13- and 17-year-olds are in the 90%-or-above range on addition, subtraction and multiplication facts, but their performance on division facts is slightly lower. 1038M10 Thirteen-year-olds increased about 10 percentage points on division facts between 1978 and 1982, but 17-year-olds showed no change. 1039M10 Nine-year-olds' whole number computation did not change appreciably between the second and the third assessments; however, they did improve slightly in subtraction. 1040M10 When a subtraction item was presented horizontally, e.g., "Subtract 237 from 504," only a third as many 9-year-olds could solve the problem correctly as could when the same problem was presented vertically (17% compared to 48%). 1041M11 Nine-year-olds in the 1982 third assessment thought mathematics was easier than did the students in the 1978 second assessment. This was the only outstanding change in their attitudes. 1043M11 At age 13, performance improved on paper-and-pencil multiplication and division items between 1978 and 1982 -- at or above the 75% level on easier division items but below 60% on a more difficult problem. 1044M11 While the performance of 13-year-olds and 17 year-olds was about the same on paper-and-pencil division exercises, the 17-year-olds were more adept at doing division mentally. 1045M12 While 13-year-olds increased on almost every other computation skill between 1978 and 1982, they showed no significant improvement on fraction computation. However, they showed an 8 percentage point improvement on d ecimal computation. 1046M12 Between 1978 and 1982, 9-year-olds improved on the simple fraction items. On items such as writing the symbol for one-third, for instance, they improved about 51% to 56%. 1047M12 Between 1978 and 1982, 13-year-olds showed improvement on items that could build understanding about fractions. For example, on two items that required changing a mixed number to an improper fraction, they improve d about 6 or 7 %age points. 1048M13 The performance of 13- and 17-year-olds on fraction computation in both the second and the third assessments is low, and students seem to have done their fraction computation with little understanding. 1049M13 At ages 13 and 17, between 1978 and 1982, students made gains on a routine fraction exercise, but they lost ground in the exercise that required more understanding. 1050M13 More of the 13-year olds understand the concept of a fraction as a division (a 6 percentage point gain) in 1982 than in 1978 -- i.e., that 5 divided by 6 could be expressed by 5/6. A similar gain appeared in ch anging a fraction to a decimal. 1051M13 In general, between 1978 and 1982, performance on exercises requiring conversion from fractions to decimals went up 7 percentage points at age 13 and remained stable at age 17. 1052M13 The 9-year-olds' performance on decimals has not improved between 1978 and 1982, and they still seem to have little understanding of or facility with decimals. 1053M14 Between 1978 and 1982, 13-year-olds appear to be gaining in understanding and facility with decimals. On an exercise which required translating words to symbols, not only have they improved, they were at the level of 17-year-olds. 1054M14 On exercises that required a deeper understanding of decimals, the 17-year-olds' performance was about 18 to 25 percentage points higher than 13-year-olds. 1055M14 On simple decimal computation, both 13- and 17-year-olds performed at the 80 to 90% level. However, performance drops for both groups when computation involves more understanding of decimals. (3rd assessm ent) 1057M15 On the items dealing with percentages, 17-year-olds averaged about 16 percentage points higher than 13-year-olds. 1058M15 Even though most mathematics programs expect students to learn subtraction facts by age 9, there is significant improvement in performance from age 9 to 13. 1059M17 For all ages assessed, performance was generally high on: recognizing common geometric shapes, using a ruler to make linear measurements, telling time, recognizing common units of measure, and reading s imple graphs and tables. 1060M17 For all ages assessed, performance was low on exercises assessing more complex concepts and skills that require some understanding of underlying mathematical principles. 1061M17 Only about 25% of the 9-year-olds and about two-thirds of the 13-year-olds demonstrated an understanding of areas as the number of units covering a region. 1062M17 Over half of the 13-year-olds could not calculate the area of a rectangle from its dimensions. 1063M17 Although most students at all age levels assessed could identify common geometric shapes, relatively few demonstrated knowledge of basic properties of these shapes (e.g., the sum of the angles of a t riangle is 180 o ). 1064M18 Most students apparently have not learned the Pythagorean theorem. In two assessments (1978 and 1982), only 20% of 13-year-olds and 36-39% of 17-year-olds correctly answered an exercise requiring t he knowledge of the theorem. 1065M18 Between 1978 and 1982, the number of 13-year-olds reporting that they often use the metric system in their mathematics classes more than doubled from 16% to 34%. 1066M18 The gain in metric use outside of school was modest: 49% of the 13-year-olds reported in 1981 that they never used metric measures outside of school, as opposed to 54% four years earlier. 1068M18 At age 9, between 1978 and 1982, performance went up in two content areas, geometry and graphs and tables. In geometry, the greatest gains (5%) were in recognizing common geometric shapes. 1070M20 At age 13, between 1978 and 1982, performance improved over every math content area. However, the most consistent and largest increase came on exercise assessing recall or relatively low-level skills. 1071M20 Between 1978 and 1982, 13-year olds performance was consistently up on geometry exercises that involved informal geometry concepts or could be solved intuitively without much knowledge of geome tric principles. 1073M20 At age 17, there was no significant performance change in any math content area, e.g., basic math skills, high school algebra and geometry. 1074M21 At ages 9 and 13, performance is high on number fact recall items and simple addition and subtraction problems. (3rd assessment) 1076M23 For all ages, there was little change in problem-solving performance between 1978 and 1982, with one exception. 13-year-olds showed significant growth in solving word problems of the type o ften found in textbooks and practiced in school. 1077M23 Students at all ages are fairly successful in solving routine, one-step verbal problems such as those often found in their textbooks. 1078M23 The overall performance of the 9-year-olds in mathematics was about the same in 1982 as in 1978. 1079M23 Most 9-year-olds appear able to solve simple addition and subtraction verbal problems involving whole numbers or money, but they do far less well on multiplication and division word probl ems. 1080M23 Performance of 17-year-olds averaged about 60% on problems involving whole numbers, but it was lower (about 40%) on problems involving fractions, decimals, percents and integers. 1081M23 The average performance of 17-year-olds on routine problems of mathematics did not change much between 1978 and 1982. 1082M23 For ages 13 and 17, there were some performance gains on problems involving percents between 1978 and 1982, but there were losses for 17-year-olds on problems involving fractions. 1083M23 Thirteen-year-olds' performance on routine problems improved significantly (about 2%) between 1978 and 1982, with general improvement on routine problems involving whole numbers, frac tions and decimals. 1087M24 In general, 17-year-olds performed about 16 percentage points higher than 13-year-olds on routine problems of mathematics administered to both groups. 1088M24 The performance difference between ages 13 and 17 was somewhat larger for problems involving variables or percent, and somewhat smaller for those requiring only a single operation o f addition, subtraction or multiplication of integers. 1094M26 Only 17% of age 13 and 29% of age 17 solved the problem: "George had 3/4 of a pie. He ate 3/5 of that. How much pie did he eat?" However, 60% of age 13 and 66% of age 17 solved a straightforward computation item similar to 7/8x3/2. 1095M26 Seventeen-year-olds appear to be able to compute mechanically the product of two fractions, but they may have little understanding of the relationship between fraction multiplicat ion and physical situations that embody that operation. 1097M26 Seventeen-year-olds do not seem to analyze carefully the problems to be solved. Rather, they seem to try to use all the numbers given in a problem statement in their calculation without regard for the relationship of the given numbers. 1099M27 Response frequencies regarding attitudes toward math are quite similar for 13-and 17-year-olds, indicating a generally favorable attitude toward problem solving or a knowledge o f what the desired responses are. 1100M28 Thirteen and 17 year old students felt very strongly that mathematics always gives a rule to follow to solve problems. Yet, they felt just as strongly that knowing how and why is as important as getting the correct answer. 1101M28 Thirteen and 17 year old students do not have an accurate picture of math as an intellectual activity, e.g., about half of the teenaged students agree that learning math is mo stly memorizing, and that new discoveries are seldom made in math. 1102M28 Three-fourths of the teenaged students agree that math helps a person to think logically and more than three-fourths of them agree that justifying the statements one makes is a very important part of math. 1103M29 For ages 13 and 17, the number of students having access to computers for learning mathematics doubled between 1978 and 1982. Almost a fourth of 13-year-olds and half of 17 -year-olds have access to a computer in school. 1104M30 Between 1978 and 1982, the number of 17-year-olds who reported that they completed a course in computer science doubled as did the number who said they know how to program a computer. 1106M30 Thirteen and 17-year-olds exhibited generally positive attitudes toward computers. About three-fourths of these students thought that computers were useful for teaching m athematics and make mathematics more interesting. 1107M30 Some 80% of 17-year-olds believe that a knowledge of computers would probably help a person to get a better job, and 50% to 60% believe that computers would probably crea te as many jobs as they eliminate. 1108M30 A substantial number of 13- and 17-year olds continue to hold a variety of misconceptions about what computers can do and how they work, e.g., computers have a mind of t heir own. 1109M30 Although most 13- and 17-year-olds recognized that computers store instructions and information, many did not realize that computers require special languages or that t hey are suited to doing repetitive, monotonous tasks. 1111M31 In spite of the extensive instruction provided on whole number division, fewer than 60% of the 13-year-olds are reasonable proficient in division. (3rd assessment) 1114M32 In general, students were not very successful in performing calculations in their heads, e.g., only about 20% at age 9 could do a problem like 58 - 9 mentally, while about 70% could subtract two digit numbers using paper and pencil. 1116M32 At age 13, mental computation on a two-digit subtraction problem produced a 15 percentage point difference over paper-and -pencil computation. 1117M32 At age 17, more than 85% of the students can perform simple addition and subtraction problems mentally. Mental multiplication of two-digit numbers like 90x70, howe ver, yielded lower results: about 55% were successful. 1118M33 At age 9, in mathematics, black students were about 11 percentage points below the national level. At age 13, the difference was 12 percentage points; at age 17, it was 15 percentage points. (3rd assessment) 1119M33 The pattern of mathematics performance for Hispanic students, for all three ages assessed, was somewhat similar but less pronounced than that for black students i n the 3rd mathematics assessment. 1120M33 At ages 9 and 13, in math, Hispanic students were about 9 percentage points below the national level, and at age 17, the difference increased to 11 percentage po ints. (3rd assessment) 1121M33 At each age assessed, black and Hispanic students made greater gains in math performance than their white counterparts. At ages 9 and 17, Black students regist ered a slightly higher gain than Hispanic students. 1122M33 Black and Hispanic students at all three age levels appear to have made substantial gains on the lowest cognitive level--knowledge--of mathematics. These gain s are generally greater than their white counterparts. 1123M33 Between 1978 and 1982, there was little change in the performance in the higher cognitive levels of understanding and application of mathematics for 9- and 17 -year-old black and Hispanic students. 1124M34 At age 13, black and Hispanic students made substantial gains in both the understanding and the application of mathematics between 1978 and 1982. 1125M34 At each age assessed, about 40-60% of the black and Hispanic students were found in the lowest quartile of math achievement, and 15-30% in the disadvantaged -urban community schools. 1126M35 The white students in the three NAEP age groups were rather evenly distributed among the math quartile levels only 2 to 3% were in the disadvantaged urban schools. (3rd assessment) 1127M35 At ages 9 and 13, students in the lowest quartile of math achievement made significant gains in their math performance between 1978 and 1982. 1128M35 Thirteen and 17-year old students in the heavily minority schools showed substantial gains in math performance, whereas those in the predominantly white schools did only at age 13. 1130M35 The difference in performance between black and white students increased with age from 1978 to 1982. By age 17, black students performed 18 percentage points below their white counterparts. 1132M35 Performance in math seems to be directly related to the amount of mathematics studied. For each additional amount of course work taken, there is a sub stantial increase in the performance level for both black and white students. 1133M35 Certain minority groups have consistently scored below national norms in math. While the results of the third math assessment do not contradict this phenomenon, there is evidence to suggest that the gap is narrowing, especially at age 13. 1134M37 At each NAEP age level, differences between the average performance of males and females in mathematics remained relatively stable between 1978 and 1 982. 1135M37 At ages 9 and 13, the overall performance of males and females in mathematics is not significantly different. However, at age 17, males scored high er by about 3 percentage points. 1137M37 At age 17, the average math performance of males exceeded that of females on math knowledge, skills, understanding and applications. 1138M37 Nine-year-old females showed an appreciable improvement between 1978 and 1982 on math knowledge exercises, performing 2 percentage points higher t han males. 1139M37 At age 13, between 1978 and 1982, both males and females improved at the same rate and are not significantly different from each other in math pe rformance at any cognitive level. 1140M37 There was very little difference between females and males in the math courses taken in the early years of high school math sequence, but, at ag e 17, males tend to take more advanced math courses. 1142M38 Even when course background in math was held constant for age 17, sex differences in math achievement still existed. For each course backgroun d category, male achievement exceeded that of females. 1144M39 There were few sex differences in math achievement for ages 9 and 13, with a notable exception that females at age 9 tended to outperform male s on knowledge items, and this difference increased slightly from 1978 to 1982. 1145M39 Gains that were made by 13-year-old males and females in mathematics between 1978 and 1982 were similar and persisted in the four types of ac hievement -- knowledge, skills, understanding and applications. 1146M39 Although few changes in math achievement were found for 17-year olds between 1978 and 1982, significant sex differences favoring males on hi gher level math -- skills, understanding and application -- did persist. 1147M39 Only slightly more females are taking math courses in 1982 than in 1978. This result suggests that there may be a continuing inequity in m ath education. 2340S3 For disadvantaged groups, higher reading performance levels tend to be associated with higher levels of television watching than the natio nal averages. Achievement falls off rapidly with increased viewing for advantaged groups. 2341S4 Time spent watching television declines with age -- younger students are much more avid viewers than older ones. Among 17-year -olds, te levision viewing drops sharply. 2342S4 Fully 1/4 of the 9-year-olds watch more than 4 hours of television a day, and another fourth 3-4 hours. At age 13, 17% watch over 4 hou rs and 31% 3-4 hours a day. At age 17, 38% watch less than one hour a day and 8% more than a 4 hours. 2343S4 Students at each age who watch over four hours of television display the poorest reading skills. Beyond that, the relationship of tele vision watching and academic achievement depends heavily on the age of the students. 2344S4 At age 9, reading performance improves as the amount of television viewing increases up to 3-4 hours a day. Thirteen-year-olds' readi ng achievement peaks with 1-2 hours television watching and drops off with greater viewing. 2345S4 For 17-year-olds, there is a negative association between reading achievement and hours of television watched. Seventeen-year-olds w ho watch the least television are the best readers, and performance steadily declines with increased viewing. 2346S4 At all ages, males watch more television than females. Disadvantaged groups (residents of disadvantaged-urban areas, blacks and tho se whose parents have lesser amount of education) tend to watch more television that the national average. 2361S11 Television viewing tapered off at an earlier age for advantaged-urban students, with patterns of television watching for advantaged -urban 9-year-olds similar to those for 13-year-olds nationwide. 2364S11 TV viewing patterns for rural children are similar to the nation as a whole; rural teenagers watch only slightly more television t han national averages. 2366S13 At all ages, blacks watched considerably more television than either whites or Hispanics. Far higher percentages reported that t hey watched over four hours of television daily. 2367S13 At age 9, about one-quarter of the whites and Hispanics and over one-third of the blacks indicated they watched more than four h ours of television a day. 2368S13 At age 13, 30% of blacks, 22% of Hispanics and 15% of whites watched over four hours of television daily. Seventeen-year-olds viewing more than 4 hours were 18%, 9% and 7% for black, Hispanic and whites, respectively. 2373S16 Viewing patterns of high achieving 9-year-olds (top 25%) resemble those of 13-year-olds nationwide; the majority of these 9-ye ar-olds watched either one to two or three to four hours of television. 2374S16 By age 17, high achievers (top 25%) were much less likely than low achievers (bottom 25%) to be found in front of the TV set -- 43% of the high achievers watched less than one hour a day compared with 32% of the low achievers. 3001Q5 To a question about their experiences with various reference materials, considerably more 9-year-olds responded that they ha d worked with maps (86%) than with graphs (58%) and tables (55%). 3003Q5 As examples of ability to use sources of information, 91% of the 13-year-olds correctly identified the purpose of a glossar y, 85% knew when it was appropriate to consult a book's index, and 73% correctly read information from a circle graph. 3004Q6 On an item directly tied to the political process, 37% of the 13-year-olds and 59% of the 17-year-olds could think of two ways to find out why candidates for a public office hold the views they do on an issue. 3006Q7 One item asked students to make conclusions from information given in a chart. At ages 13 and 17, many had difficulty in terpreting the information shown in the chart -- 44% and 37% of these groups respectively failed the item. 3008Q7 An item assessed students' awareness of the best way to pursue the decision-making process. By far the majority of the teenagers agreed that the way to solve the dilemma presented was to place the issue on the ballot and let all people decide. 3010Q7 In an assessment of factors on which to base voting judgments, 56% of the 13-year-olds and 67% of the 17-year-olds woul d vote for a candidate other than their best friend for a school office if the candidate were clearly better qualified. 3012Q9 Forty percent of the 13-year-olds and 62% of the 17-year-olds correctly identified the situation that evidenced a diff erence in values rather than in facts or opinions. 3013Q9 Regarding group behavior, over three-fifths at age 13 realized that students handing out pamphlets and picketing to p rotest a government action were expressing their beliefs without violating the rights of others. 3016Q9 In an item on factors that might affect the environment, youngsters at all ages appeared most aware of the potential impact of an oil spill but less aware of the possible change brought about by a new dam or a change in the fish population. 3017Q9 Forty-nine percent of the 9-year-olds and 70% of the 13-year-olds recognized that people of widely disparate ages a nd backgrounds all have the same basic needs in life. 3018Q9 Fifty-six percent of the 13-year-olds and 64% of the 17-year-olds recognized that many people in the world rarely eat meat because grains are less expensive for the amount of energy they provide. 3019Q9 Only half of the 17-year-olds were aware that the world's population grows in an exponential fashion.  3019Q9 Only half of the 17-year-olds were aware that the world's population grows in an exponential fashion.