Washington, DC – The Business Coalition for Student Achievement (BCSA), representing business leaders from every sector of the economy, yesterday applauded the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)’s 2007 Nation’s Report Card. Reading scores for 4th graders and math scores for 4th and 8th graders were at their highest point in the history of the Nation’s Report Card. NAEP has been reporting both national and state student achievement data since 1990. The 2007 results indicate that the achievement gap is narrowing. African-American and Hispanic students posted all time highs in 4th and 8th grade math and 4th grade reading and matched their all time highs in 8th grade reading. 

“These positive results come at a critical point in efforts to improve U.S. education and reinforce the notion that NCLB is working to raise student achievement and close the gap,” said Arthur Rothkopf, Senior Vice President and Counselor to the President, U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “Setting clear academic benchmarks for every child to attain in school is a vital step to prepare U.S. students to succeed in our rapidly changing world.”

“The 2007 NAEP results show that we are moving in the right direction to improve student achievement in reading and math for all students—low achievers as well as high achievers are scoring at higher levels,” said John J Castellani, President of Business Roundtable. “This annual report card enables us to consistently track and measure students’ progress to ensure that our nation’s students – our future workforce – have the basic skills necessary to be successful and productive citizens.” 

NAEP is the only continuous, nationally representative assessment of American students’ progress in key educational subjects. Its standards and content are set by a bipartisan governing board composed of educators, public officials, business representatives and parents. Since 2003, all states have participated in the NAEP assessments as required by the No Child Left Behind Act.

For more information on the 2007 Nation’s Report Card, please visit http://www.ed.gov/nclb/accountability/achieve/report-card2007.html.  

The full NAEP reports are available at http://nationsreportcard.gov.  

For more information about the Business Coalition for Student Achievement, visit biz4achievement.org.

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The Business Coalition for Student Achievement – representing business leaders from every sector of the economy – is committed to supporting policies that improve the performance of the K-12 education system in the United States. The Coalition is co-chaired by Craig R. Barrett, Chairman of Intel; Arthur F. Ryan, Chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial, Inc.; and Edward B. Rust Jr., Chairman and CEO of State Farm, and is coordinated by Business Roundtable and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce