Percentage of 4th and 8th grade students at or above "Basic" proficiency in reading and mathematics National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessments

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This table provides metadata for the actual indicator available from United States statistics closest to the corresponding global SDG indicator. Please note that even when the global SDG indicator is fully available from American statistics, this table should be consulted for information on national methodology and other American-specific metadata information.

Indicator

Percentage of 4th and 8th grade students at or above “Basic” proficiency in reading and mathematics National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessments
Organisation

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Definition and concepts

Basic proficiency denotes partial mastery of the knowledge and skills that are fundamental for proficient work at a given grade.
Unit of measure

Percentage
Data sources

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) - https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d22/tables/dt22_221.20.asp?current=yes and https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d22/tables/dt22_222.20.asp?current=yes
Data providers

Cristobal de Brey
Comment and limitations

Includes students tested with accommodations (1 to 12 percent of all students, depending on grade level and year); excludes only those students with disabilities and English language learners who were unable to be tested even with accommodations (2 to 6 percent of all students). Includes public, private, Bureau of Indian Education, and Department of Defense Education Activity schools.
Method of computation

The main NAEP reports current information for the nation and specific geographic regions of the country. The assessment program includes students drawn from a sample from both public and private schools and reports results for student achievement at grades 4, 8, and 12. The main NAEP assessments follow the frameworks developed by the National Assessment Governing Board and use the latest advances in assessment methodology. Because the assessment items reflect curricula associated with specific grade levels, the main NAEP uses samples of students at those grade levels.
Actual indicator available - description

Percentage of public and private 4th and 8th grade students at or above “Basic” proficiency in reading and mathematics
Date of national source publication

October 2022
Periodicity

Biennial
Scheduled update by national source

February 2025
Date metadata updated

August 2024
Disaggregation geography

State available
Disaggregation categories

Sex
Time period

2000 to 2022 data provided; prior years are available

This table provides information on metadata for SDG indicators as defined by the UN Statistical Commission. Complete global metadata is provided by the UN Statistics Division.

Indicator

Indicator 4.1.1: Proportion of children and young people (a) in grades 2/3; (b) at the end of primary; and (c) at the end of lower secondary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in (i) reading and (ii) mathematics, by sex
Target

Target 4.1: By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes
Organisation

UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS)
Definition and concepts

Definition:

Percentage of children and young people achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in (i) reading and (ii) mathematics during primary education (Grade 2 or 3), at the end of primary education, and at the end of lower secondary education. The minimum proficiency level will be measured relative to new common reading and mathematics scales currently in development.

Concepts:

Minimum proficiency level (MPL) is the benchmark of basic knowledge in a domain (mathematics, reading, etc.) measured through learning assessments. In September 2018, an agreement was reached on a verbal definition of the global minimum proficiency level of reference for each of the areas and domains of Indicator 4.1.1 as described in the Minimum Proficiency Levels (MPLs): Outcomes of the consensus building meeting.

Minimum proficiency levels defined by each learning assessment

To ensure comparability across learning assessments, a verbal definition of MPL for each domain and levels between cross-national assessments (CNAs) was established by conducting an analysis of the performance level descriptors (PLDs)[1] of cross-national, regional, and community-led tests in reading and mathematics. The analysis was led and completed by the UIS and a consensus among experts on the proposed methodology was deemed adequate and pragmatic.

The global MPL definitions for the domains of reading and mathematics are presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Minimum proficiency levels defined by each learning assessment

Reading

Educational Level

Descriptor

Grade 2

They read and comprehend most of written words, particularly familiar ones, and extract explicit information from sentences.

Grade 3

Students read aloud written words accurately and fluently. They understand the overall meaning of sentences and short texts. Students identify the texts’ topic.

Grades 4 & 6

Students interpret and give some explanations about the main and secondary ideas in different types of texts. They establish connections between main ideas on a text and their personal experiences as well as general knowledge.

Grades 8 & 9

Students establish connections between main ideas on different text types and the author’s intentions. They reflect and draw conclusions based on the text.

Mathematics

Educational Level

Descriptor

Grades 2-3

Students demonstrate skills in number sense and computation, shape recognition and spatial orientation.

Grades 4-6

Students demonstrate skills in number sense and computation, basic measurement, reading, interpreting, and constructing graphs, spatial orientation, and number patterns.

Grades 8 & 9

Students demonstrate skills in computation, application problems, matching tables and graphs, and making use of algebraic representations.

1

PLD: Performance level descriptors are descriptions of the performance levels to express the knowledge and skills required to achieve each performance level, by domain. ↑
Unit of measure

Percent (%)
Data sources

Type of data sources: In school and population-based learning assessments.

Table 2. How reporting is structured?

In-school based

Household Based Surveys

Grade

Cross-national

National

Grade 2 or 3

LLECE

Yes

MICS6

2/3 plus one year when primary lasts more than 4 years according to ISCED level of the country, except for TIMSS/PIRLS grade 4, which are mapped to the end of primary when primary lasts six or less years.

PASEC

EGRA

TIMSS

EGMA

PIRLS

PAL network

End of primary

LLECE

Yes

PAL network

plus or minus one year of last year of primary according to ISCED level of the country except for TIMSS/PIRLS grade 4, which are mapped to the end of primary when primary lasts six or less years.

PASEC

TIMSS

PIRLS

PILNA

SEAMEO

SACMEQ

End of lower secondary

PISA

Yes

Young Lives

plus two or minus one of last year of lower secondary according to ISCED level of the country

PISA-D

TIMSS

Definition of minimum level until 2018 release

Those defined by each assessment by point of measurement and domain.

Definition of minimum level from 2019

According to alignment as adopted by Global Alliance to Monitoring Learning (GAML) and Technical Cooperation Group (TCG)

Grade for end of primary and end of lower secondary

As defined by the ISCED levels in each country

Validation

Sent from UIS for countries’ approval
Data providers

School-Based assessments

  • International Large-Scale Assessments are reported to the UIS by cross-national organisations (LLECE, PASEC, TIMSS, and PIRLS). Typically, Cross-National Large-Scale Assessment, either regional or international, define various performance levels, and report as well the mean and standard deviation. They choose as well one level as the cut-off point that defines what children/youth are below or above level.
  • Regional assessments: PASEC, SACMEQ, ERCE, PILNA, SEAMEO.
  • National Large-Scale Assessments either sample- or census-based. Countries should report the proportion of students by level of competency for each domain indicating as well the minimum proficiency level, when it is defined by the national assessment. EGRA and EGMA as reported by USAID or individual countries.

Household-Based surveys

  • MICS6: reported to the UIS by UNICEF
  • Pal Network: reported to the UIS by Pal Network
Comment and limitations

Learning outcomes from cross-national learning assessment are directly comparable for all countries which participated in the same cross-national learning assessments. However, these outcomes are not comparable across different cross-national learning assessments or with national learning assessments. A level of comparability of learning outcomes across assessments could be achieved by using different methodologies, each with varying standard errors. The UIS has implemented a mechanism of comparability through a consensus on the definition of the skills and contents. The comparability of learning outcomes over time has additional complications, which require, ideally, to design and implement a set of comparable items as anchors in advance. Methodological developments are underway to address comparability of assessments outcomes over time.
Method of computation

The number of children and/or young people at the relevant stage of education n in year t achieving or exceeding the pre-defined proficiency level in subject s expressed as a percentage of the number of children and/or young people at stage of education n, in year t, in any proficiency level in subject s.

M P L t ,   n ,   s = M P   t , n , s P t ,   n

where:

MPt,n,s = the number of children and young people at stage of education n, in year t, who have achieved or exceeded the minimum proficiency level in subject s.

Pt,n = the total number of children and young people at stage of education n, in year t.

n = the stage of education that was assessed.

s = the subject that was assessed (reading or mathematics).

Harmonize various data sources

To address the challenges posed by the limited capacity of some countries to implement cross-national, regional, and national assessments, actions have been taken by the UIS and its partners. The strategies are used according to its level of precision and following a reporting protocol that includes the national assessments under specific circumstances.

Completion status

Combining completion rates with learning outcomes improves our understanding of progress towards Target 4.1. Almost all information regarding learning is school-based and does not take into account the completion of the level. The inclusion of completion in the global list offers to report according to completion status. The greatest differences between the SDG 4.1.1 on learning before completion and the disaggregation by completion are found in regions or countries with lower completion and enrolment rates because the adjusted (or children completing and learning) indicator is based on a quality-adjusted completion rate. This also explains why the largest differences occur at the lower-secondary level. Globally, 47% of lower-secondary students achieve minimum proficiency in reading according to the original SDG 4.1.1 Indicator, but the value for the adjusted indicator would fall to 34% of adolescents completing lower secondary and achieving minimum proficiency in mathematics. References here.
Metadata update

2022-03-31
International organisations(s) responsible for global monitoring

UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS)
Related indicators

The parity indices for this indicator are reported in SDG indicator 4.5.1.
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