This week, 8th-graders across New York City are taking standardized science tests, part of the battery of state tests public school students undergo every year. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, is the national yardstickagainst which state tests are measured; newly released 'trend' results from 2008 testing showcase nuggets of good news among a discouraging landscape. (The full report is availablehere; here's a link to the Executive Summary. )

Overall, national averages show that younger students are making better progress in math than in reading, but scores for older students flatten to near-nil by the end of high school. For example, 9-year-olds bettered their math scores by 4 points (on a 500-scale, for context) since 2004, and by 24 points since 1973. Thirteen-year-olds have improved 15 points since '73 -- but only 3 points since '04. Results are flat for 17-year-olds, from 1973 to 2008.<!--more-->

Reading scores echo the trend, with less vigor: Nine-year-olds gained 4 points since '99 and 12 points since 1971; 13-year-olds gained a single point since '04 (again, on a 500 scale) and 5 points since '71, and no significant change up or down was posted by 17-year-old students.

Although the achievement gap between the races has narrowed somewhat since the 1970s, the report's authors note "no significant change in white-black or white-Hispanic score gaps" from 2004 to 2008.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan, unsurprisingly, chose a careful, positive spin: “We’re pleased to see some recent progress among all age groups in reading and among younger age groups in math. We’re also pleased to see achievement gaps shrinking in reading, but we still have a lot more work to do. Our focus on raising standards, increasing academic rigor and improving teacher quality are all steps in the right direction.”

DOE sources have yet to comment; we will report their response whenever it's available.