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July 12, 2008Reading, math scores up for 4th and 8th graders, federal report shows |
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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: The nation's fourth and eighth graders scored higher in reading and mathematics than they did during their last national assessment, according to the federal government's latest annual statistical report on the well-being of the nation's children. Not all the report's findings were positive; there also were increases in the adolescent birth rate and the proportion of infants born at low birthweight. The report is compiled by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, a working group of Federal agencies that collect, analyze, and report data on issues related to children and families, with partners in private research organizations. "In 2007, scores of fourth and eighth graders were higher in mathematics than in all previous assessments and higher in reading than in 2005," said Valena Plisko, associate commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, a part of the U.S. Department of Education. Low birthweight infants are at increased risk for infant death and such lifelong disabilities as blindness, deafness and cerebral palsy. "This trend reflects an increase in the number of infants born prematurely, the largest category of low birthweight infants," said Duane Alexander, M.D., director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health. "It is critical that we continue monitoring this trend carefully," said Edward J. Sondik, PhD, director of the National Center for Health Statistics in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Compared with other teens their age, teen mothers are less likely to finish high school or to graduate from college.
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