Connecticut and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)

In Connecticut, Hispanic students scored 132 on a 300-point scale on the NAEP math test, compared with 165 for white students. That 33 point gap was significantly larger than the national gap of 23 points. The mathematics gap for the state's black 12th-graders, however, was similar to the national gap. In reading, Connecticut's black high school seniors scored 265 on a 500-point scale, 36 points lower than the 301 score for white seniors, a significantly greater margin than the national black-white reading gap of 27 points. The state's Hispanic-white reading gap was about equal to the national gap. In Connecticut, 38% of Asian 12th-graders reported taking calculus, the highest proportion of any ethnic or racial group. They were followed by white students at 21%, blacks 9% and Hispanics 6%.