Florida students have progressed to the middle of the national pack in writing, according to 2007 scores released that from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, better known as “the nation’s report card.”
        Eighty-eight percent of Florida eighth-graders scored at the basic level or above on the writing analysis, which is right at the national average and 10 percentage points higher than in 1998. Only two states, Delaware and Louisiana, have made bigger gains by that period.
        A nationally representative sample of 165,000 eighth- and twelfth-graders took the NAEP writing analysis final year, but state results were not available for twelfth graders. Many experts consider NAEP (pronounced “nape”) to be the gold standard for measuring learning.
        Nationally, the number of eighth graders writing at basic or above

has moved from 83 percent to 87 percent since 1998. Among twelfth graders, the numbers have bounced from 78 percent in 1998 to 74 percent in 2002 to 82 percent in 2007.
        On the upside: Many of the biggest gains were made by lower- and middle-tier students.
        On the downside: In Florida, the scores show no meaningful narrowing of the achievement gaps amoung male and female students (males continue to score lower), or amidst white and minority students (blacks and Hispanics continue to score lower).
        To see the experiment results in detail, go here. To read more about what the NAEP writing analysis measures, visit here.
        - Ron Matus, state education reporter