Item saved to your backpack!

The National Center for Education Statistics at the U.S. Department of Education recently published the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress in U.S. history for 2010.

National results for students in fourth grade, eighth grade and twelfth grade were reported both as average scale scores and as percentages of students performing at or above three achievement levels: "Basic," "Proficient," and "Advanced."

Less than one quarter of all students were found to be performing at or above the "Proficient" level.

"Just 45 percent of 12th graders scored at or above 'basic' on the history test," writes U.S. News & World Report's Jason Koebler. "About 10 percent of seniors scored 'proficient,' and 1 percent are considered to have an 'advanced' knowledge of U.S. history."

"The history scores released today show that student performance is still too low," U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a statement. "These results tell us that, as a country, we are failing to provide children with a high-quality, well-rounded education."

In 2010, white students scored 27 points higher on average than black students and 20 points higher than Hispanic students--both gaps did not represent a significant change in comparison to earlier years.

Similarly, male students scored higher on average than female students in 2010--the four-point gap between the two groups in 2010 was not significantly different from the gap in previous years.

The assessment was administered by the National Center for Education Statistics to nationally representative samples of public and private school students, including 7,000 fourth graders, 11,800 eighth graders and 12,400 twelfth graders.

"The overall lackluster performance is certain to revive the debate about whether history and other subjects, such as science and art, are being pushed out of the curriculum because of the focus on math and reading demanded under the No Child Left Behind federal education law," writes the Wall Street Journal's Stephanie Banchero. "The federal law mandates that students be tested in math and reading."

The full report can be viewed here [PDF file].

For related news and other information from Schools.com, see:

• How to ace summer school: great online homework-help and tutoring sites
• New York State publishes high school graduation rates
• How college professors use Facebook (infographic)
• DoE announces second round of grants for innovation in education