About a third of the nation’s eighth-grade students, and roughly a quarter of its high school seniors, are proficient writers, according to nationwide test results released Thursday.
That proportion of students demonstrating writing proficiency is about the same as in 2002, when a similar exam was last given.
But the results of the latest test, given last year, also found modest gains by lower-performing students. Nearly nine students in 10 can demonstrate at least a basic achievement in writing, defined as partial mastery of the skills needed for proficient work.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress test was given to 140,000 eighth-graders and 28,000 12th-graders selected to form a representative sample of all students nationwide in the two grades.
