UPDATED 5:50 p.m. 12/28/11

Eighth-graders in Hawaii are making gains in math and reading, according to the 2011 Nation’s Report Card, released Tuesday, but still fall their peers nationally.

Fourth-graders’ proficiency levels stayed steady.

The Nation’s Report Card shows how students scored on the National Assessment for Educational Progress. It’s administered only every other year to a sample of students in fourth and eighth grades, and is used to compare states’ performance.

This year, the percentage of Hawaii eighth-graders who scored at or above the “proficient” benchmark in math rose to 30 percent, from 25 percent two years ago. The national average this year is 34 percent.

Hawaii’s eighth-graders also improved in reading, from 22 percent at or above proficient in 2009, to 26 percent this year. The national average this year is 32 percent.

The percentage of fourth-graders who scored proficient or better was about the same as two years ago: 39 percent in math — the same as the national average — compared with 37 percent in 2009. In reading, 27 percent scored proficient, compared with 26 percent two years ago. That’s five points behind the national average of 32 percent.¹

While the numbers cannot be compared directly with Hawaii’s annual state assessment, it’s worth noting that fourth-graders saw two-year gains in both reading and math that did not show on the national assessment, and eighth-graders’s proficiency on the state test stayed roughly the same. Check out our coverage the 2011 Hawaii State Assessment results here.