The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Mega-States report

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Mega-States report focuses on the performance of students in the five most populous states in the United States: California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Texas. These five states have the five largest public school populations in the nation. The report focuses on the performance of public school students in three subjects: reading, mathematics, and science at grades 4 and 8. Please note that writing results were not included in this report because the 2011 writing framework begins a new trend line. In addition, the 2011 computer-based writing assessment was not administered at the state level.

The Mega-States are home to nearly one-third of the nation's public schools

In 2010, there were about 49.5 million students in public schools nationwide, and close to 18.7 million of them attended schools in the Mega-States. Illinois educates over 2.1 million students, Florida and New York have more than 2.5 million students each, and California and Texas combined account for over 11 million students. By comparison, all other states have between 89,000 and 1.8 million students.

The Mega-States exemplify our nation's changing demographics

The Mega-States are at the forefront of the demographic shifts in our nation. California, Texas, New York, and Florida had the largest increases in the immigrant population over the last decade. Illinois had the sixth largest increase.

Most of our nation's English language learners (ELL) are educated in the Mega-States. California enrolls nearly 1.5 million ELL students—the largest number in the nation. That's more than twice the amount of any other Mega-State. The variations in state policies and percentages of ELL students identified in each Mega-State, along with the variations in exclusion and accommodation rates, are part of the overall context for interpreting academic achievement. Explore exclusion rates for reading, mathematics, and science.

More than one-third of all families below the poverty line live in the Mega-States. About 9 million families in the United States reported income below the poverty line in 2011; 3.4 million of them were in the Mega-States. Compared to the national average, California, Florida, and Texas all have higher percentages of students who are eligible for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). New York is about the same as the national average, while Illinois is lower.

Fourth- and eighth-grade public school students in these Mega-States usually scored lower than or not significantly different from their peers in the nation in the most recent NAEP assessments in reading, mathematics, and science, with the following exceptions:

* Florida fourth-graders scored higher than the nation in reading.

* New York fourth-graders scored higher than the nation in reading.

* Illinois eighth-graders scored higher than the nation in reading.

* Texas eighth-graders scored higher than the nation in math and science.