COLUMBIA - Missouri students' performance on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), which is a part of the No Child Left Behind Act has brought the state up the charts in all five math categories.
The NAEP is given every other year to fourth, eighth and twelveth graders. However, the results are only in for the fourth and eighth grade tets.
The No Child Left Behind Act said it sets out to "improve the standards of accountability of states and school districts."
One content area is math, where Missouri joined only five other states in improving in all five subsections of the test.
Missouri is one of only 14 states showing math gains in both grade levels. Some say the key is challenging students a little more.
"In Columbia we've seen some really nice growth areas in the number of students who are taking upper level math, both percent of students and the types of courses they are taking. So they're just taking more math, they're taking higher levels of math," said Columbia Public Schools Math Coordinator Chip Sharp. He adds, the key to success in the classroom is the combined effort of parents, students, and faculty, constantly communicating and working side-by-side.
The next round of NAEP tests is set for spring of 2009.
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