NAEP

Kathleen Maloney
NAEP
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has been measuring the academic progress of American students since 1969. Student performance is measured in various content domains and results are reported to the American public. While each state also has its own unique assessments, NAEP provides a common yardstick by administering the same items in every state and making state comparisons possible. Because the assessment stays essentially the same from year to year, NAEP has become an integral part of our nation’s evaluation of the condition and progress of education.
The results of NAEP are released as “The Nation’s Report Card.” Results are presented for various student groups, such as gender, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity, but there are no results of individual students, classrooms, or schools.
In order to measure change over time and create new assessments that reflect current education content methodology, NAEP administers two separate assessments—the “main assessment” and the “long-term trend assessment.” The main assessment is administered every other year to randomly selected students in grades 4, 8, and 12. This test evolves to match instructional practices. The long-term trend NAEP, on the other hand, has remained the same since it was first administered in 1969. This version is administered every four years to children at ages 9, 13, and 17.
NAEP is mandated under NCLB, and is administered every two years in reading and math in grades 4 and 8. Voluntary NAEP assessments are also administered periodically in various subject areas (writing, science, history, civics, geography, etc.), according to that which is permitted by time and money. Not every student participates in NAEP. Instead, each state selects a representative sample of students to participate.
NAEP reading and math tests are approximately 30 to 60 items long. Test items are usually spiraled, meaning that no student takes the complete test or same items as another student. Within one classroom, not every student takes the same test. Instead, various subject area tests are being given simultaneously.
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a division within the US DOE, is responsible for developing NAEP test questions, administering and scoring the assessment, conducting analyses, and reporting the results. The content of the assessment is determined by the National Assessment Governing Board, which is appointed by the US Secretary of Education and consists of 26 members. The Governing Board guides development of content frameworks that serve as blueprints for the NAEP assessments. Although not intended to be a national curriculum, these frameworks describe what students in grades 4, 8, and 12 should know and be able to do. They are developed through a national consensus approach involving hundreds of teachers, curriculum experts, policy makers, business representatives, and members of the general public.
Helpful Resources:
The frameworks are available online at http://www.nagb.org
For more information about NAEP: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard. Click on the “How do I find…” matrix for numerous informative links regarding the test and reported results.