The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is briefly described. The NAEP was designed in 1969 as a voluntary cooperative program to answer questions about education nationally. In 1988, the NAEP was defined as a means of improving the effectiveness of the nation's schools by making objective information available about student…

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the analysis of data collected by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). In simplest terms, the analysis can be characterized as establishing baseline estimates of the percentages of young Americans possessing certain skills, knowledge, understandings, and attitudes and…

This content assessment project is designed to determine what social studies content should be tested on national standardized tests and how that content should be defined. Sixteen historians, political scientists, and social studies educators were interviewed to identify key concepts. In a second phase, the cultural literacy rationale for content…

The current progress of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is examined, and its background is summarized. Federally financed since the late 1960's, the NAEP is a survey of U.S. students' achievment in various subject areas. As an indicator of change in elementary and secondary educational achievement, it has received attention…

Based on the FairTest perspective, this paper argues that the United States does not need a national test to measure progress toward the nation's educational goals and that such a test would have adverse impacts on low-income and minority students. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) should remain an indicator system but should…

In November, 1985, the Council of Chief State School Officers adopted a plan for developing educational indicators. The plan provided for the development of a common measure of student achievement to be collected across states beginning in 1988-89. In order to design a student achievement assessment program, the states were asked to give their…

The focus of this 2-day hearing was on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Witnesses testified about the importance of the NAEP as a national assessment tool and the changes that the Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education (SESVE) might consider for the future. On March 13, the following persons…

This letter is an interim response to the October 7, 1991 request from the Committee on Education and Labor and the Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education of the House of Representatives asking for a review of the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) achievement levels for the National Assessment of Educational…

Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states were invited in June 1984 to participate in a project with the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to assess the reading achievement of eleventh grade students. Florida, Tennessee and Virginia accepted and worked with SREB and NAEP staff to develop and administer the testing program.…

Roles suggested for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in proposed national testing are discussed. Recent proposals center around monitoring, evaluation and accountability, and serving as a benchmark for other tests. Monitoring has been the traditional function of the NAEP, and in this role, its influence has been substantial.…

This report is aimed at helping Congress: (1) better understand the functions, history, capabilities, limitations, uses, and misuses of educational tests; (2) learn more about the promises and pitfalls of new assessment methods and technologies; and (3) identify and weigh policy options affecting educational policy. To prepare this report, the…

The validity of criterion-referenced interpretations of the proficiency scales of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is discussed. A major goal of the NAEP scales is to describe student achievement in specific content areas from grade 3 (age 9 years) through grade 11 (age 17 years). The numerical values for NAEP scales are…

The scales of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), as constructed, do not yield meaningful criterion-referenced interpretations. Poorly defined NAEP goals and the present knowledge base do not allow the measurement of what examinees can and cannot do. Inappropriate interpretations of NAEP data are discussed, with specific…

The strengths and weaknesses of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are discussed. The NAEP estimates the number of students who are more likely to do certain problems correctly than other students. NAEP reports the numbers, briefly describes the problems, and says that more students need to do these problems correctly. The…

The thesis of this paper is that achievement tests have changed their primary function from serving as indicators of educational accomplishments to becoming instruments of educational policy, and have thus come to be regarded as effective means of altering educational achievement and productivity. This assertion is explored by using examples of…