The National Assessment Governing Board is an independent, bipartisan organization that sets policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The Governing Board established the NAEP Program of 12th Grade Preparedness Research to assess what NAEP can report on the academic preparedness of 12th grade students entering college and…

Trends among adolescents continue to be discouraging in terms of career and college readiness based on National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) achievement reports and high school graduation rate data. In response, this article presents five goals and eight strategies we have engaged in during a seven-year research study focused on…

Based on NAEP data, many adolescents may not be adequately prepared for postsecondary education. This is a Year Five report from a seven-year longitudinal study of a student cohort starting in sixth grade year (n = 50). It uses a quasi-experimental design, and collects data from surveys, interviews, and reflective statements to evaluate mentoring…

In the May 2009 issue of "English Journal", we reported on our analysis of data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress to provide a first look at changes in the teaching of writing over the past 30 years. In this article, we provide a more detailed look, drawing on data collected from visits to 260 English, math, social…

In an effort for schools to obtain Adequate Yearly Progress, the pressure is on to make certain that students are loaded with as much information as possible in order to score well on the high stakes tests. Writing has continued to move down the list of priorities of what is taught because: it is not being tested or is minimally being assessed.…