In February 1990, the President and state governors proclaimed a set of six national education goals to prompt profound improvements in schools and student achievement by the year 2000. These six goals reflect widely held concerns that most Americans have not been receiving the kind of education they need to meet the challenges of twenty-first…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in geography is a periodic survey of geographic knowledge and skill of students at grades 4, 8, and 12. The first NAEP in geography was conducted in 1994 and the second in 2001. Like the 1994 assessment, the 2001 assessment probed students' ability to recall, understand, analyze, and interpret…

This digest examines issues concerning performance assessment of students receiving special education services. Issues addressed are: (1) need to infuse performance assessment into national programs including the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS); (2) current lack of inclusion of…

This digest presents various views of the federal role in testing and offers a brief examination of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the "nation's report card," in its national sample format and its state administration, which critics fear has the potential to become a de facto national test if selected as the…

This ERIC Digest outlines the methods employed and the results obtained from the 1994 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in U.S. history. NAEP surveys collect information about students' knowledge of core subjects of the school curriculum. This particular survey was administered to a national sample of students in grades 4, 8, and…

Since its inception by the United States Congress in 1969, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has collected information about what U.S. students know and can achieve in core subjects of the school curriculum. The U.S. history NAEP assessments were conducted in 1986, 1988, 1994, and 2001. This digest discusses: (1) the framework…

This digest describes the organization of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and what is included in a typical NAEP assessment. The way in which the NAEP selects students for assessments and how the assessments are used are discussed. The NAEP is a congressionally mandated project of the National Center for Education…

This digest briefly summarizes the contents of the "Civics Framework for the 1998 National Assessment of Educational Progress" in terms of the Framework's development and components including civic knowledge, civic skills, and civic dispositions. The framework may be used to inform and guide curriculum development projects in civics and…

This ERIC Digest describes the development of the 1994 National Assessment of Educational Progress for geography and the results from that examination of geographic knowledge and skills of students in grades four, eight, and twelve. The assessment format utilized multiple-choice questions and constructed-response questions. Results were reported…

This Digest describes the development of the 1998 National Assessment of Educational Progress for civics, and the results from that examination of civic knowledge and intellectual skills of students in grades four, eight, and twelve. The assessment format utilized multiple-choice and constructed-response questions. Results were reported by the…

This digest investigates seven of the most prevalent and damaging myths about literacy in the United States. In response to various claims about American elementary and secondary students' test score declines in reading achievement, the author interprets data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the International…

Authentic reading assessment is examined, focusing on its implementation within the Michigan Essential Skills Reading Test (MESRT). Authentic reading assessment emerged as a response to research that indicates that reading is not a particular skill but an interaction among reader, text, and the context of the reading situation. Unlike formal…

Poor, minority, and low ability students suffer most from the general lack of sustained opportunity to study mathematics in American public schools. Studies indicate that preschool and kindergarten students show only minor social class or racial differences in mathematical thinking and that differences in mathematical performance among older…