Over the last twenty-five years, the Minnesota Historical Society, the University of Minnesota Libraries, and Minitex have developed a partnership centered on creating pathways to higher education by engaging local middle school and high school students in immersive programs at academic libraries. These activities vary in scope and content, but…

In this paper we describe content focused, practical procedures to establish benchmarked performance standards for educational and other tests. To implement our procedures, we identify one or more external benchmark (e.g., NAEP or PISA performance levels, college and career readiness benchmarks); link to the external benchmarks to locate those…

Educational quality is a way to influence the future of the American economy (Hanushek, 1986). Large-scale assessments are designed to determine quality in education by measuring student achievement. A connection exists between the standards, teachers, and assessments that form a system of accountability within education. State and national…

Cognitive validity examines the relationship between what an assessment aims to measure and what it actually elicits from test takers. The present study examined whether multiple-choice items from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) grade 12 U.S. history exam elicited the historical thinking processes they were designed to…

The theme of this year was educate to liberate. A reminder to the literacy community that education, and literacy extend beyond the content and courses we teach. As Freire puts it, "Leaders who do not act dialogically, but insist on imposing their decisions, do not organize the people--they manipulate them. They do not liberate, nor are…

This report documents the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) special pilot study of group assessment. In 1994, NAEP administered U.S. History projects to a limited number of students. The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of group assessment, and to gain practical experience in the design, development,…

Comparison of student reports of course taking from the 1994 history National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) with information from the 1994 High School Transcript Study suggests that students overestimate the number of history courses taken and fail to distinguish among types of history classes taken, something that may affect the…

The Mantel-Haenszel approach for investigating differential item functioning (DIF) was applied to U.S. history items that were administered as part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). DIF analyses were based on the responses of 7,743 students in grade 11. On some items, Blacks, Hispanics, and females performed more poorly…

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…

This report presents results of the 1988 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) survey of the geographic knowledge and skills of high school seniors. A national stratified sample of more than 3,000 twelfth graders from approximately 300 public and private schools responded to 76 multiple-choice questions about the following 4 topics in…

Discusses the findings (and implications) from the 1985 national assessment of American students' knowledge of history and literature funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The average score of 11th graders on history was 55 percent and on literature 52 percent. (MD)

Performance of rural 13-year-olds on the 1971-1972 social studies assessment by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) were reviewed in terms of three major exercise themes. Performance on skill exercises revealed rural strengths in source selection and human affairs insights, but weaknesses in reading maps and graphs. Fewer than…

This guide to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) describes its purpose, contents, uses, and research methodology by presenting 21 questions about the NAEP program. The NAEP is mandated by Congress to survey the educational accomplishments of U.S. students and to monitor changes in these accomplishments. It tracks the…

In 1990, President Bush and the nation's governors adopted the six National Education Goals as part of a campaign to increase educational performance at all levels. Goal 3 states that, by the year 2000, American students will leave grades 4, 8, and 12 having demonstrated competence in challenging subject matter, including English, mathematics,…

The 2012 edition of the "Digest of Education Statistics" is the 48th in a series of publications initiated in 1962. The "Digest" has been issued annually except for combined editions for the years 1977-78, 1983-84, and 1985-86. Its primary purpose is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field…