The EdSurvey package helps users download, explore variables in, extract data from, and run analyses on large-scale assessment data. The analysis functions in EdSurvey account for the use of plausible values for test scores, survey sampling weights, and their associated variance estimator. We describe the capabilities of the package in the context…

The finite population correction (FPC) factor is often used to adjust variance estimators for survey data sampled from a finite population without replacement. As a replicated resampling approach, the jackknife approach is usually implemented without the FPC factor incorporated in its variance estimates. A paradigm is proposed to compare the…

International large-scale assessments of student achievement such as International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement's Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Program for International…

When an assessment undergoes changes to the administration or instrument, bridge studies are typically used to try to ensure comparability of scores before and after the change. Among the most common and powerful is the common population linking design, with the use of a linear transformation to link scores to the metric of the original…

The variance formula derived for a two-stage sampling design without replacement employs the joint inclusion probabilities in the first-stage selection of clusters. One of the difficulties encountered in data analysis is the lack of information about such joint inclusion probabilities. One way to solve this issue is by applying Hájek's…

Forty years ago, the National Center for Education Statistics initiated the national longitudinal studies program in response to congressional concern for policy-relevant information on school-to-work transitions. This program has grown substantially, and not unexpectedly, questions have arisen about its usefulness and present operation. This…

In large-scale assessments, such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), plausible values based on Multiple Imputations (MI) have been used to estimate population characteristics for latent constructs under complex sample designs. Mislevy (1991) derived a closed-form analytic solution for a fixed-effect model in creating…

Estimation of parameters of random effects models from samples collected via complex multistage designs is considered. One way to reduce estimation bias due to unequal probabilities of selection is to incorporate sampling weights. Many researchers have been proposed various weighting methods (Korn, & Graubard, 2003; Pfeffermann, Skinner,…

This user's guide documents the procedures used to collect, process, and summarize data from the 2009 High School Transcript Study (HSTS 2009). Chapters detail the sampling of schools and graduates (chapters 2 and 3), data collection procedures (chapter 4), data processing procedures (chapter 5), and weighting procedures (chapter 6). Chapter 7…

Statistics courses for prospective teachers are being developed in response to recent K-12 curriculum recommendations. As these courses are developed, it is important to design accompanying assessments. This manuscript describes a strategy for assessing aspects of statistical knowledge for teaching. The strategy involves analyzing and responding…

In this article, we consider estimation of parameters of random effects models from samples collected via complex multistage designs. Incorporation of sampling weights is one way to reduce estimation bias due to unequal probabilities of selection. Several weighting methods have been proposed in the literature for estimating the parameters of…

One of the major objectives of large-scale educational surveys is reporting trends in academic achievement. For this purpose, a substantial number of items are carried from one assessment cycle to the next. The linking process that places academic abilities measured in different assessments on a common scale is usually based on a concurrent…

Several complex sample standard error estimators based on linearization and resampling for the latent regression model of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are studied with respect to design choices such as number of items, number of regressors, and the efficiency of the sample. This paper provides an evaluation of the extent…

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…

The 2011 edition of the "Digest of Education Statistics" is the 47th 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…