National Assessment of Educational Progress

Also known as “The Nation's Report Card,” the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) originated in response to demands for indicators of the results of large government expenditures for curriculum development in the aftermath of Sputnik and the country's fear that the Russians educational system was exceeding that of the United States. Billed as the gold standard of education assessments and the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what U.S. students know and can do, it is currently administered periodically in mathematics, reading, science, writing, the arts, civics, economics, geography, and U.S. history. The instrument today, however, is different in both form and function from what was originally envisioned by its creators, most notably Ralph Tyler. Varied interpretations of NAEP's key purpose are suspected ...