National Assessment of Educational Progress

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as “The Nation's Report Card™,” is a nationally representative and ongoing evaluation of how America's students perform across various subject areas. The NAEP focuses on two major goals: to compare student achievement in states and to chart changes in achievement of 4th, 8th, and 12th graders across time in mathematics, reading, writing, science, and other content domains. The NAEP, even today, constitutes the only continually conducted assessment that represents the academic status of all students in the nation.

Congressionally mandated by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the NAEP project is housed within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education. Oversight is provided by the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB). The NAGB is responsible for setting policy for NAEP as well as for specifying the framework under which assessments will be developed and conducted. NAGB, a 26-member board, includes governors, state legislators, local and state school officials, educators, business representatives, and members of the general public.

The NAEP incorporates several components: National NAEP, State NAEP, NAEP Trial Urban District Assessment, Long Term Trend, and Special Studies. The National NAEP reports information by state and nationally, and provides results for students in 4th, 8th, and 12th grade. The State NAEP provides state-specific results designed to support accurate and representative state-level results. The NAEP Trial Urban District Assessment provides district-specific results for large urban school districts (e.g., Atlanta City School District, Boston Public Schools). The Special Studies target contemporary measurement/assessment questions.

One of the primary functions of the NAEP is to chart student performance trends over time. Long-term assessments make it possible, decade after decade, to measure student progress in reading and math. NAEP findings also provide an objective annual picture available to various stakeholders (e.g., national, state, and local policymakers) on the condition and progress of education in the United States. Subject matter achievement is reported in two ways: scale scores and achievement level. NAEP scale score results provide a numeric summary of what students know and can accomplish in a particular subject and are presented for groups (e.g., gender) and subgroups (e.g., ethnicity). Achievement levels categorize student achievement as Basic, Proficient, and Advanced, using ranges of performance established for each grade.

NAEP results are drawn from random samples of student populations. Results of these assessments are not provided to individual students or schools. Instead, results are incorporated into a general report involving subject matter achievement, instructional experiences, and school environment of varied populations of interest (e.g., third graders) as well as groups within these populations (e.g., male students, African American students). The main NAEP assessments are conducted at the national and state levels every 2 years.

Since 1990, NAEP assessments have also been conducted at the state level for states wishing to participate. Although the content of state and national assessments is identical, student samples were formerly drawn separately for both levels. Since 2002, a combined sample has been selected. Typically, in each state, approximately 2,500 students across 100 public schools are randomly selected per grade, per subject. State-level assessments are conducted at Grades 4 and 8, but not 12. Like the national assessment, State NAEP does not provide individual student or school scores. Participation allows states the added benefit of monitoring their own progress over time in the selected subject areas.

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