The purpose of geography education is to foster the development of citizens who will actively seek and systematically apply the knowledge and skills of geography in life situations. Geography education must be responsive to the abilities and needs of students and to the societal and workplace requirements of the community, the nation, and the world. Through rigorous instruction and an adaptable K-12 curriculum, geography education helps prepare students to cope with the complexities of contemporary life. This framework is designed to assess the outcomes of students' education in geography in grades 4, 8, and 12 as part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). It melds key physical science and social science aspects of geography into a cohesive and topical whole. It focuses on what geography students should know to be competent and productive 21st-century citizens, and uses three content areas for assessing those outcomes of geography education. These content areas are Space and Place, Environment and Society, and Spatial Dynamics and Connections. Space and Place, which encompasses geography's basic fundamentals, should be assessed by 40 percent of the questions at grades 4, 8, and 12. The other content areas, which are more sophisticated, should be assessed by 30 percent of the questions at each of the three grade levels.