A high school principal and faculty celebrated after hearing that their students in each of the quartiles had improved in both reading and mathematics on the state accountability assessment. Because of the percent of increases in achievement levels on the test, the Florida Department of Education awarded the school an A for 2011. Shortly…

Leaders in schools, districts, and states, along with policymakers in Washington, D.C., are focusing new energy on closing long-standing gaps in performance that separate low-income students and students of color from others. It's critically important that their efforts succeed--for students, their families, their communities, and for their…

There has been little data collected on how much testing actually goes on in America's schools and how the results are used. So in the Spring of 2014, the Council staff developed and launched a survey of assessment practices. This report presents the findings from that survey and subsequent Council analysis and review of the data. It also offers…

In order to assess relationships and problems in drawing conclusions regarding productive school practices, a study analyzed the 1984 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data on homework and reading achievement among 13-year-olds. A previous study (Lange, 1987) examining the NAEP data set concluded that the number of hours spent on…

Reporting how many people scored at a certain level or how many people passed a cut score is not the same thing as reporting the scores themselves. The newest (indefensible) cliche, derived from international test-score comparisons, says American kids get dumber the longer they stay in school. (MLH)

Skrla and others rejoinder to Klien and Haney wherein they agree in part and disagree in part with points raised in both commentary responses. Reiterate their support for potential of test-based accountability systems to improve educational equity and social justice for racial minority students. (PKP)

When the Educational Testing Service became the administrator of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in 1983, it introduced scales based on item response theory (IRT) as a way of presenting results of the assessment to the general public. Some properties of the scales and their uses are discussed. Initial attempts at presenting…

Citing the results of National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exams, author disputes conclusion in Skrla and others article that Texas high-stakes accountability system significantly increased educational equity and social justice for racial minority students. (PKP)

Data generated through the National Assessment of Educational Progress's regular and special reading assessments during the 1970s indicate that the reading performance of historically lower-achieving students has risen considerably. Unfortunately, the significance of the data has not been fully explored by the news media. (PGD)

Four guidelines that make tables more effective data displays are presented. The need for these guidelines and their application are illustrated with data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). A theoretical structure is presented to help develop test items to assess students' proficiency in extracting information from…

A new approach to the quantification and interpretation of change when only repeated cross-sectional data are available--the Trajectory Analysis of Matched Percentiles--is presented. A recent attempt to interpret the findings on reading achievement of the National Assessment of Educational Progress is critically analyzed. (SLD)

In 1982, the Educational Testing Service (ETS) proposed to implement a new, complex design for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The major features of this design are described in "A New Design for a New Era" (Messick, Beaton, and Lord, 1983). The purpose of this document is to describe the actual implementation of…

This document is the users' guide for Version 3.1 of the Public-Use data tapes compiled by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 1983-84. The Public-Use tapes are produced to allow outside researchers access to the NAEP data. The tapes accompanying this guide contain data assessing student achievement in reading and writing at…

This document is the users' guide for Version 1.0 of the Public-Use data tapes compiled by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 1985-86. The Public-Use tapes are produced to allow outside researchers access to the NAEP data. The tapes accompanying this guide, one for grade 3/age 9, one for grade 7/age 13, and one for grade…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Report on Mathematics Achievement released on June 6, 1991 confronts educators' professional knowledge regarding mathematics education. In many instances it confirms much of what research has already described, and what many have feared, regarding mathematics education. This analysis provided…