National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME)
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NAEP > National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
NAME National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME) >
NASP > National Association of School Psychologists (NASP)
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Ronald K Hambleton
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), or better known to many policy-makers in the U.S. as ‘‘NAEP’’ or the ‘‘Nation’s Report Card,’’ is a testing program of the U.S. Department of Education that has two main goals: (1) to determine the level of achievement of groups of students on a regular basis, and (2) to
monitor the achievement of groups of students over time. This testing program has become especially important for monitoring educational achievement for culturally diverse students, and considerable attention is given to both describing their level of achievement, and the gap between culturally diverse students and White students. Scores are reported for groups only (e.g., state, grade, ethnicity, as well as combinations of these groups). On the surface, NAEP is like many other testing programs in the U.S.: (1) policy-makers decide the subject matter and grade levels to be included in the assessment, (2) different committees convene to create detailed descriptions of the domain of content and skills that will be assessed (i.e., the content frameworks), (3) the test makers develop and pilot test their assessments and scoring procedures, (4) the assessments are administered, data are collected, and students scored, and finally, (5) score reports are provided to various audiences. A surface review of NAEP misses the fact that it is one of the most technically challenging and sophisticated testing programs in the world, one of the most carefully designed and implemented testing programs in the U.S., and has unique features that make it widely valued by policy-makers, educators, teachers, researchers, and the public. With regard to decisions about NAEP’s test content, the National Assessment Governing Board decides years in advance of the actual test administration on the subject matter and the grade levels that need to be assessed. In the past, subject matter has included reading, mathematics, writing, science, geography, civics, and U.S. history. Grade levels have been consistent—grades 4, 8, and 12. Contracts are awarded for compiling detailed content information to support test development, and NAEP makes a substantial effort to obtain a national consensus on the framework for their test content. Test design includes multiple-choice, short answer, and extended-answer items. It ensures that the content and skills are validly assessed. Nationally recognized experts write and review assessment materials, including an extensive review of testing materials for stereotyping and bias. In addition, U.S. pilot tests have had large sample sizes from around the country and ethnic groups have been oversampled to ensure detection of potentially biased test material. As a result, NAEP tests are constructed to produce reliable and valid information about the
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