About NAEP and International Assessments

• Coordination of NAEP and International Assessment Administrations
• Comparisons of NAEP and International Assessments
• Online Tools and Features of NAEP, PIRLS, PISA, and TIMSS

Coordination of NAEP and International Assessment Administrations

The NAEP assessments in for mathematics, reading, and science are now coordinated with three NCES international assessments:

• Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS),
• Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), and
• Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

This coordination will produce complementary results for more useful comparisons between international assessments and NAEP.

For 2011 results, a study to link national and international results will allow a comparison of 2011 state mathematics and science results to the results of other nations; see the brochure, NAEP-TIMSS Linking Study  (901 KB).

The table below illustrates the years in which NAEP and PIRLS, PISA, or TIMSS have planned coincidence in order to gain comparable information about our nation's students. Also, take a look at the schedule for NAEP and other NCES assessment activities for the current year. 

Coordination Schedule

¹ The 2009 results have been reported; see publications in Comparisons below.
² See the full schedule for all NAEP subjects

Comparisons of NAEP and International Assessments

When comparing results of NAEP with those of international assessments, it is important to consider the differences among them in terms of assessment purpose, content, target population, administration, and results. The following publications detail these differences, and are in PDF format.

• Comparison of the PISA 2009 and NAEP 2009 Reading Assessments (423 KB)
• Highlights From PISA 2009: Performance of U.S. 15-Year-Old Students in Reading, Mathematics, and Science Literacy in an International Context (6.80 MB). See Appendix D: Comparing PISA and NAEP.
• Highlights From TIMSS 2007: Mathematics and Science Achievement of U.S. Fourth- and Eighth-Grade Students in an International Context (2.19 MB). See Appendix C: TIMSS-NAEP Comparison.
• Comparing TIMSS With NAEP and PISA in Mathematics and Science (2007) (281 KB)
• Comparing PIRLS and PISA with NAEP in Reading, Mathematics, and Science (2007) (231 KB)
• Comparing Mathematics Content in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003 Assessments Technical Report (1.59 MB)
• A Content Comparison of the NAEP and PIRLS Fourth-Grade Reading Assessments (Working Paper, 2003) (852 KB)
• A Comparison of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the Third International Mathematics and Science Study Repeat (TIMSS-R), and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) (Working Paper, 2001) (1.20 MB) 

Online Tools and Features of NAEP, PIRLS, PISA, and TIMSS

See NAEP results for each subject on the Nation's Report Card website, and NAEP, PIRLS, PISA, and TIMSS websites each provide public access to released questions, student and school questionnaires, tools for custom analyses such as the NAEP Data Explorer (NDE) and the International Data Explorer (IDE), and micro data for researchers. Get more information about the international assessments on the International Activities Program (IAP) home page.

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