The NAEP long-term trend assessments in reading and mathematics were administered throughout the nation in the 2007-2008 school year and again in 2011-2012 to students at ages 9, 13, and 17.
On this page, learn more about:
The background, goals, and NAEP alignment of the long-term trend assessment
Since its inception in 1969, NAEP has served the important function of measuring our nation's educational progress by regularly administering various subject area assessments to nationally representative samples of students. The existence of the two national assessment programs—long-term trend NAEP and main NAEP—makes it possible to meet two important objectives:
Because the long-term trend program uses substantially the same assessments decade after decade, it has been possible to chart educational progress since 1971 in reading and 1973 in mathematics, satisfying the first objective. Find out how the long-term trend assessment was developed. Also, see how the long-term trend assessment differs from the main NAEP assessments, which were created to satisfy the second objective.
In order to align the assessment with the best current assessment practices and with policies applicable to the NAEP main assessments, several changes to the long-term trend assessment were evaluated in 2004. The evaluation of these changes was done through a bridge study to ensure the comparability of the new assessment and the previous assessments.
Because of the rigorous design of the 2004 bridge study, differences in results from the original and revised versions could be attributed solely to the inclusion of students who would have been excluded if accommodations had not been offered in the revised version. These differences were comparable to those seen when accommodations were first introduced in the main NAEP assessments.
What the long-term trend assessments measure
Mathematics: The long-term trend mathematics assessment required students to respond to a variety of age-appropriate questions. The assessment was designed to measure students’
Unlike certain sections in the main NAEP assessment, students were not permitted to use a calculator in the long-term trend mathematics assessment.
Reading: The NAEP long-term trend reading assessment required students to answer questions based on a variety of age-appropriate reading materials such as stories, poems, reports, and advertisements. The assessment was designed to measure students’ ability to
Each student took only a part of the assessment, consisting of three 15-minute sections. Students read between 8 and 15 passages and were asked between one and five questions about each passage.
The mathematics and reading trend assessments continue to be composed of multiple-choice and constructed-response questions. Each student took only a part of the assessment, consisting of three 15-minute sections.
To learn more, see questions from previous long-term trend mathematics and reading assessments in the NAEP Questions Tool.
Students were asked to complete a questionnaire to provide NAEP staff with information on students' demographic characteristics, classroom experiences, and educational support. This questionnaire was evaluated in the bridge study, and was administered with the 2004, 2008, and 2012 long-term trend assessment.
Number of students who took the assessment
The NAEP 2008 long-term trend assessment was administered to students aged 9, 13, and 17 who were enrolled in public and nonpublic elementary and secondary schools throughout the nation. Approximately 26,600 students took the reading assessment, while about 26,700 took the mathematics assessment.
See the student sample sizes and target populations by age for the 2008 assessments, and the participation rates for schools and students.
NAEP does not, and is not designed to, report on the performance of individual students. Instead, it reports average results for groups of the student population from representative national samples. For example, NAEP reports results for male and female students; Black, Hispanic, and White students; and students in different regions of the country. Samples are selected using a complex sampling design.
NAEP has always endeavored to assess all students selected as a part of its sampling process, including students who are classified by their schools as students with disabilities (SD) and English language learners (ELL). The decision to exclude any of these students is made by school personnel.
See the types of accommodations permitted on NAEP assessments, and see tables summarizing the percentage of students identified, excluded, and assessed in long-term trend.
The sample for the 2008 long-term trend assessment was selected using a complex multistage sampling design that involved sampling students from selected schools within selected geographic areas across the country. The sampling design had the following stages:
Each selected school that participated in the assessment and each student assessed represents a portion of the population of interest. Some smaller populations were oversampled to ensure sufficient representation. Therefore, sampling weights are needed to make valid inferences between the student samples and the respective populations from which they were drawn. Sampling weights adjust for disproportionate representation due to such oversampling.
The target population consisted of 9-, 13-, and 17-year-old students. Eligibility for the age 9 and age 13 samples was based on calendar year: students in the age 9 sample were 9 years old on January 1, 2008, with birth months January 1998 through December 1998; and students in the age 13 sample were 13 years old on January 1, 2008, with birth months January 1994 through December 1994. Students eligible for the age 17 sample had to be 17 years old on October 1, 2008, with birth months October 1990 through September 1991.
See a table summarizing the sample size and target population for the long-term trend assessment.
View a summary of the long-term trend school and student participation rates.
Learn more about NAEP, the nation's largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of what students know and can do in core subjects.
View the full long-term trend assessment report: NAEP 2008 Trends in Academic Progress.
To find the results of other assessments, visit The Nation's Report Card website.
