What Does the NAEP Mathematics Assessment Measure?The NAEP frameworks provide the theoretical basis for the assessments and describe the types of questions that should be included and how they should be designed and scored. As with all NAEP frameworks, the mathematics framework was developed under the guidance of the National Assessment Governing Board. View a copy of the NAEP mathematics framework (1.5MB PDF). For grades 4 and 8, the mathematics framework for the 2009 assessment is similar to earlier versions that guided the 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2003, 2005, and 2007 mathematics assessments. Although the frameworks are updated periodically, the mathematics content objectives for grades 4 and 8 have not changed, allowing students' performance in 2009 to be compared with previous years. For 2005, the Governing Board adopted a new mathematics framework for grade 12 to reflect changes in high school standards and coursework. For 2009, the grade 12 mathematics framework was updated, adding objectives addressing mathematics content beyond that typically taught in a standard 3-year course of study in high school mathematics. Because of changes in the framework and in administration procedures for grade 12, results from the 2005 and 2009 twelfth-grade assessment cannot be compared to results from previous years (Grade 12 was not assessed in 2007). A new trend line was started for grade 12 in 2005, and new mathematics achievement-level descriptions were applied. Find out how the 2005 mathematics framework compares with the 1990–2003 mathematics framework. To read more about the mathematics objectives used for previous assessments, explore the 1990–2003 mathematics framework. Content Areas and Mathematical ComplexityThe mathematics framework classifies assessment questions in two dimensions, content area and mathematical complexity, that are used to guide the assessment. Each question is designed to measure one of the five mathematics content areas.
Certain aspects of mathematics, such as computation, occur in all content areas. Although the names of the content areas (as well as some topics in those areas) have changed from one framework to the next, a consistent focus has remained on measuring student performance in all five content areas. The distribution of questions among each content area differs by grade to reflect the knowledge and skills appropriate for each grade level. At grade 12, the measurement and geometry content areas are combined into one for reporting purposes to reflect the fact that the majority of measurement topics suitable for grade 12 students are geometric in nature. These divisions are not intended to separate mathematics into discrete elements. Rather, they are intended to provide a helpful classification scheme that describes the full spectrum of mathematical content assessed by NAEP. Items are also classified by mathematical complexity.
Mathematical complexity attempts to focus on the cognitive demands of the assessment question. Each level of complexity includes aspects of knowing and doing mathematics, such as reasoning, performing procedures, understanding concepts, or solving problems. The levels of complexity form an ordered description of the demands an item may make on a student. Items at the low level of complexity, for example, may ask a student to recall a property. At the moderate level, an item may ask the student to make a connection between two properties; at the high level, an item may ask a student to analyze the assumptions made in a mathematical model. This is an example of the distinctions made in item complexity to provide balance in the assessment. The ordering is not intended to imply that mathematics is learned or should be taught in such an ordered way. The complexity dimension builds on the dimensions of mathematical ability (conceptual understanding, procedural knowledge, and problem solving) and mathematical power (reasoning, connections, and communication) that were used in the mathematics framework for the 1996-2003 NAEP assessments. The mathematics framework specifies the percentage of questions devoted to each content area by grade. Sample Questions booklets for the mathematics assessment are available for download.
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