About the NAEP State Mapping Analyses

The state mapping studies performed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) offer several important contributions to national education analyses.

First, the mapping analyses allow each state to compare the stringency of its criteria for proficiency with that of other states. Second, they inform a state whether the rigor of its standards, as represented by the NAEP equivalent scores of the state’s standard, changed over time. Significant differences in NAEP equivalent scores might reflect changes in state assessments and standards or changes in policies or practices that occurred between the years.

NCES has released eight mapping reports using state data and NAEP assessment data for reading and mathematics at grades 4 and 8 from 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019. This eighth report highlights the results of mapping state proficiency standards onto the NAEP scales using state assessment data for public schools from the 2018–19 school year and the 2019 NAEP assessments. The report focuses on the reading and mathematics standards that states set for grades 4 and 8 for federal reporting under the 2001 and 2015 reauthorizations of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

Learn more about the key findings from the study conducted with the 2019 assessment data.