NAEP 1997 Arts Summary Data Tables - Introduction

These data tables present music, visual arts, and theatre results from the 1997 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

In 1997, NAEP conducted an arts assessment nationally at grade 8. For music and visual arts, representative samples of public and nonpublic school students were assessed. A special sample was assessed for theatre.

In the summary data tables, student performance on the arts assessment is presented in several different ways. Overall summaries of results for Creating, Performing, and Responding in terms of both student- and school-reported background variables are featured. For theatre, student results are also provided in terms of teacher-reported background variables.

The overall summaries of results deal with Creating, Performing, and Responding separately. Responding results within music, theatre, and visual arts are grouped for summarization on three NAEP arts Responding scales, each of which ranges from 0 to 300. Average Responding scale score results are presented by demographic and "opportunity to learn" variables based on student-, school-, and, in the case of theatre, teacher-reported background information. Creating and Performing results are not summarized using a standard NAEP scale. Instead of a scale, Creating and Performing results are presented as average percents of the maximum possible score on exercises, in relation to demographic and opportunity-to-learn variables. (These average scores represent the overall mean percentage students earned of the possible number of points for the components of Creating and Performing tasks.)

For questions about the content of the NAEP summary data tables, please contact Tina Love at Tina.Love@ed.gov

NAEP 1997 Arts Summary Data Tables -- Music page