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NAEP Analysis and Scaling → Estimation of Population and Student Group Distributions → Examining the Population-Structure Models Used in NAEP → Comparison of Mean Scale Scores and Mean Item Scores by Jurisdiction

NAEP Technical DocumentationComparison of Mean Scale Scores and Mean Item Scores by Jurisdiction

NAEP score scales are summaries of the consistencies and regularities that are present in item-level data. In order to evaluate the reasonableness of the scale score results, a variety of analyses were conducted to compare scale scores and average item scores for each subject area subscale. High agreement was found in all of these analyses. One set of such analyses is a set of scatter plots of the public-school item score means versus the public-school scale score means for each jurisdiction in the state assessments. As evident from the figures, there is a strong relationship between the estimates of performance in the scale-score and item-score metrics at the level of the jurisdictions.

State Mathematics Assessment

2000 Assessment Plot of Mean Scale Score Versus Mean Item Score by Jurisdiction, Grade 4
2000 Assessment Plot of Mean Scale Score Versus Mean Item Score by Jurisdiction, Grade 8

State Science Assessment

2000 Assessment Plot of Mean Scale Score Versus Mean Item Score by Jurisdiction, Grade 4
2000 Assessment Plot of Mean Scale Score Versus Mean Item Score by Jurisdiction, Grade 8

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