History and Innovation in Assessment Design

Transitions to digitally based assessments.

Establishes a series of meetings focusing on the future of NAEP. The summits, workshops and panels span from 2011-2013, providing a forum for discussions, debates, and forward-thinking idea exchanges about what role NAEP should play five, ten, and twenty years down the road.

• NAEP: Looking Ahead - Leading Assessment into the Future Click to open pdf.
• Highlights / NAEP: Looking Ahead - Leading Assessment into the Future Click to open pdf.
• Improving the Measurement of Socioeconomic Status for the National Assessment of Educational Progress: A Theoretical Foundation Click to open pdf.
• NAEP: Looking Ahead - The NAEP-State Partnership Click to open pdf.

Begins and continues process of transitioning assessments to digitally based content and delivery.

Creates methodology for comparing each state's standard for proficient performance in reading and mathematics by placing the state standards onto a common scale defined by NAEP scores. This process of "state mapping" shows where each state's standards lie on the NAEP scale, providing important contributions to analysis.

Supports the introduction of the Trial Urban District Assessment by increasing and adjusting the NAEP sample so that the national estimates are retained and students are not tested more than once.

Conducts research on using technology to assess mathematics, writing, and problem solving. The project was designed to explore the use of technology, especially the use of the computer, as a tool to enhance the quality and efficiency of educational assessments.

Initiates split–sample design efforts to study the effect of assessment accommodations on NAEP results. Begin a transition in which NAEP official reporting samples would come to include students assessed with accommodations.

Institutes new way of handling graded or partial credit responses. This method opens the door for more complicated open–ended items in all NAEP subject areas

Introduces achievement levels for each subject area assessed (Basic, Proficient, and Advanced) which replace the scale anchoring approach to reporting results.

Restructures NAEP sampling plan so that participating states will not have students assessed twice and so that a separate sample of nonparticipating states will ensure a good national estimate of student performance.

Implements new framework for the 1990 mathematics assessment and creates new trend line, which uses the "Main NAEP Trend" (MT) sample; a separate "Long-Term Trend (LTT)" sample is taken using the same procedures and items as previous LTT assessments.

Develops scale anchoring - a way of presenting the assessment results to the general public where anchor points along the scale describe what most students at each anchor point know and could do.

Implements plausible values as a technical solution to avoid biased population estimates when using only estimated scores.

Adds major design feature of scaling the assessment data using Item Response Theory (IRT)–an alternative to computing the percent of items answered correctly which allows the placing of results for students given different booklets on a common scale.

Assembles booklets using Balanced Incomplete Block (BIB) spiraling to ensure that the assessment item pool covers broad areas.

Alters sampling plan for both ages and grades to support distinct reporting, and for completion of a short questionnaire explaining the reasons for excluding students with disabilities.

Reports assessment results with standard errors along with estimates to give readers an idea of the accuracy of its estimates of student performance. Learn more about early assessment design and reporting.

Develops first assessment sampling plan to ensure all students in U.S. schools have a knowable probability of being sampled and introduce the concept of matrix sampling so that a large pool of test items could be administered to a sample without overwhelming the students participating.

Commissioner Peggy G. Carr

Commissioner James Lynn Woodworth

Commissioner Peggy G. Carr (Acting)

Commissioner Sean P. "Jack" Buckley

Commissioner Stuart Kerachsky (Acting)

Commissioner Mark Schneider

Commissioner Robert Lerner

Gary W. Phillips (Acting)

Commissioner Pascal D. Forgione

Commissioner Jeanne E. Griffith (Acting)

Commissioner Emerson J. Elliott

Assistant Commissioner Marie D. Eldridge

Assistant Commissioner Francis C. Nassetta (Acting)

Assistant Commissioner Dorothy M. Gilford

Assistant Commissioner Alexander M. Mood

Mathematics and reading assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), mathematics and reading assessments for states and select districts (grades 4 and 8), science for the nation (grade 8), and pilot testing in mathematics and reading at grades 4 and 8, to help improve future NAEP assessments.

Mathematics and reading long-term trend assessment (age 13).

Mathematics and reading assessments for the nation, states, and select districts (grades 4 and 8), U.S. history and civics for the nation (grade 8), and mathematics and reading long-term trend assessment (age 9).

NAEP student data collection for 2021 was postponed until 2022.

Mathematics and reading long-term trend assessments (ages 9 and 13).

Mathematics, reading, and science assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), mathematics and reading assessments for states and select districts (grades 4 and 8), and the High School Transcript Study, which collects high school transcripts of high school seniors who graduated the year that the study was conducted.

Civics, geography, U.S. history, and technology and engineering literacy assessments for the nation (grade 8).

Mathematics, reading, and writing assessments for the nation, states, and select districts (grades 4 and 8).

Arts assessment for the nation (grade 8).

Mathematics, reading, and science assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), and mathematics, reading, and science assessments for the states (grades 4 and 8).

Civics, geography, U.S. history, and technology and engineering literacy assessments for the nation (grade 8).

Mathematics and reading assessments for the nation and states (grades 4, 8, and 12). There was a pilot study of twelfth-grade state-level results, for which eleven to thirteen states volunteered.

Economics assessment for the nation (grade 12), and the mathematics and reading long-term trend assessments (ages 9, 13, and 17).

Mathematics and reading assessments for the nation, states, and select districts (grades 4 and 8), science assessment for the nation and the states (grade 8), and the writing assessment for the nation (grades 8 and 12).

Civics, geography, and U.S. history assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12).

Mathematics and reading assessments for the nation, states, and select districts (grades 4, 8 and 12), science assessments for states and select districts (grade 8), and the High School Transcript Study.

Arts assessment for the nation (grade 8), and the mathematics and reading long-term trend assessments (ages 9, 13, and 17).

Mathematics and reading assessments for the nation, state, and select districts (grades 4 and 8), and the writing assessment for the nation, states, and select districts (grades 8 and 12).

Civics and U.S history assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), and the economics assessment for the nation (grade 12).

Mathematics, reading, and science assessments (grades 4, 8, and 12), mathematics, reading, and science assessments (grades 4 and 8) for the states and select districts, and the High School Transcript Study.

Mathematics and reading long-term trend assessments (ages 9, 13, and 17).

Mathematics and reading assessments for the nation, states, and select districts (grades 4 and 8).

Reading and writing assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), and reading and writing assessments for the state (grades 4 and 8).

Geography and U.S. history assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12).

Mathematics assessment for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), national reading assessment (grade 4), and state and select district mathematics and science assessments (grades 4 and 8).

Long-term trend mathematics, reading, and science assessments (ages 9, 13, and 17). After the 1999 long-term trend in science, it was determined that technical studies are required to enable necessary changes to the design and revisions to the item pool in order to maintain the long-term trend in this subject. New items will be developed and field tested for use in future assessments. For that reason, the science long-term trend assessment will not be given in 2004.

Civics, reading, and writing assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), reading assessment for the states and select districts (grades 4 and 8), and the writing assessment for the states and select districts (grade 8).

Arts assessment for the nation (grade 8).

Mathematics and science assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, 12), mathematics assessment for the states and select districts (grades 4 and 8), and the science assessment for the states and select districts (grade 8), and the mathematics and reading long-term trend assessments (ages 9, 13, and 17).

Geography, reading, and U.S. history assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), the reading assessment for states and select districts (grade 4), and the mathematics, reading, science, and writing long-term trend assessments (ages 9, 13, and 17).

Mathematics, reading, and writing assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, 12), the mathematics assessment for states and select districts (grades 4 and 8), the reading assessment for states and select districts (grade 4), and the mathematics, reading, science, and writing long-term trend assessments (ages 9, 13, and 17).

Mathematics, reading, and science assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), the mathematics assessment for the states (grade 8), the mathematics, reading, science, and writing long-term trend assessments (ages 9, 13, and 17), and the High School Transcript Study.

Civics, document literacy, geography, U.S. history, reading, and writing assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), and civics, document literacy, geography, U.S. history, reading, and writing long-term trend assessments (ages 9, 13, and 17). The document literacy and geography assessments were a small, special-interest assessment administered to limited national samples at specific grades or ages and were not part of a main assessment.

Computer competence, U.S. history, literature, mathematics, science, and reading assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), and computer competence, U.S. history, literature, mathematics, science, and reading long-term trend assessments (ages 9, 13, and 17). The 1986 long-term trend reading assessment is not included on the trend line in reports because the results for this assessment were unusual.

Reading and writing assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), and reading and writing long-term trend assessments (ages 9, 13, and 17).

Citizenship, mathematics, science, and social studies assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), and citizenship, mathematics, science, and social studies long-term trend assessments (ages 9, 13, and 17).

Art, literature, and reading assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), and art literature and reading long-term trend assessments (ages 9, 13, and 17).

Art, music, and writing assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), and art, music, and writing long-term trend assessments (ages 9, 13, and 17).

Consumer skills, mathematics, and citizenship/social studies assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), and consumer skills, mathematics, and citizenship/social studies long-term trend assessments (ages 9, 13, and 17). The consumer skills assessment was a small, special-interest assessment administered to limited national samples at specific grades or ages and was not part of a main assessment.

Basic life skills and science assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), and basic life skills and science long-term trend assessments (ages 9, 13, and 17). The basic life skills assessment was a small, special-interest assessment administered to limited national samples at specific grades or ages and was not part of a main assessment.

Citizenship/social studies and mathematics assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), and citizenship/social studies and mathematics long-term trends assessments (ages 9, 13, and 17).

Art, index of basic skills, and reading assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), and art, index of basic skills, and reading long-term trend assessments (ages 9, 13, and 17).

Career/occupational development and writing assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), and career/occupational development and writing long-term trend assessments (ages 9, 13, and 17).

Mathematics and science assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), and mathematics and science long-term trend assessments (grades 9, 13, and 17).

Music and social studies assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), and music and social studies long-term trend assessments (ages 9, 13, and 17).

Literature and reading assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), and literature and reading long-term trend assessments (ages 9, 13, and 17).

Citizenship, science, and writing assessments for the nation (grades 4, 8, and 12), and citizenship, science, and writing (ages 9, 13, and 17).