What Does the NAEP Long-Term Trend Mathematics Assessment Measure?

The existence of two national assessment programs—long-term trend NAEP and main NAEP—makes it possible to meet two important objectives: 1) measure student progress over time, and 2) as educational priorities change, develop new assessment instruments that reflect current educational content and assessment methodology.

The NAEP long-term trend mathematics assessment was designed to measure students'

• knowledge of basic facts,
• ability to carry out computations using paper and pencil,
• knowledge of basic measurement formulas as they are applied in geometric settings, and
• ability to apply mathematics to daily-living skills (such as those related to time and money).

The assessment had a computational focus and contained a range of multiple-choice and constructed-response questions. It covered the following topics:

• numbers and numeration;
• measurement;
• shape, size, and position;
• probability and statistics; and
• variables and relationships.

Mathematics results are available for 15 assessments at age 9, fifteen assessments at age 13, and 12 assessments at age 17 dating back to 1973. The mathematics long-term trend assessments contained questions designed to measure performance on sets of objectives developed by nationally representative panels of mathematics specialists, educators, and other interested parties.

Explore long-term trend questions in the NAEP Questions Tool.

Read about the long-term trend mathematics and reading scales.

Find out what the long-term trend assessment in reading measures.