Resources for Researchers

Explore the many technical aspects of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and learn about available resources for conducting education research with NAEP data such as: data available to the public, web-based tools, restricted-use datasets, statistical software packages, working papers and publications, trainings, and more.

Highlights

New NAEP Dataset Offers Insights into Students' Mathematics Reasoning NCES released a new restricted use dataset (RUD) that contains over 250,000 grade 4 and 8 students’ answers to constructed-response questions from the 2017 and 2019 NAEP Mathematics assessments. LEARN MORE

National Conference on Student Assessment (NCSA): June 23-25, 2025 Join us in Denver, CO to discuss how meaningful assessment systems can drive student learning. LEARN MORE

Conducting Research Using Process Data from NAEP NCES expects to release the 2017 fourth grade NAEP mathematics assessment process data under a restricted-use data license soon. LEARN MORE

NAEP Events and Conferences NCES regularly hosts and attends events to provide vital information about student achievement and experiences across the United States. See what upcoming conferences and events NAEP is hosting and attending. LEARN MORE

NAEP in the News

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The Washington PostJuly 01, 2024After pandemic closures, kids are still behind. Can you do their math?EdSurgeMay 27, 2024English Learner Scores Have Been Stuck for Two Decades. What Will It Take to Change?The 74April 24, 2024Gaps Widening Between Indiana's Highest- and Lowest-Performing Students The Hechinger ReportMarch 25, 2024How Covid narrowed the STEM pipeline The 74February 26, 2024Interactive: See How Achievement Gaps Are Growing in Your State The 74December 12, 202314 Charts that Changed the Way We Looked at America's Schools in 2023 New York TimesOctober 10, 2023Who Runs the Best U.S. Schools? It May Be the Defense Department.Education WeekSeptember 11, 2023QA: Top NAEP Official Talks About the Future of Nation's Report Card and More K-12 DiveSeptember 06, 2023Higher chronic absenteeism rates linked to NAEP score declines ChalkbeatJuly 18, 2023Mississippi made big test score gains. Here's what to make of them.The HillJuly 13, 2023Reading for fun plunges to 'crisis' level for US students K-12 DiveMay 03, 2023More NAEP declines: Scores drop for 8th graders on US history, civics tests CNNMay 01, 2023One group of students saw unexpected gains on the 'Nation's Report Card' during the pandemic The New York TimesNovember 14, 2022The Nation's 'Report Card' on Remote Learning Education WeekOctober 24, 2022Explaining That Steep Drop in Math Scores on NAEP: 5 Takeaways Education WeekOctober 24, 20225 Things to Know About the Slide in Reading Achievement on NAEP

NAEP data are discussed and cited frequently in education news, as shown in the above articles. Please note that NCES is not affiliated with and does not endorse any media outlets or publications.

Data Available for Secondary Analysis & Data Tools

Are You An Educator? From its assessment frameworks to assessment questions to data-rich results, NAEP data provides educators a way to evaluate student achievement. Teachers, principals, and other educators can also use the NAEP data tools to analyze and improve educational outcomes.

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Are You A Researcher? Become familiar with NAEP procedures, and learn how to use web-based tools to analyze NAEP data and conduct preliminary explorations of hypotheses before obtaining a license to access restricted-use datasets.

Data Available Data Tools

Statistical Software

Analyzing the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) restricted-use datasets requires special statistical methods due to their scope and complexity. The following analysis software for NAEP restricted-use datasets can assist you in conducting analyses for your education research:

EdSurvey R Package,
AM Statistical Software, and
the NAEP Data Toolkit.

Learn More

NAEP Research & Development Program

The NAEP Research and Development (NAEP R&D) Team conducts studies that contribute to new methodologies for analyzing and operationalizing large -scale assessments. In addition, NAEP R&D promotes the access to and dissemination of this line of research through trainings, internships and a cooperative agreement program. All of these efforts support NAEP in maintaining its reputation as the “gold standard of student assessment.

EXPLORE FEATURED WORK TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES NAEP RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

The R&D Hub is a community center for the NAEP R&D program. In this blog we share updates on the innovative secondary research conducted using NAEP data by R&D program participants as well as provide information on other opportunities to connect with NAEP R&D.

EXPLORE NAEP RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT HUB

Library

Research Library Explore this centralized resource to access working papers, documentation, reports, journals, and articles that examine NAEP analytic methods, survey design, survey procedures, and data quality issues. Learn More

Technical Documentation The Technical Documentation section of the NAEP website contains information about the technical procedures and methods of NAEP: how the assessment is designed and conducted, and how data are analyzed. Learn More

Last updated 24 October 2024 (DS)