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

2024 NAEP Science Release: Students gathered working on a science project. The Nation's Report Card: 2024 Science at Grade 8The assessment measured students’ science knowledge as well as their ability to engage in scientific inquiry and to conduct scientific investigations in real-world contexts. Results are available at the national level.See Results 2024 NAEP Mathematics Assessment: Student solving math equation at a whiteboard. The Nation's Report Card:
2024 Mathematics at Grade 12The assessment measured students' knowledge and skills in mathematics and their ability to solve problems in mathematical and real-world contexts. Results are available at the national level.See Results2024 NAEP Reading Assessment: Student reading in school library.The Nation's Report Card:
2024 Reading at Grade 12The assessment included literary and informational texts to assess students' reading comprehension skills. Results are available at the national level.See ResultsStudents working on laptops.New NAEP Dataset Offers Insights into Students' Mathematics ReasoningNCES 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

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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Outline of computer monitor displaying data charts.
NAEP logo
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 AvailableData 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.
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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 WORKTRAINING OPPORTUNITIESNAEP RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
NAEP R and D Hub.

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 LibraryExplore 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 DocumentationThe 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 07 August 2025 (DS)