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Technical Documentation on the Web

The Technical Documentation on the Web (TDW) section of the NAEP website is written for researchers and assumes knowledge of educational measurement and testing. TDW contains information about the technical procedures and methods of NAEP: how the assessment is designed and conducted, and how data are analyzed.

The site is organized into chapters—from Instruments through Analysis and Scaling—which are updated with information for each new assessment year. To view a specific chapter, select from the chapters below and follow the internal links. Note the breadcrumb trail navigation at the top of the page that keeps track of how you arrived at the current page.

To view the contents available on the TDW website, click the “Table of Contents” link above. From the Table of Contents, you can select, compile, and print. To print pages, click the printer-friendly version link.

NAEP Methods and Procedures

Transition to Digital Administration Testing InstrumentsNCES has explored the transition to digital administration since the late 1990s to reflect the growing use of technology in education. A variety of new question and task types have been administered in the NAEP assessments to capture student achievement in more authentic or direct ways. In 2017, the NAEP program officially transitioned from paper-based assessments to digitally based assessments in mathematics and reading.Read More

Ensuring Student Representation: Probability Sample DesignSince 1969, NCES has created and refined an assessment sampling plan to ensure the reporting of representative student samples at the national, state, and district level without requiring participation from every student in every school. From an early concept of matrix sampling to the present use of probability sample design, the NAEP sample design ensures representative sampling of the nation’s students.Read More

Data Collection: Transitioning from Print to Digital AssessmentsNAEP data collection requires the highest levels of consistency and accuracy. The reliability of NAEP results include a standardization of field procedures, a test environment without distractions, testing accommodations, robust quality control, and protecting testing materials and student information. In 2018, NAEP began providing specialized digital assessment data collection teams for national-year assessments.Read More

Coordination of Logistics and Process to Ensure Successful AssessmentIn each assessment cycle, NAEP materials must be printed, packaged, distributed, received, and processed, test materials must be delivered to schools for the paper-based (PBA) and digitally based (DBA) NAEP assessments. Since 2017, this process began transitioning to support the loading, shipment, distribution, and collection of digitally based assessments on tablets.Read More

From High-Speed Scanners to Electronic Image-Processing Scoring SystemsNCES has moved from using high-speed scanners for processing student booklet at paper-based assessments to processing scores electronically at digitally based assessments for test items that do not need human scoring.Read More

Comprehensive Database Facilitates NAEP Data AnalysisBefore the analysis of NAEP assessment data can be performed, the data must be integrated into a coherent and comprehensive database. The NAEP database contains not only responses to cognitive test items but also responses that relate to or describe students or students’ characteristics collected from students, teachers, and school administrators.Read More

Statistically Weighting Assessment Responses to Ensure Representation of NAEP ResultsBefore the data are analyzed, sampled groups of students are statistically weighted to ensure that their representation in NAEP results parallel the actual percentage of the school population for major reporting groups in the grades assessed. Weighting of sampled students ensures NAEP results are representative of the performance of the student population.Read More

Analysis of Data To Produce Comprehensive, Accurate, and Timely Reporting of Assessment ResultsThe primary goal of the analysis of NAEP data is to summarize the performance of groups of students. NAEP analysis consists of initial activities such as the calculation of summary statistics for contextual variables and classical test statistics, scaling activities using item response theory, and estimation of population and student group distributions.Read More

Instruments Sample Design Data Collection Processing Assessment Materials Scoring Database Weighting Analysis and Scaling

NAEP Style Guide

The look and feel of the NAEP DBAs is informed by the NAEP Style Guide, which helps ensure that students have parallel visual experiences across assessment administrations. The style guide is interactive, open sourced, and available to the public.

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Last updated 07 August 2023 (DS)

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