​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​NAEP Technical DocumentationDevelopment of the Civics Cognitive Items and Instruments

			Student test forms: 2022 Student test forms: 2018 Student booklets: 2014 Student booklets: 2010 Student booklets: 2006 Number of items: 2022 Number of items: 2018 Number of items: 2014 Number of items: 2010 Number of items: 2006 New and common blocks: 2022​ New and c​ommon blocks: 2018 Common blocks: 2014 Common blocks: 2010 Common blocks: 2006

The instruments used in the NAEP civics assessment are composed of blocks of cognitive items from the previous NAEP assessments, as well as blocks that are newly developed for the current assessment. Administering the same blocks of items across years allows for the reporting of trends in civics performance. At the same time, developing new items makes it possible to release some items for public use. In some assessment years, one or more blocks at each grade are released to the public and can be accessed via the NAEP Questions Tool.

The NAEP civics framework and specifications documents guide the item development efforts. The same framework that has guided assessment development since 1998 was used to guide the development of the 2018 and 2022 digitally based assessments​, as this continuity enables the reporting of student achievement trends over time.

Many of the civics tables that are included in the Technical Documentation on the Web present data based on a​ univariate scale. A univariate scale is a single overall subject-area scale that is used to summarize the performance for a subject-area assessment.

Assessment items are written by NAEP item development staff. All assessment materials are reviewed by​ members of the Civics Standing Committee, as well as other specialists in education and assessment development. The cognitive items are assembled into blocks containing a range of questions.​ ​Following approval from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the blocks are packaged as digital test forms for digital delivery of the assessment.

See what the NAEP civics assessment measures for more information.

NAEP transitioned from a paper-based assessment (PBA) to a digitally based assessment (DBA) in civics at grade 8 in 2018 in order to keep pace with the new generation of classroom environments in which digital technology has become an increasing part of students' learning. To investigate potential differences in performance that might be due to the digital transition, randomly equivalent groups of students were administered the NAEP civics assessment in either the paper or the digital format.

The 2014 operational NAEP civics assessment was re-administered in 2018 as a PBA. The PBA was identical to the 2014 operational assessment in terms of the instruments, including all of the items, with the same design of the test booklets which divided cognitive testing time into two 25-minute blocks.

In addition to the 2018 PBA, a digitally based civics assessment which divided cognitive testing time into two 30-minute blocks was also administered. Most of the content administered in the 2018 DBA was also used in the 2014 PBA. The previously used questions were adapted to fit a tablet screen, but the civics content itself did not change. Of the seven DBA blocks administered at grade 8, two blocks were newly developed for the 2018 digital administration.

After the administration of the assessment, NCES conducted rigorous analyses of the data and aligned the 2018 results to previous assessment years. These evaluations supported making trend comparisons between the DBA and previous PBAs, enabling NCES to maintain the civics trend line while transitioning to a DBA. The procedures for estimating the error variance to allow for comparisons between the DBA and previous PBAs are explained here. ​The 2018 civics assessment results are based on the combined performance of students who took the assessment on paper and students who took the assessment on tablets.​

In 2022, the civics assessment at grade 8 was administered digitally for the second time. All of the content at grade 8 in 2022 was also used in the 2018 DBA. A total of seven blocks of questions were administered in both years. The transition from PBA to DBA​ was completed in 2018. Because the transition that placed the DBA results onto the trend line took place in 2018, the usual NAEP procedure of common item linking ​(also known as common calibration linking) was used to calculate the trend line from 2018 to 2022. Read more about the social science assessment transition and mode evaluation.

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