NAEP Technical DocumentationFinal Primary Sampling Unit (PSU) Samples for the 2016 Assessment

There were two sets of primary sampling unit (PSU) samples for the 2016 assessment, one for the arts assessments—music and visual arts—and one for the digitally based assessment (DBA). Each set had 67 sample PSUs of which 29 were certainty and 38 were noncertainty. Each set had the exact same 29 certainty PSUs. The noncertainty PSUs, however, were distinct from each other and did not overlap.

To select the noncertainty PSUs for the arts assessments, the 76 noncertainty strata defined in Final Primary Sampling Unit Strata were paired and one noncertainty stratum was randomly selected from each of the 38 pairs.Then one PSU was selected from each of the 38 selected strata with probability proportionate to size, where the size measure was the number of persons 17 years of age and younger from the 2013 Census Bureau population estimates.

The noncertainty PSUs for the DBA were selected using a similar procedure, but the noncertainty PSUs were drawn from the 38 noncertainty strata that were not selected for the arts assessments.

 In addition, to reduce the burden of any particular school when selecting the 2016 sample PSUs, efforts were made to minimize overlap with the 2013, 2014, and 2015 PSU samples.

The table below shows the distribution of the 2016 sample PSUs for each assessment by metropolitan status (metropolitan/non-metropolitan), census region, and PSU type (certainty/noncertainty) by metropolitan status.

 

Distribution of sampled primary sampling units (PSU) for the arts and DBA national assessments at grade 8, by PSU type: 2016

PSU type	Number of sampled PSUs
	Music, visual arts	DBA
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2016 Assessment.
Total	67	67
Metropolitan status
Metropolitan	57	57
Non-metropolitan	10	10
Census Region
Northeast	8	8
Midwest	14	14
South	25	25
West	20	20
Certainty/metropolitan status
Certainty	29	29
Non-certainty metropolitan	28	28
Non-certainty non-metropolitan	10	10

 

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