​​​​NAEP Technical DocumentationSample Design for the 2022 State Assessment

      

Target Population

Sampling Frame

Stratification of Schools

School Sample Selection

Ineligible Schools

Student Sample Selection 

School and Student Participation

The NAEP 2022 state assessment sampled jurisdictions comprising the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools, Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools, and school districts participating in the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA). Each sample, with the exception of BIE schools, was designed to produce aggregate estimates with approximately equal precision for all the participating jurisdictions, as well as estimates for various student populations of interest. In 2022, by design BIE was not a reportable jurisdiction. However, to ensure that there were sufficient numbers of American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AN) students at the national level, a small number of BIE schools were included in the sample.

The target population for the NAEP 2022 state assessments covered fourth- and eighth-grade students in public schools who were enrolled in grades 4 and 8 at the time of assessment. Operational mathematics and reading assessments were conducted in all jurisdictions, including the TUDA districts, with the exception of Puerto Rico, where only the operational mathematics assessment was conducted.

The state samples were selected to have maximum overlap with the school samples for the NAEP 2021 Monthly School Survey and the NAEP 2021 School and Teacher Questionnaire Study. This overlap control was achieved for these samples by using an adaptation of the Keyfitz process.

The overall target student sample size for the operational samples in each non-TUDA jurisdiction, with the exception of Puerto Rico, was 4,100 at grade 4 and 4,200 at grade 8. The goal at each grade was to obtain 3,500 assessed students after attrition: 1,750 for mathematics and 1,750 for reading. For the operational mathematics assessment in Puerto Rico, the target student sample size was 3,600 for both grades, with the goal of assessing 3,000 students after attrition.

The primary sampling frame for each grade included public schools having the relevant grade in each jurisdiction. The samples were selected based on a two-stage sample design:

  • selection of schools within participating jurisdictions; and
  • selection of students within schools.

The first-stage samples of schools were selected with probability proportional to a measure of size based on the estimated grade-specific enrollment in the schools.

The sampling of students at the second stage involved two steps: (1) sampling of students in the targeted grade (fourth or eighth) from each sampled school, and (2) assignment of assessment subject (mathematics or reading) to the sampled students.

For the TUDA samples, schools were sampled from the 26 participating TUDA districts at the same time schools were selected for the non-TUDA jurisdiction samples. The participating TUDA districts are listed below:

  • Albuquerque Public Schools, New Mexico;
  • Atlanta Public Schools, Georgia;
  • Austin Independent School District, Texas;
  • Baltimore City Public Schools, Maryland;
  • Boston Public Schools, Massachusetts;
  • Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, North Carolina;
  • Chicago Public Schools, Illinois;
  • Clark County School District, Nevada;
  • Cleveland Metropolitan School District, Ohio;
  • Dallas Independent School District, Texas;
  • Denver Public Schools, Colorado;
  • Detroit Public Schools, Michigan;
  • District of Columbia Public Schools, District of Columbia;
  • Duval County Public Schools, Florida;
  • Fort Worth Independent School District, Texas;
  • Guilford County Schools, North Carolina;
  • Hillsborough County Public Schools, Florida;
  • Houston Independent School District, Texas;
  • Jefferson County Public Schools, Kentucky;
  • Los Angeles Unified School District, California;
  • Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Florida;
  • Milwaukee Public Schools, Wisconsin;
  • New York City Department of Education, New York;
  • San Diego Unified School District, California;
  • School District of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and
  • Shelby County Schools, Tennessee.

These subsamples affected the design of the state samples in those states where TUDA districts were oversampled. In each of these states, there were distinct sampling rates for each TUDA district and for the balance of the state (i.e., the rest of the state not in a TUDA district). For the six large TUDA districts (i.e., New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami-Dade, Clark County, and Houston) the target assessed student sample size for the operational samples was three-quarters the size of the non-TUDA jurisdictions: 2,625 per grade (i.e., 1,313 per subject for each grade). For the remaining TUDA districts, the target assessed student sample size for the operational samples was half the size of the state sample: 1,750 per grade (i.e., 875 per subject for each grade).

Each selected school provided a list of eligible enrolled students from which a systematic sample of students was drawn. In fourth- and eighth-grade schools, 50 students, if possible, were selected from each school: roughly 25 for mathematics and 25 for reading. In some very large schools, multiples of 50 students (i.e., 100, 150, etc.) were selected. Details can be found on the student sample selection page. 

Last updated 18 July 2024 (SK)