​​​​​​NAEP Technical DocumentationStudent Sample Selection for the 2022 State Assessment

The sampling of students for the state assessments in mathematics and reading 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. 

Sampling Students within Sampled Schools

Within each sampled school, a sample of students was selected from a list of students in the targeted grade such that every student had an equal chance of selection. The student lists were submitted either electronically using a system known as E-filing​ or on paper. In E-filing, student lists are submitted as Excel files by either school coordinators, NAEP State Coordinators, or NAEP TUDA Coordinators. The files can be submitted for one school at a time (known as single school E-file submission) or for an entire jurisdiction at once (known as multiple school E-file submission). E-filing allows schools to easily submit student demographic data electronically with the student lists, easing the burden on field supervisors and school coordinators.

Schools that are unable to submit their student lists using the E-filing system provide hardcopy lists to field supervisors. In 2022, across all state assessment samples combined, over 99 percent of the participating schools E-filed their student lists while less than 1 percent of the participating schools submitted hardcopy lists.

In year-round multi-track schools, students in tracks scheduled to be on break on the assessment day were removed from the student lists prior to sampling. (Student base weights were adjusted to account for these students.)

The sampling process was the same, regardless of list submission type. The sampling process was systematic (e.g., if the sampling rate was one-half, a random starting point of one or two was chosen, and every other student on the list was selected). For E-filed schools only, where demographic data was submitted for every student on the frame, students were sorted by gender and race/ethnicity before the sample was selected to implicitly stratify the sample.

In some jurisdictions, every student in the targeted grade was needed to meet the overall student sample size. In these jurisdictions, all students in all schools at the targeted grade were sampled.

In the other jurisdictions except for Puerto Rico, in schools with up to 52 students in the targeted grade, all students were selected. In schools with more than 52 students, systematic samples of 50 students were selected. In some cases, a larger school may have been selected with certainty during the school sample selection process, and thus may have selected more students.

For Puerto Rico, in schools with up to 26 students in the targeted grade, all students were selected. In schools with more than 26 students, systematic samples of 25 students were selected.

Some students enrolled in the school after the sample was selected. In such cases, new enrollees were sampled at the same rate as the students on the original list.

Assigning Assessment Subject to Sampled Students

In all jurisdictions except Puerto Rico, sampled students including new enrollees in each participating sampled school were assigned to either the mathematics or the reading assessment at rates of 52 percent and 48 percent, respectively, for grade 4; or 50 percent for each subject for grade 8, using a process known as spiraling​. In this process, test forms were randomly assigned to sampled students from test form sets that had, on average, a ratio of 26 mathematics forms to 24 reading forms for grade 4, and a ratio of 25 mathematics forms to 25 reading forms for grade 8. Students receiving a mathematics form were in the mathematics assessment, and students receiving a reading form were in the reading assessment. For Puerto Rico, all students were assigned a mathematics form since it was only participating in the operational mathematics assessment.

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