NAEP Technical DocumentationNAEP 2024 Sample Design
The sample design for NAEP 2024 included samples for various operational assessments.
Representative samples were drawn for the following operational assessments:
- national assessments in mathematics and reading in private schools at grades 4, 8, and 12;
- national assessments in mathematics and reading in public schools at grade 12;
- national assessments in science in public and private schools at grade 8; and
- state-by-state assessments and Trial Urban District Assessments (TUDA) in mathematics and reading in public schools at grades 4 and 8.
The samples for the operational assessments were organized into six distinct groupings and sampled separately as follows:
- mathematics and reading assessments in public schools at grades 4 and 8;
- mathematics and reading assessments in private schools at grades 4 and 8;
- science assessment in public schools at grade 8;
- science assessment in private schools at grade 8;
- mathematics and reading assessments in public schools at grade 12; and
- mathematics and reading assessments in private schools at grade 12.
All 2024 assessments were administered using tablets.
The national assessments were designed to achieve nationally representative samples of public and private school students in the fourth, eighth, or twelfth grades. The target populations included all students in public, private, Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), and Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools who were enrolled in grades 4, 8, or 12 at the time of assessment. DoDEA schools for grade 8 science and grade 12 mathematics and reading assessments were limited to those located in the United States (not overseas).
For the fourth- and eighth-grade mathematics and reading assessments in public schools, the TUDA samples formed part of the corresponding state public school samples, and the state samples formed the public school grades 4 and 8 part of the national sample. Nationally representative samples were drawn for science and for the remaining populations of private school students, DoDEA students, and BIE students separately by grade.
The state assessments were designed to achieve representative samples of students in the respective grade. At grades 4 and 8, the target populations included all students in each participating jurisdiction, which included states, Puerto Rico (mathematics only), District of Columbia, BIE, DoDEA, and school districts chosen for the TUDA. For each grade and assessment subject, samples were designed to produce aggregate estimates with adequate precision for all the participating jurisdictions, as well as estimates for various student subpopulations of interest.
The figure below illustrates the various sample types and subjects.
Components of the NAEP samples, by assessment subject, grade, and school type: 2024
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2024 Assessments.
Last updated 01 December 2025 (ML)