Learning More about NAEP…

Want to know more about NAEP, what it looks like for students, and gain access to pst assessment results?  The links below provide brief descriptions, simulations and video-overviews.  These links and others can be accessed from www.nationsreportcard.gov.

• Why are NAEP assessments going digital? Watch this two-minute video.
• How do students know how to use the digital platform?  Visit the tutorial webpage, then, scroll down and select a content area to experience a tutorial that students receive before taking their assessment.
• Technology and Engineering Literacy is one of the ten content areas NAEP assesses. See what a sample scenario based task is like by clicking on one of the three links below.

Sample Task
Develop an Online Exhibit about Chicago’s Water Pollution Problem in the 1800s

Sample Task
Design a Safe Bike Lane
Create an Ideal Iguana Habitat

Sample Task
Create Content for a Website Promoting a Teen Recreation Center

• Click here to use the Data Tools State Profiles to see a summary of Nebraska’s results in Reading and Math for NAEP 2017. 

• NAEP assessments cover ten different content areas, but students are tested in only one content area. Click here to select a subject and test yourself using NAEP questions. 

• Item maps describe what students are able to do at the basic, proficient, and advanced levels. Click here to access Item Maps. Scroll down to select a content area and grade level.

• Nebraska schools also participate in International Studies. Click here to learn about these studies.

What is NAEP?

While states have their own unique assessments with different content standards, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), provides a “common yardstick” to measure what students across the nation know and can do. NAEP assessments cover ten subject areas, including mathematics, reading, writing, and science. The results of these tests are reported in the Nation’s Report Card.

NAEP provides useful information about student academic achievement at the national and state level. Reporting for a NAEP “National Year” gives a broad view of what students in the nation know and are able to do. National Year assessments are given in years that end with an even number and cover a variety of content areas. Odd numbered years are “State Years.” State Year NAEP assessments primarily cover the content areas of reading and math. State level results allow us to learn more about student achievement in Nebraska, while also allowing for comparisons between our state and the nation.

Why Is NAEP Important?

Established by Congress in 1969, NAEP was created to provide a common assessment for accurately evaluating the performance of American students. More recently, the Federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) required the NAEP assessment to be given in reading and mathematics at grades 4 and 8. Information about NAEP results is included every other year in each state’s annual report card.  Federal law requires that states and districts receiving Title I funding participate in the State NAEP reading and mathematics assessments in grades 4 and 8 every two years.

Who takes NAEP?

Every year a sample of students is drawn to represent the entire student population in grades 4 and 8.  NAEP assessments are administered to this sample of students, rather than the entire population. This sampling greatly reduces the cost of testing and significantly reduces the burden placed on school staff, while still providing highly reliable results.

Since 1992, anywhere from 24 to 350 schools in Nebraska have participated in NAEP. State Years require a much larger sample of Nebraska students than do National Years. Test scores are always kept confidential.  Performance on NAEP is never reported for individual students, schools, or districts.

What NAEP assessments were given in Nebraska in 2017?

In 2017, NAEP reported at the state level. The assessments  transitioned to digitally based in reading and math at grades 4 and 8. A smaller number of students took a paper/pencil version of the assessment so that the impact of change in test-taking modes could be examined. Review Nebraska’s results for reading and math.

Terry Ough
Nebraska NAEP Coordinator
402-471-2495

The State Snapshot using information from the Nation’s Report Card provides a profile of Nebraska’s assessment results for selected years (2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017).  It allows the user to get the facts about how Nebraska students performed on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests.

2017 NAEP Results – Nebraska Snapshots:

2015 NAEP Results-Nebraska Snapshots:

2013 NAEP Results-Nebraska Snapshots:

2011 NAEP Results – Nebraska Snapshots:

2009 NAEP Results -Nebraska Snapshots:

All documents are in PDF format.