Long-Term Trend NAEP
The Nation's Report Card, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. Since 1969, assessments have been conducted periodically in reading, mathematics, science, writing, history, geography, the arts, and other fields. By making information on student performance--and instructional factors related to that performance--available to policymakers at the national, state, and local levels, NAEP is an integral part of our nation's evaluation of the condition and progress of education. NAEP long-term trend assessments are designed to give information on the changes in the basic achievement of America's youth. They have measured students' performance in mathematics, science, reading and writing and have monitored trend lines first established 30 years ago. Results have been reported for students at ages 9, 13, and 17 in mathematics, reading, and science and grades 4, 8, and 11 in writing. In 2002, the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) determined that technical studies are required to enable necessary changes to the design and revisions to the item pool in order to maintain the trend line for the science long-term trend assessment. For that reason, science will not be assessed in the 2003-2004 school year. For more information, see the NAGB policy (Microsoft Word document). Measuring trends of student achievement, or change over time, requires the precise replication of past procedures. Therefore, the long-term trend instrument does not evolve based on changes in curricula or in educational practices; in this way, the long-term trend assessments differ from national NAEP and state NAEP. It is not possible to compare results from national or state NAEP with those of the long-term trend assessment. The assessments used by NAEP to evaluate long-term trends in student performance began in the early 1970s. The first assessments were given in three subject areas--science, mathematics, and reading. Students were assessed at ages 9, 13, and 17. In 1984 a fourth subject, writing, was added. The long-term trend assessment is now administered in reading and mathematics on a four-year schedule and in different years from the main and state assessments in mathematics, science, reading, and writing. Long-term trend assessments will take place in 2003-2004 and in 2007-2008.
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