STATE PARTICIPATES FOR FIRST TIME IN THE NATIONS REPORT CARD


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Department of Education Media Alert

STATE PARTICIPATES FOR FIRST TIME IN THE NATION’S REPORT CARD

WHAT: Dakota students participated in the state National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for the first time in 2003.

Immediately following the federal government press conference during which the national 2003 NAEP scores and state rankings will be released, the South Dakota Department of Education will release South Dakota’s 2003 NAEP reading and mathematics scores.

WHEN:  November 13, 2003

HOW:             

  • National NAEP Scores press conference, 9 a.m. CST.
  • The Nation's Report Card: Reading and Mathematics 2003 satellite linkup, 12:00-12:15 PM CST & 3:00-3:15 PM CST. Coordinates: Telstar 5, transponder 16. Downlink frequency: 4020. Horizontal polarity, audio 6.2/6.8, C-Band. Contact: Robin Lane, 877-544-8400. Features:
    • Video footage of kids, classrooms and the report
    • Soundbites about the national results
    • Press conference footage
  • State NAEP score press release, 10 a.m. CST
  • NAEP Webchat, 1 p.m. CST, http://nces.ed.gov/statchat/

CONTACT:   Nicole Kranzler, Public Information Officer, SD Dept. of Education, phone: 605-773-3426, fax: 605-773-6139, nicole.kranzler@state.sd.us

THE NATION'S REPORT CARD

What is NAEP?
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as "the Nation's Report Card," is the only nationally representative, continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. Since 1969, periodic assessments have been conducted in reading, mathematics, science, writing, U.S. history, civics, geography, and the arts.

Who is assessed?
A significant change to state NAEP occurred in 2001 with the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also referred to as the No Child Left Behind Act. This legislation requires states who receive Title I funding to participate in the state NAEP in reading and mathematics at grades 4 and 8 every two years. 

South Dakota students participated in state NAEP for the first time in 2003. The NAEP assessment was administered to a stratified random sample of fourth and eighth grade students. In South Dakota, 12,207 students were tested during January, February and March 2003. NAEP representatives administered the tests at the students’ local schools.

How is the test designed?
NAEP is administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education. Policies for NAEP are set by the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), whose members are appointed by the Secretary of Education. The assessments follow the subject area frameworks developed by the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) and use the latest advances in assessment methodology. Test questions are both multiple choice and constructed response. The test takes approximately 90 minutes of the student’s time. NAEP is a voluntary assessment and parents can choose not to have their children participate and students can refuse to answer assessment questions.

Reporting results
Student achievement is reported in two ways, scaled scores and achievement levels, so that student performance can be more easily understood. NAGB, as directed by NAEP legislation, has been developing achievement levels for NAEP since 1990. A broadly representative panel of teachers, education specialists and members of the general public help define and review the levels. NAEP achievement levels define performance—not students—and are reported in terms of three levels, Basic, Proficient and Advanced.

  • Basic – Denotes partial mastery of prerequisite knowledge and skills fundamental to proficient work at each grade level.
  • Proficient – Represents solid academic performance. Students reaching this level have demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter, including subject matter knowledge, the application of such knowledge to real-world situations and analytical skills appropriate to the subject matter. It does not refer to “at grade level” performance.
  • Advanced – Signifies superior performance. Even the brightest students may not meet the NAEP requirements for Advanced performance.

While the NAEP achievement level names are the same as our Dakota State Test of Educational Progress (Dakota STEP), the level descriptions are significantly different and cannot be compared.

What about scores?
NAEP does not provide individual scores for the students or schools assessed. Instead, NAEP provides results about subject-matter achievement, instructional experiences and school environment, and reports these results for populations of students (e.g., fourth-graders) and subgroups of those populations (e.g., male students or Hispanic students). South Dakota can compare its NAEP results to those of the nation or any other state or jurisdiction that participated in the assessment. We cannot compare NAEP scores to Dakota STEP scores because they are two completely different assessments; NAEP measures the content area frameworks developed by NAGB, whereas Dakota STEP specifically measures South Dakota’s state content standards.

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