Created in 1969, the National Assessment of Education Progress has become the largest national representative assessment in the USA. It asses what the United States' students know about the various subjects like mathematics, languages, sciences subjects and social studies. The Congress mandated project is conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the IES. The Department of Education hosts the study. Since its first study, or rather project in 1969, the NAEP has been a key determinant of the education systems in the country. The National Assessment Governing Board is the body responsible for setting up the policies for NAEP (Murangi, Perkins & Tang, 2019. The Secretary of Education from various sectors of education and the public selects the members of the body. The NAEP results provide group level data rather than individual-level results. The NAEP gives the reports for the different demographic groups, including the racial groups, the different age groups, regions, gender, and social, economic status. Mostly, the assessment is in Mathematics, science, reading, and writing. However, the study goes further to other subjects like civics, arts, economics, and geography.
NAEP is very important as a predictor of the education programs in the country. For example, there have been several debates about changing the history syllabus in the country. the NAEP studies help in the determination of such policies. The statistics represent what a certain group of people knows about certain issues or certain part of the education system. For example, when evaluating the effectiveness of the history syllabus, the NAEP can evaluate what the various groups of students know about the essential parts of the American history (Carr, Plaza & Carr, 2018). It evaluates what people know about independence, various important wars, revolutions, and the people who led the country in great struggles. By evaluating such data, it is easier to monitor which part of the syllabus should be changed and what the teachers should focus on while teaching various subjects. The NAEP conducts other studies besides the student's achievements. It surveys the students, teachers the administration in most schools, and creates a contextualized information about them. The contextualized information is crucial in understanding the educational needs and the necessary changes required in the various parts of the education process. For example, if there is an issue with the teaching methods, the NAEP points it out and helps the regulatory bodies like the US Department of Education to make changes.
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It also helps in understanding the level of understanding, which the students have nationally. Like any other test, this project tests the learning levels of the students in the country. It is a good way of understanding the national level of education. The effectiveness of the education system reflects the student's ability to retain the things they learn and apply the same in practical situations. The NAEP project works effectively to determine if the education systems and methods are effective in delivering practical and relatable knowledge to the students. The stakeholders, including the teachers, the parents, Congress, researchers, and other policymakers use the information provided by NAEP to create better ways of improving education in the country. NAEP's data has proven to be reliable data, which can be trusted while creating policies to direct the education system in the country.
The data provided by NAEP is essential in comparing the different groups in the country and their academic performance. It compares the data in terms of the racial groups, the social classes, and gender. As such, it becomes easy to understand which groups are having struggles with education and how far they are struggling. For example, if there were an improvement in the number of African-American students and their achievements, then it would mean that most of the African-American parents and students are appreciating formal education. A reduction in their academic performance reflects an increase in some problems related to education. The same case applies to every other group. The NAEP data is effective in determining the specific problems facing certain groups. The non-performance of a certain group of students in a particular subject means that they are having difficulties in understanding the same subject.
After the identification of problems and gaps within the education system, the next step is to develop strategies, which solve such problems and improve the education system. This is the reason why Congress set up the NAEP to give detailed data and assist in creating a better education system. The different groups of students face difficulties in different subjects. It is easy to solve such difficulties after gathering data about the various group's performance in various subjects. After understanding the academic performance of various groups, the government and other policy makers can create good policies, which help in creating a perfect policy for specific groups. The existing policies may not cover the needs of every group. However, with the help of NAEP data, it is policies to create policies for every group and assist the equitable provision of education in the country.
NAEP has different levels of tests, which then contribute to its collective data. The main NAEP assessment happens for a range of subjects in 4th grade, 8th grade, and 12th grade. The tests mostly test mathematical skills, reading and writing skills, and science. The assessment of other subjects like engineering literacy, IT, economics, civics and geography happens periodically. The tests have to check the subject area framework which the NAGB has developed. These results are then presented on a national level, states, and district levels. The national NAEP will report on the statistics regarding student performance and other factors that affect educational performance. The presentation of specific demographic groups and the factors
There are results for individual states at the 4th and 8th grade. This allows the state to monitor its academic progression in different subjects. It also offers the states a more comprehensive report and allows comparison with the national data. In 2009, several states came together to form the pilot program, which gives the 11 states a chance to receive their scores for 12th grade. The 11 states are Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, South Dakota, and West Virginia.
The achievement gaps have been issues of concern in many cases. They happen when one group of students outperforms the other, and the margin is significantly big. The average of such groups should be larger than the average of the other group. For example, if there is a large achievement gap between the whites and the blacks, then they have a significant difference in the average performances. Such achievement gaps are essential in identifying patterns in performance. The NAEP gives the High School Transcripts Study (HSTS) as an exploration of the relationship between the grade 12 achievements and the academic careers of high school (Reilly, Neumann & Andrews, 2018). It assesses the curricular, which the national high schools in the country follow and the courses that the students take thereafter. As such, it identifies the importance of certain topics or subjects in developing students for their future careers. The recent studies have been emphasizing on STEM education and its correlation to the student's performance at the NAEP. The NCLB Stanine Score standardized the results and
The December 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is the law governing the standardization of testing in the country. The law was formally known as the No Child Left Behind Act and shifted the responsibilities or federal accountability in education to the states. The law, however, allows the students to continue taking their annual tests up to eighth grade. The Act retains the annual standardized testing requirement, the No Child Left Behind Act held before. These standard tests are national tests, which standardize education for all the students in the country.
The Act leaves the larger responsibility to the states and districts in determining the education system in their respective regions. However, it requires the states to submit the goals and standards to the US Department of Education and give their plans to achieve such goals. Therefore, the DOE can hold the states accountable for the plans and ensure that the states meet their complete and realistic goals. The law requires that the students be tested from 3rd grade to eighth grade and the junior year of high school. This is to ensure that the students are progressive in their education. The states can then determine the consequences for the low performing schools within the state. The ESSA is a vital law in preparing the students for their successful college and career life. A new education system was essential in allowing creativity in the learning and educating process. The standardized tests were costing the students too much time. As such, the ESSA provide the states with a new flexible way of conducting the tests. They can also correct imbalances within the education and learning system easily. The act gives the student broad discretion to design, asses, and implement education policies, which benefit the students within the state. They have the flexibility to change the various practices that make the classroom environment tiresome and stressful for the students and the teachers.
There are some issues, however, which face the NAEP. While the measure of performance employing certain groups may give a good comparison method, it may not reflect the exact situation among the groups. Sometimes there is a substantial standard deviation in the group data. This means that the mean or the average of the group may not be the true reflection of the group's data. Sometimes the median and the mean may be very different (Tate, Warschauer & Abedi, 2016). The law prohibits any officer or employee of the federal government to control the states academic standards by using cooperative agreements or contracts. As such, it removes the intervention of federal officers from intervening in the state's education program (McGuinn, 2016). The states can then meet all the federal assessment standards within a single test. the test is comprehensive and covers most of the important part of the national curriculum. Some states like Maryland, however, carry four or more tests, which are standardized to meet the ESSA requirements.
As a teacher, the NAEP would be a very helpful gauge of my performance as a teacher and the performance of the students. It would help me to know how the students are performing in the country and range the average performance of my students with national performance. Again, it would help me to identify the performances of different groups in the country and the various factors affecting their performance (Darrow, 2016). For example, if the male students have a lower performance within the country, I would add more effort in helping my male students improve. I would also put into consideration the various factors affecting the students so that I can help them actualize their dreams.
In conclusion, the NAEP presents good information for the country to develop its education programs. It helps to understand the performance of the various groups of students and the factors affecting them. Again, it helps the policy makers and researchers to develop various solutions to educational problems and needs that face the students in the country. The decentralization of the accountability from the federal government to the states has also made it easy for the states to make policies, which benefit the students and educators within the particular state. In this regard, the NAEP is still very important in the country, and the ESSA is still very important.
References
Carr, P. C., Plaza, P. C., & Carr, D. D. (2018). available to state chiefs as soon as possible. Under your leadership, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has both maintained the nation’s high level of trust in NAEP and conducted unprecedented levels of engagement with state education leaders. Your willingness to explain openly the mechanics and results within the Nation’s Report Card has been a welcome approach.
Darrow, A. A. (2016). The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) What It Means for Students With Disabilities and Music Educators. General Music Today , 30 (1), 41-44.
McGuinn, P. (2016). From no child left behind to the every student succeeds act: Federalism and the education legacy of the Obama administration. Publius: The Journal of Federalism , 46 (3), 392-415.
Murangi, K., Perkins, R. C., & Tang, J. H. (2019). Findings and Recommendations from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2017 Pilot Study of the Middle School Transcript Study (MSTS). Methodological Report. NCES 2019-031. National Center for Education Statistics .
Reilly, D., Neumann, D. L., & Andrews, G. (2018). Gender differences in reading and writing achievement: Evidence from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). American Psychologist .
Tate, T. P., Warschauer, M., & Abedi, J. (2016). Data on NAEP 2011 writing assessment prior computer use. Data in brief , 8 , 978-989.
