The National Assessment of Educational Progress
An Introduction for the Educational Community
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Tests that show how New Jersey students compare with students in other states. The NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) test is taken by students in all states and territories so we can compare our students to students across the country.
Don't we already have New Jersey tests?
New Jersey already tests students in 3rd and 4th grade (the test is called the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge, or NJ ASK), in 8th grade (called the Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment, or GEPA), and in 11th grade (called the High School Proficiency Assessment, or HSPA).
No Child Left Behind says that states, including New Jersey, have to test students every year from 3rd through 8th grade, and once in high school. Scores from the No Child Left Behind tests determine federal funding for schools, and if they don't do well, what the schools have to do to get better.
But we already have tests in New Jersey, why have another test?
Our statewide test is an assessment that only New Jersey students take. No comparisons should be made to other states, or to the nation as a whole.
New Jersey and other states have their own tests, so why can't we just compare those?
To compare how our students are doing compared to students in other states, each state being compared must have the same standards. If they don't, comparing states' tests would not be useful. States all have different tests, different standards, and different question types. This test, NAEP, uses the same questions for students in all states, so we can be sure that the scores are comparable.
Why should we do NAEP in New Jersey ?
It is true that New Jersey students are tested a lot, but the NAEP test scores are very useful. We know from our statewide assessments how our students are doing in New Jersey. This is helpful. But to help New Jersey gauge its achievement, NAEP shows us whether our scores are as good as those from other states.
New Jersey policy makers have a more complete look at how the state's students are doing when they combine the results of the state and NAEP tests.
Why don't the New Jersey assessments and NAEP line up exactly?
Looking at the New Jersey test results compared to NAEP results is confusing: the two tests are not the same. It looks at first glance as if our New Jersey test results are much better than New Jersey NAEP scores. Since the tests are not comparable, this is not true.
Why are the scores from NAEP different from the New Jersey tests, if they are testing the same content areas?
NAEP and New Jersey define levels of student performance differently, so we cannot compare these categories between the two tests. Also, there are differences in the knowledge and skills assessed on the two tests:
- READING: NAEP has separate reading and writing tests, and reports them as separate scores, though New Jersey does not have any NAEP writing scores to date. New Jersey tests both reading and writing, and combines the two as Language Arts Literacy.
- MATHEMATICS: Although both NAEP and the New Jersey tests gauge similar areas of knowledge –e.g. geometry, measurement, algebra –the specific skills within those areas are not the same for both tests.
HOW
ARE NEW JERSEY STUDENTS DOING ON THE NAEP TEST?
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How are our students doing compared to other states?
We are doing well! Although it is hard to compare New Jersey tests to the NAEP test, we can compare our students' performance on the NAEP to performance of students in other states. In all subjects, New Jersey's NAEP scores are much higher than average scores for the country as a whole.
Read the official report of New Jersey Scores on the New Jersey Department of Education web site, and on the NAEP web site.
Does our student achievement improve from year to year?
New Jersey parallels the national trend.
HOW
ARE OUR STUDENTS DOING COMPARED TO STUDENTS IN THE U.S.A.?
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Are students in the United States getting better over time?
Yes! Let's look at the improvement of New Jersey students and students across the country. Our students are paralleling the national trends. For example, let's look at 4th grade mathematics.
Graph 1. Comparing Changes in NAEP Results for 4th grade mathematics
between New Jersey and the USA by Year.
How are we doing compared with the USA in 2003?
Relative to the nation as a whole, we are doing better in every area –mathematics and reading in both 4th and 8th grades.
Graph 2. Comparing NAEP Results between New Jersey and the USA by Subject.
Are there differences in how well groups or subgroups of students are doing?
Yes, and the differences are significant. For instance, white students score significantly higher on the 4th grade reading NAEP test than black students. White students were not significantly different than Asian students on reading, but Asians had significantly higher scores on math. Both whites and Asians scored significantly higher than blacks and Hispanics.
Are our differences better or worse than those in the rest of the country?
New Jersey has among the largest differences between white student scores and black student scores. New Jersey had the fifth largest gap between those two groups in 4th grade reading and sixth largest in 8th grade mathematics in the most recent NAEP test. This means that the average score for white students was much higher than the black student average score, and that the difference between the two was greater than in most states.
ABOUT
THE TEST
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My daughter will be in 4th/8th grade next year. Will she be tested?
She might be selected, but she does not have to take the test. In New Jersey only about 300 schools will be chosen for the 2004 NAEP test. About 90 students in each of those schools will be selected to take the test. If a student is selected, his or her parent or guardian can excuse the student for any reason.
If she is tested, will I be able to find out how she did or how her school did?
No. The NAEP test is a 7-hour test. Each student only takes one piece of the test. All pieces are combined to form the whole test. There are no individual district, school, or student results.
Results are reported on the NJDOE Assessment web site for New Jersey and for the USA.
What is the test like?
NAEP tests take about 90 minutes, so the interruption of the school day is minimal. Currently, students in 4th and 8th grades take two sections, one mathematics and one reading. Questions include multiple choice like this one from 4th grade mathematics:
If both the square and the triangle above have the same perimeter, what
is the length of each side of the square?
A) 4
B) 5
C) 6
D) 7
They also include open-ended questions like this one from 8th grade reading:
Explain Soto's statement that the task of the poet "is always the same - to get the language right so that the subject of the poem will live." Give examples of Soto's language to support your answer.
To look at more sample questions from NAEP, go to the questions tool. Or you can look at an entire sample NAEP test.
