NAEP State Assessment Sample Design Frequently Asked Questions
Why are some schools always selected? NAEP usually selects for the sample 100 public schools in each state for each subject at each grade—each school represents about 1% of that state’s public school students in the grade being assessed. If a school is chosen repeatedly, typically that is because their enrollment in the grade represents more than about 1% of the state’s enrollment in the grade. Other schools, with 0.5%-1% of the enrollment, are not always selected, but it probably seems like it (and if they are not selected, they are probably listed as a substitute school). Are any schools or students targeted for oversampling? For NAEP assessments based on state samples (mathematics, reading, science, and writing at grades 4 and 8), the samples within each state are designed (with one exception mentioned below) to be proportionately representative of all the different groups of students in the state. No students are targeted for oversampling based on their student characteristics. However, in a state that contains one or more districts that are participating in the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA), students from the districts involved are sampled at a greater rate than those in the remainder of the state. NAEP's weighting procedures ensure that the final results for the state are based on the correct proportional contribution from these TUDA districts despite this difference in sampling rates within the state. National samples for other subjects, for grade 12, and for private schools may require oversampling. How do school response rates affect NAEP reporting? The National Center for Education Statistics and the National Assessment Governing Board have established participation rate standards that states and jurisdictions are required to meet in order to have their results published. Beginning in 2003, if a state’s school response rate is below 85%, the results will not be published by NAEP, regardless of the response rate after substitution. What are "substitute" schools? If a school originally selected for participation in the assessment is unable to participate, a preselected substitute school will be used. To minimize bias, a substitute school resembles the original selection as much as possible in affiliation, type of location, estimated number of grade-eligible students, and demographic composition. Beginning with the 2005 assessment, substitute schools are provided only for national assessment components, and not for state or district level NAEP components. What is the MySchool website? Schools and districts that are participating in NAEP are encouraged to sign up for MySchool, a part of the MyNAEP website that is designed to notify selected schools about NAEP assessment activities. Once registered, users will have access to school-specific web pages that contain up-to-date details on the assessment activities and NAEP contacts. After the assessment, users will have the option of continuing to use the MySchool site for current information about NAEP activities. If you are the NAEP representative for a school that is participating this year, the NAEP Help Desk is available to answer all of your questions Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. (ET). You can reach the NAEP Help Desk by contacting naephelp@westat.com or 1-800-283-NAEP (6237).
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