Tools for Analyzing NAEP Data
Since the early 1990s, NAEP reports and data have been placed on the NAEP website to provide easy public access to data. Data tables are also available on CD-ROM. Restricted-use micro-level data can be obtained on CD-ROM for approved purposes of secondary analysis, provided the user (and organization) has been granted a license. The following information describes the tools available for exploring and analyzing NAEP data. NAEP Data on the WebThe NAEP Data Explorer (NDE) is a web-based system for the delivery of custom tables of results from all major national and state assessments conducted for NAEP: main NAEP national and state assessments since 1990, the long-term trend assessments in mathematics and in reading since the 1970s, and the 2005 high school transcript study. The NDE is easy to use to produce customized reports. For main NAEP, there are two interfaces—Quick Start and Advanced. Both interfaces provide sophisticated graphing and significance testing capabilities, as well as produce tables that can be exported into a spreadsheet. There is a version for users who rely on screen readers. Some of the other features are listed below. In the Quick Start interface, you can
In the Advanced interface, you can
Users can also perform appropriate statistical tests to examine statistically significant differences across years or within-year differences between student groups such as gender or race/ethnicity. The NAEP Questions Tool is a web-based system that provides easy access to NAEP questions, student responses, and scoring guides that are released to the public. Both national and state data, when available, are presented. Teachers, parents, students, and others use the NAEP Questions Tool to view examples of what NAEP asks students in order to measure their knowledge of specific content areas. Users of the tool can also see how participating states and the nation performed on a specific question. Data tables are available in the NAEP Questions Tool for researchers interested in response patterns by subgroup. NAEP Data ToolkitA restricted-use version of NAEP data was released with the 1990 assessment for the purpose of secondary analysis in order to comply with U.S.C. 552a and U.S.C. 1221e-1. The first user-friendly tool developed for analyzing NAEP restricted-use data was the NAEP Data Toolkit, which was made available on CD-ROM. Since 1990, this product has evolved, and continues to be made available on CD-ROM for use with restricted data. The NAEP Data Toolkit contains data analysis tools. One of these tools is NAEPEX, a data extraction program for choosing variables, extracting data, and generating SPSS control statements. The other tools are cross-tabulation and regression analysis modules that operate in stand-alone mode and require SPSS system files as input. These modules perform optimally for small and medium size data sets (up to 30,000 cases), but are not recommended for use on the large NAEP data files that have been available since 2002. The NAEP Data Toolkit procedures (606KB PDF) are described on the CD-ROM. This disc may be requested directly from NAEP when you are planning your project. Note that the actual restricted-use data must be requested separately from NCES, after obtaining a license. AM Statistical SoftwareAM is a statistical software package for analyzing data from complex samples, especially large-scale assessments such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Studies (TIMSS). AM was developed by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) with funding in part from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). AM is free and may be downloaded from the AM website. Training in using AM software with NAEP data is offered at the NAEP Database Training Seminar. For more information, Contact Us.
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