NAEP 1994 Trial State Assessment Program in Reading |
This technical report summarizes some of the most complex statistical methodology used in any survey or testing program in the United States. In its 25-year history, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has pioneered such state-of-the-art techniques as matrix sampling and item response theory models. Today it is the leading survey using the advanced plausible values methodology, which uses a multiple imputation procedure in a psychometric context.
The 1994 Trial State Assessment Program, described in this technical report, assessed the reading skills and understanding of representative samples of fourth-grade students in participating jurisdictions. The participation of jurisdictions in the Trial State Assessment has been, and continues to be voluntary. The 1994 program broke new ground in two ways. The 1994 NAEP authorization called for the assessment of samples in both public and private students. Thus, for the first time in NAEP, jurisdiction-level samples of students from Catholic schools, other religious schools and private schools, Domestic Department of Defense Education Activity schools, and Bureau of Indian Affairs schools were added to the Trial State program. Second, samples of students from the Department of Defense Education Activity overseas schools participated as a jurisdiction, along with the states and territories that have traditionally had the opportunity to participate in Trial State Assessment Program.
The purpose of this report is to provide technical information about the 1994 Trial State Assessment in reading. It provides a description of the design for the Trial State Assessment and gives an overview of the steps involved in the implementation of the program from the planning stages through to the analysis and reporting of the data. The report describes in detail the development of the cognitive and background questions, the field procedures, the creation of the database and data products for analysis, and the methods and procedures used for sampling analysis, and reporting. It does not provide the results of the assessment-rather, it provides information on how those results were derived.
For questions about the content of this report, please contact NAEP staff.
