The NAEP Background Questionnaires

In addition to assessing students' science knowledge and skills, NAEP collected information from students, school officials, and teachers to help put student science achievement in context.

• Student Questionnaires. Students answered a range of questions about their backgrounds and in-school and out-of-school science learning.
• Teacher Questionnaires. To supplement the information on instruction reported by students, the teachers of the students participating in the NAEP science assessments were asked to complete a questionnaire about their general and subject-specific background and experience, as well as their classroom practices.
• School Questionnaires. Principals of students sampled for the assessment were asked to complete a questionnaire about the school's characteristics and students' access to science instruction. Among other topics, the school questionnaire covered the kind and number of science courses offered, the facilities and available resources for science learning, and the existence of special programs in the sciences.
• SD/ELL Questionnaires. These questionnaires provide information about students within the sample who have disabilities or English language learners.

These questionnaires are developed using a framework and process similar to that used for developing the cognitive questions. This process includes reviews by external advisory groups and field testing. When developing the questionnaires, NAEP ensures that the questions do not infringe on respondents' privacy, that they are grounded in educational research, and that the answers can provide information relevant to the subject being assessed.

Students complete the background questionnaires voluntarily, and their responses are kept confidential. Student names are never associated with their responses or the other information collected by NAEP. After students complete the assessment, their names are physically removed from their test booklets.

Student questionnaires appear in separately timed blocks of questions in the assessment booklets. Teacher, school, and SD/ELL (students with disabilities or English language learners) questionnaires are printed separately.

View the science background questionnaires.

To learn how science teachers' and schools' responses to questionnaires were used to shed light on student performance in the science assessment, take a look at Students Learning Science: A Report on Policies and Practices in US Schools.

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Last updated 25 January 2006 (TH)