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again, should it come to pass, would also be administered in two 45-minute segments and encompass problems on number sense, measurement, geometric and spatial sense, data analysis, statistics, probability, algebra and functions. Calculators would be used for about a third of the assessment.
The American Institutes for Research, working collaboratively with several test publishers, is still developing test items for the VNTs under a $45 million contract to the U.S. Department of Education. Since the use of federal funding to pilot or field test them has, however, been banned, it is unlikely that the voluntary national testing program as envisioned by Clinton will come to pass. It is possible that the items developed for the VNT will be made available to states and local districts to include in their own testing programs (Barton, 1999). And some states are looking for easier ways to get national test results, including the possibility of inserting, or embedding, a common set of test questions into existing state assessments. Achieve, a nonpartisan nonprofit group created by state governors and business leaders, is coordinating this effort.
NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS
While teachers are not likely to see national tests along the lines of the ones envisioned by the Clinton administration, it’s possible that the state version of the National Assessment of Educational Progress will some day perform a similar function–that is, provide comparable achievement data for students right down to the building level, if not the individual student level.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress, nicknamed “the nation’s report card,” is a congressionally mandated project of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the U.S. Department of Education. The NAEP assessment is administered annually by NCES to a nationally representative sample of public and private school students in grades 4, 8, and 12 to get a picture of what American children know and can do. Since its initial administration in 1969, the NAEP format has changed over time to reflect changes in testing and instructional practices. For example, NAEP was once entirely multiple choice but now includes open-ended responses. Students prepare writing samples, work with science kits, use calculators and other tools, and prepare art projects as part of the various subject-area assessments. In this respect, it is a very innovative assessment and one that has served as a model for some of the more sophisticated state testing programs.
To help states measure students’ academic performance over time and to allow for cross-state comparisons, a state component was added to NAEP in 1990. Now, states can choose to administer NAEP to representative state samples in grades 4 and 8 and receive results reported by subgroups such as student gender, race/ethnicity, and parents’ educational level. While participation in the state NAEP and the main NAEP are voluntary, in reality, compliance is quite high. In 2000, for example, 47 states and jurisdictions participated in the state component. This does not replace participation in the main NAEP. At present, individual scores are not gathered or reported, but the state NAEP has the potential to be used that way. Already, some districts choose to opt in to NAEP separate from the state component.
Rudner, L. and W. Schafer (2002) What Teachers Need to Know About Assessment. Washington, DC: National Education Association.
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