In an effort to reduce the confusion regarding the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) achievement levels and the misuse of NAEP data, the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) slightly modified the names of the performance levels. In the November 18, 2018 posting on the “Curriculum Matters” blog on Education Week’s, there is an update on the small changes made to the achievement levels for the NAEP.
From this point forward, the NAEP achievement levels will contain the NAEP acronym such as “NAEP basic” and “NAEP proficient”. With the current emphasis on the reporting of student performance in the form of achievement levels, NAGB made this change to reduce the direct comparison of the NAEP levels of proficiency with those used by the individual states.
After each state-level NAEP assessment report is completed, a mapping study is conducted that provides a guide for the examination of state proficiency standards in relation to the NAEP scales. The publication of the “Mapping State Proficiency Standards Onto NAEP Scales” reports are released much later than the Nations Report Card report and the State Snapshot reports since the data and analyses from these reports is required to conduct the mapping study.
For further information about NAEP, contact Regina Lewis, Maine DOE Coordinator of NAEP & International Assessments at Regina.Lewis@maine.gov.