NAEP Validity Studies: An Agenda for NAEP Validity Research

摘要

At the beginning of the 21st century, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) continues to stand as a unique, and uniquely valuable, resource for American education. It is the only periodic measure of student achievement based on national probability samples, and it is the only method by which states can validly compare the academic progress of their students against common high standards. With the passage of Public Law 107-110 (No Child Left Behind), NAEP is expected to play a greater role in helping states judge the adequacy of their yearly progress, both overall and for important subgroups of students. For over 30 years, while functioning as the Nations Report Card, NAEP has also maintained a level of methodological rigor that has served as a standard for other testing programs. This rigor is not without costs, however. Each year, NAEP faces new psychometric issues as it attempts to provide useful information to various audiences while responding to the changing educational and social contexts of testing. In this circumstance, continuous vigilance is necessary to ensure that NAEP results remain valid. Since 1996, the NAEP Validity Studies (NVS) Panel has joined with the National Center for Education Statistic (NCES), the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), and the NAEP contractors to consider issues of NAEP validity. Over its tenure, the panel has published a number of studies on aspects of NAEP development and implementation, and it has helped ensure that the NAEP program will respond successfully to new demands and will not unintentionally compromise the integrity and rigor of its reports. Now the panel addresses NAEPs need for a comprehensive agenda for validity research.