Nation's Report Card Home

About the Assessment: Exclusion Rates

NAEP has always endeavored to assess all students selected as a part of its sampling process, including students who are classified by their schools as students with disabilities (SD) and/or as English language learners (ELL). The decision to exclude any of these students is made by school personnel. School personnel are encouraged to use inclusion criteria provided by NAEP and may discuss their inclusion decisions with NAEP field staff. Some students participate with testing accommodations. Read more about the NAEP inclusion policy, including exclusion rates from current and previous assessments in all subject areas.

The tables below show the percentage of students identified as SD and/or ELL, and provide the rate of students excluded and accommodated in two ways: as a percentage of all students in the NAEP sample, or as a percentage of students identified as SD and/or ELL. Tables that provide percentages of SD students include those identified under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (Title 29 U.S.C. 794 Section 504), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of handicap in federally assisted programs and activities.

Grade 8 National and State
Grade 8 Trend
Percentage of eighth-grade students with disabilities (SD) and English language learners (ELL) identified, excluded, and accommodated in NAEP science, as a percentage of all students, by state/jurisdiction: 2011
    SD ELL
State/jurisdiction SD or ELL overall excluded Identified Excluded Accommodated Identified Excluded Accommodated
    Nation 2 12 1 9 6 # 2
      Nation (public) 2 13 2 9 6 # 2
Alabama 1 10 1 4 2 # #
Alaska 1 13 1 11 11 # 7
Arizona 1 11 1 8 2 # 2
Arkansas 1 11 1 9 5 # 3
California 2 10 2 6 17 1 4
Colorado 1 10 1 8 7 # 3
Connecticut 1 12 1 10 4 # 3
Delaware 2 14 2 11 2 # 1
Florida 1 14 1 12 5 # 4
Georgia 2 10 2 7 2 # 2
Hawaii 2 11 1 8 9 1 3
Idaho 1 8 1 5 4 # 2
Illinois 1 14 1 11 4 # 2
Indiana 1 14 1 11 3 # 2
Iowa 1 15 1 13 3 # 2
Kansas 1 12 1 8 7 # 2
Kentucky 3 12 2 8 1 # #
Louisiana 1 14 1 13 1 # 1
Maine 2 18 2 14 3 # 1
Maryland 2 11 2 9 3 # 2
Massachusetts 3 19 3 14 4 1 2
Michigan 3 12 2 8 3 # 1
Minnesota 2 13 2 7 5 # 2
Mississippi 1 7 1 6 1 # 1
Missouri 1 13 1 10 1 # #
Montana 2 12 2 9 2 # #
Nebraska 1 14 1 11 3 # 1
Nevada 1 10 1 7 10 # 6
New Hampshire 2 18 2 12 2 # 1
New Jersey 1 17 1 16 2 # 2
New Mexico 2 12 2 8 12 1 4
New York 1 16 1 14 6 # 5
North Carolina 2 14 1 10 5 # 2
North Dakota 3 14 3 9 2 # 2
Ohio 2 15 2 12 1 # 1
Oklahoma 3 16 3 9 3 # 1
Oregon 2 13 2 9 6 # 3
Pennsylvania 1 16 1 13 2 # 2
Rhode Island 1 16 # 13 3 # 2
South Carolina 1 11 1 8 5 # 2
South Dakota 1 11 1 7 2 # 1
Tennessee 1 12 1 9 2 # 1
Texas 2 11 2 7 9 1 1
Utah 2 10 2 8 5 # 3
Vermont 1 18 1 14 1 # #
Virginia 3 13 2 8 6 1 2
Washington 2 12 2 8 5 # 2
West Virginia 2 14 2 9 # # #
Wisconsin 2 14 2 10 5 # 4
Wyoming 1 13 1 11 2 # 1
Other jurisdictions        
    District of Columbia 1 17 1 14 6 # 4
    DoDEA1 1 10 1 8 5 1 2
# Rounds to zero.
1 Department of Defense Education Activity (overseas and domestic schools).
NOTE: Students identified as both SD and ELL were counted only once in overall, but were counted separately under the SD and ELL categories. SD includes students identified as having either an Individualized Education Program or protection under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The national results include both public and nonpublic school students.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2011 Science Assessment.