NAEP - Civics 2006: Participation Rates

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Participation Rates in Civics

To ensure unbiased samples, participation rates for the original sample need to be at least 85 percent for schools to meet reporting requirements established by NCES and the Governing Board. Because the participation rate for grade 12 public schools was below 85 percent, an analysis was performed examining the potential for nonresponse bias introduced through school nonresponse. The results showed that school substitution and nonresponse adjustments were effective in reducing the observable nonresponse bias.

A NAEP/Governing Board reporting rule requires a 70 percent initial school participation rate in order to report data separately for the public/private sectors. While participation rate standards were met for public schools at all three grades, they were not met for private schools at all three grades; therefore data for these schools are not reported. Participation rates for Catholic schools, which are included with the private category, did meet reporting standards at grades 4 and 8. Performance data for Catholic schools at grades 4 and 8 are available in the NAEP Data Explorer.

National school and student participation rates in NAEP civics, by grade and type of school: 2006
Grade	Type of school	Percent before substitution	Percent after substitution	Percent before substitution	Percent after substitution	Number of schools participating after substitution	Student- weighted percent	Number of students assessed
		School participation					Student participation
		Student-weighted		School-weighted		Number of schools participating after substitution	Student- weighted percent	Number of students assessed
4	Nation	92	95	86	93	420	95	7,000
	Public	95	96	96	97	330	94	6,300
	Private	61	77	55	80	80	97	600
8	Nation	93	95	86	91	510	92	9,200
	Public	95	96	96	97	410	92	8,400
	Private	62	80	71	81	100	94	800
12	Nation	79	84	78	81	590	72	9,100
	Public	83	87	89	91	520	72	8,200
	Private	41	54	48	56	70	86	1,000
NOTE: The national totals for schools include Department of Defense Education Activity (overseas and domestic schools) and Bureau of Indian Affairs schools, which are not included in either the public or private totals. The national totals for students include students in these schools. The numbers of schools are rounded to the nearest ten, and the numbers of students are rounded to the nearest hundred.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2006 Civics Assessment.

The student-weighted school participation rates are calculated based on the estimated number of students represented by either the initially selected schools that participated in the assessment (before substitution) or the participating schools, whether originally selected or selected as a substitute for a school that chose not to participate (after substitution). The school-weighted school participation rates are calculated based on the estimated number of schools either before or after substitutions.

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