Performance & Preparedness Overview

Explore how NAEP grade 12 assessments in mathematics and reading can be used to understand whether twelfth-grade students in the nation are prepared for postsecondary life.

Preparedness Introduction

Since 2002, the National Assessment Government Board has been researching how the NAEP grade 12 assessments in mathematics and reading can be used to understand whether twelfth-grade students in the nation are prepared for postsecondary life. The timeline below provides details on this research and links to multiple studies that have been carried out in this area. Forthcoming secondary analysis articles will further examine what the NAEP data can tell us about postsecondary activities twelfth-graders are engaged in, and how socio-economic and other key factors are related to achievement outcomes.

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NAGB Preparedness Timeline

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a congressionally mandated program that is overseen and administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences. Congress established the National Assessment Governing Board in 1988 and charged the Governing Board to take "appropriate actions needed to improve the form and use of the National Assessment" and to identify "appropriate achievement goals for each age and grade in each subject area to be tested under the National Assessment" (PL. 100-297).

Between 1988 and 2002, participation in NAEP by schools and students remained relatively steady within each grade level. But in 2002, the participation rate for 12th-grade students dropped to 55 percent from its usual level of around 65 percent, prompting the Governing Board's executive director at the time, Roy Truby, to call for action. The National Commission on NAEP 12th-Grade Assessment and Reporting was appointed in response to this concern. The National Commission called for a "new vision for NAEP" and suggestions for achieving that included recommendations to increase interest in and the value of results for the 12th-grade NAEP assessments. This call ultimately led to an extensive and comprehensive research agenda aimed at reporting the preparedness of 12th-graders for postsecondary education and workplace training based on their NAEP performance.

This timeline traces the steps leading to the development and implementation of the research agenda and reporting of findings regarding preparedness of 12th-graders for postsecondary education and job training from 2002 until 2020. Key dates and activities are listed with the opportunity to review key findings and additional information for each step in the process. In addition to viewing the efforts chronologically, readers may also choose to focus specifically on the following categories of work, as delineated with the following icons:

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  • Commissions and Technical Panels
  • Efforts to Evaluate Feasibility of Reporting Preparedness
  • Governing Board Actions and Decisions
  • Efforts to Produce Reference Points for Reporting Preparedness
  • National Commission on NAEP 12th-Grade Assessment and Reporting established

    Commissions and Technical Panels

  • Paper commissioned to evaluate the feasibility and usefulness of NAEP data on the preparedness of 12th-graders

    Efforts to Evaluate Feasibility of Reporting Preparedness

  • National Commission report delivered, calling for a "bold, new vision" for 12th-grade NAEP

    Commissions and Technical Panels

  • Papers commissioned on issues related to validity and standards for college, workforce, and military preparedness

    Efforts to Evaluate Feasibility of Reporting Preparedness

  • Achieve, Inc. Report: Evaluating the NAEP Reading Framework as a measure of preparedness

    Efforts to Evaluate Feasibility of Reporting Preparedness

  • Plans approved to assess and report on 12th-grade preparedness

    Governing Board Actions and Decisions

  • Ad Hoc Committee to Plan for 12th-Grade NAEP in 2009 appointed

    Governing Board Actions and Decisions

  • Panels conducted with higher education representatives and domestic/international employers

    Efforts to Evaluate Feasibility of Reporting Preparedness

  • Achieve, Inc. Report: Evaluating the NAEP Mathematics Framework as a measure of preparedness

    Efforts to Evaluate Feasibility of Reporting Preparedness

  • Ad Hoc Committee’s recommendations approved for reporting 12th-grade preparedness

    Governing Board Actions and Decisions

  • Technical Panel on 12th-Grade Preparedness Research appointed

    Commissions and Technical Panels

  • Preliminary research conducted on comparability of 12th-grade NAEP and SAT assessments

    Efforts to Evaluate Feasibility of Reporting Preparedness

  • Content alignment study plans reviewed by expert panel

    Commissions and Technical Panels

  • Technical Panel report delivered, providing a definition of preparedness and outlining the NAEP preparedness research agenda

    Efforts to Evaluate Feasibility of Reporting Preparedness

  • Statistical linking design finalized

    Efforts to Produce Reference Points for Reporting Preparedness

  • Design documents finalized for content alignment studies

    Efforts to Evaluate Feasibility of Reporting Preparedness

  • NAEP assessments conducted, including representative samples for 11 states to receive pilot 12th-grade results

    Governing Board Actions and Decisions

  • Preparedness research program approved for implementation

    Governing Board Actions and Decisions

  • Content alignment studies conducted for NAEP and the ACT

    Efforts to Evaluate Feasibility of Reporting Preparedness

  • Pilot content alignment study conducted for NAEP and ACCUPLACER

    Efforts to Evaluate Feasibility of Reporting Preparedness

  • Content alignment studies conducted for NAEP and WorkKeys

    Efforts to Evaluate Feasibility of Reporting Preparedness

  • Content alignment studies conducted for NAEP and the SAT

    Efforts to Evaluate Feasibility of Reporting Preparedness

  • Content alignment studies conducted for NAEP and ACCUPLACER

    Efforts to Evaluate Feasibility of Reporting Preparedness

  • Design developed for Judgmental Standard Setting studies

    Efforts to Produce Reference Points for Reporting Preparedness

  • Pilot benchmarking study conducted with Texas colleges and universities

    Efforts to Produce Reference Points for Reporting Preparedness

  • Summary of results of content alignment studies presented to the Governing Board

    Efforts to Evaluate Feasibility of Reporting Preparedness

  • Statistical linking study results for NAEP and the SAT presented to the Governing Board

    Efforts to Produce Reference Points for Reporting Preparedness

  • Pilot study conducted for Judgmental Standard Setting studies

    Efforts to Produce Reference Points for Reporting Preparedness

  • Operational Judgmental Standard Setting studies conducted for college and five job training programs

    Efforts to Produce Reference Points for Reporting Preparedness

  • Comprehensive review of results from 12th-grade NAEP 2009 preparedness research studies, including reports on final results of statistical linking studies at the national level, as well as at the state level for Florida students.

    Efforts to Produce Reference Points for Reporting Preparedness

  • Recommendations discussed by the Governing Board for reporting preparedness for the 2009 NAEP

    Governing Board Actions and Decisions

  • Recommendations approved limited reporting preparedness results and releasing research

    Governing Board Actions and Decisions

  • Higher education survey results reported for course placement tests and cut scores and plans for Phase II Preparedness Research for 2013 NAEP

    Efforts to Produce Reference Points for Reporting Preparedness

  • Technical report finalized and released for 2009 12th-grade NAEP preparedness research

    Governing Board Actions and Decisions

  • NAEP assessments conducted, including representative samples for 13 states to receive 12th-grade results

    Efforts to Produce Reference Points for Reporting Preparedness

  • Curriculum study of job training program courses presented to the Governing Board

    Efforts to Evaluate Feasibility of Reporting Preparedness

  • The Nation's Report Card and 12th-Grade Academic Preparedness: A National Symposium convened in Washington, DC

    Commissions and Technical Panels

  • Preparedness indicators and statements adopted by the Governing Board to report results from 2013 NAEP

    Governing Board Actions and Decisions

  • Plans initiated for preparedness research for the 2013 NAEP

    Efforts to Produce Reference Points for Reporting Preparedness

  • Report released summarizing preparedness research for NAEP

    Governing Board Actions and Decisions

  • Curriculum study of college courses presented to the Governing Board

    Efforts to Evaluate Feasibility of Reporting Preparedness

  • The Content Alignment between the NAEP and WorkKeys Assessments: Final Report released.

    Efforts to Evaluate Feasibility of Reporting Preparedness

  • NAEP assessments conducted

    Efforts to Produce Reference Points for Reporting Preparedness

  • Comprehensive report released about the evaluations of NAEP 12th-grade reading and mathematics frameworks and item pools as measures of academic preparedness for college and job training

    Efforts to Evaluate Feasibility of Reporting Preparedness

  • Updates on Preparedness Research with Grade 8 NAEP for Reading and Mathematics

    Efforts to Produce Reference Points for Reporting Preparedness

  • Reports released for preparedness research on the 2013 8th-grade NAEP

    Efforts to Produce Reference Points for Reporting Preparedness

  • Statistical linking studies conducted for 12th-grade NAEP and the ACT

    Efforts to Produce Reference Points for Reporting Preparedness

  • Approval of Governing Board’s Strategic Vision, including developing approaches to measure preparedness

    Governing Board Actions and Decisions

  • Ad Hoc Committee on Measures of Postsecondary Preparedness established

    Governing Board Actions and Decisions

  • Ad Hoc Committee report delivered, calling for the development of a Postsecondary Preparedness Dashboard

    Commissions and Technical Panels

  • NAEP assessments conducted

    Efforts to Produce Reference Points for Reporting Preparedness

  • Postsecondary preparedness conceptual framework and prototype dashboard presented to the Governing Board

    Governing Board Actions and Decisions