A Reporter's Guide to The Nation's Report Card: America’s High School Graduates
Welcome to the media center for The Nation's Report Card: America’s High School Graduates. Everything you need to report on the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2005 High School Transcript Study (HSTS) is in this area.
In this section, you will find the following:
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Press Releases and Statements
Explore press releases and statements about the 2005 High School Transcript Study results:
Frequently Asked Questions
What is The Nation's Report Card™?
What is the High School Transcript Study?
What results does the High School Transcript Study report?
For which groups are results reported?
How many years are included in the 2005 High School Transcript Study report?
Are results available for private schools for the High School Transcript Study in 2005?
HSTS 2005 provides results related to NAEP science and mathematics achievement. Why aren't results reported for NAEP reading achievement, also a part of NAEP in 2005?
Why are there no NAEP trend data included in the 2005 HSTS report?
How can a small difference be statistically significant, while larger results may not be statistically significant?
How are NAEP High School Transcript Study results used for further exploration of education and policy issues?
What is The Nation's Report Card™?
The Nation's Report Card™, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), is a nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. Since 1969, assessments have been conducted periodically in reading, mathematics, science, writing, history, geography, and other subjects. By making objective information on student performance available to policymakers at the national, state, and local levels, NAEP is an integral part of our nation's evaluation of the condition and progress of education. NAEP is a congressionally mandated project of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education. The National Assessment Governing Board sets policy for the NAEP program.
What is the High School Transcript Study?
The High School Transcript Study (HSTS) collects and analyzes transcripts from a representative sample of America’s public and private high school graduates. The study is designed to inform the public about the types of courses that graduates take during high school, how many credits they earn, and their grade point averages. The HSTS also explores the relationship between coursetaking patterns and student achievement as measured by NAEP. High school transcript studies have been conducted periodically for nearly two decades, permitting the reporting of trends in coursetaking and GPA as well as providing information about recent high school graduates. In addition to collecting transcripts, the HSTS collects student information such as gender, graduation status, and race/ethnicity and information about the participating schools.
What results does the High School Transcript Study report?
The HSTS presents information about the types of courses 2005 high school graduates took during high school, how many credits they earned, and the grades they received. Information on the relationship between high school records and performance in mathematics and science on the NAEP are also reported.
For which groups are results reported?
The 2005 High School Transcript Study provides data about the academic records of high school graduates of public and private high schools across the nation, as well as their performance on NAEP mathematics and science. In addition, results are provided for graduate groups defined by such characteristics as race/ethnicity and gender. The HSTS does not provide results for individual graduates, schools, or states.
How many years are included in the 2005 High School Transcript Study report?
This report provides results for 1990, 1994, 1998, 2000, and 2005.
Are results available for private schools for the High School Transcript Study in 2005?
Because school participation rates in private schools did not meet the required standard for reporting, results are not reported separately for public and private schools in 2005. The results do, however, include graduates of both public and private schools.
HSTS 2005 provides results related to NAEP science and mathematics achievement. Why aren't results reported for NAEP reading achievement, also a part of NAEP in 2005?
The administration of the HSTS was designed to correspond to the years that NAEP mathematics and science assessments were given. Even though in 2005 NAEP administered assessments in reading, mathematics, and science, transcripts were collected only for students who took the mathematics or science assessments.
Why are there no NAEP trend data included in the 2005 HSTS report?
The NAEP mathematics assessment in 2005 was based on a new assessment framework. Therefore, the 2005 mathematics results cannot be compared with previous mathematics assessments. Because the pattern of results is similar to that found in 2000 for science, it was decided to report NAEP science results only for 2005 in the HSTS report. The only science assessment conducted under the present NAEP framework prior to 2000 was done in 1996, a year in which transcripts were not collected.
How can a small difference be statistically significant, while larger results may not be statistically significant?
Results presented in the HSTS are based on samples of students rather than on entire populations. For this reason, there is a margin of error around each score. The determination of whether a difference between two variables is statistically significant is based on these margins of error. When a result has a large standard error, a numerical difference that seems large may not be statistically significant. Margins of error are usually larger for smaller population groups. For example, a difference of 0.05 in grade point average between male and female graduates that has a small margin of error may be statistically significant, while a difference of 0.10 in grade point average between Black and Hispanic graduates that has a large margin of error may not be significant.
How are NAEP High School Transcript Study results used for further exploration of education and policy issues?
Because of its large scale and the presence of historical trend data, the HSTS provides a rich source for data analysis beyond the formal reports. The HSTS provides researchers, educators, and policymakers with information regarding curricula being followed in our nation’s high schools, the coursetaking patterns of high school students, and the relationship between these variables and achievement in mathematics and science.
Media Contacts
Questions concerning the information on this website may be directed to
National Assessment Governing Board
E-mail: nagb@ed.gov
Phone: 202-357-6938
Janis Brown
National Center for Education Statistics
E-mail: janis.brown@ed.gov
Receive news alerts via e-mail by signing up for the NAEP News Flash. Additional information regarding the assessments is available on the National Assessment of Educational Progress website.