A Parent's Guide to The Nation's Report Card

Results have just been released from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). What does that mean to you as a parent? What was assessed? Why is the assessment important? How are children chosen to participate? This area of the website is designed to help you find answers to questions such as these and to guide you to further resources if you have questions not answered in these pages.

In this section, you will find

• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that will answer many of the questions you may have about NAEP, and
• Contacts, in case you have further questions about the assessment.

To examine the assessments in greater detail, explore the Downloads and Tools page where you will find links to tools and information such as the following:

• The Nation's Report Card: Parents' Guide to NAEP, a helpful publication that describes the NAEP program from a parent's perspective;
• NAEP Questions Tool, which contains more than 1,600 actual questions, answers, scoring guides, and question-level data from the NAEP assessments;
• Demonstration booklets that contain a description of the assessment, sample questions, and the background questionnaire students are asked to complete; and
• State Profiles, a tool to help you explore the performance of students in your state.

Specific subject-related information is contained on the NAEP website. These pages will inform you about how the assessments were developed, how they were administered, and what each assessment measures.

Your child's participation in The Nation's Report Card is very important, and we are eager to help you learn more about it.