Participation Rates in U.S. History
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 public and private schools. While participation rate standards were met for public schools at all three grades, they were not met for private schools at grades 8 and 12; therefore results are only reported at grade 4. Participation rates for Catholic schools, which are included within 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 U.S. history, by grade and type of school: 2006
|
|
|
|
91 |
93 |
88 |
91 |
330 |
95 |
6,500 |
93 |
94 |
94 |
95 |
290 |
95 |
5,900 |
70 |
77 |
68 |
77 |
40 |
96 |
500 |
91 |
93 |
85 |
89 |
450 |
92 |
11,400 |
94 |
94 |
94 |
95 |
390 |
92 |
10,400 |
63 |
78 |
70 |
78 |
60 |
96 |
1,000 |
80 |
84 |
80 |
83 |
570 |
73 |
11,300 |
83 |
87 |
90 |
92 |
510 |
72 |
10,000 |
46 |
56 |
55 |
62 |
60 |
87 |
1,300 |
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.