Comparing State Proficiency Standards

1
Comparing State Proficiency Standards
2
Under the No Child Left Behind Act

• Each state selects tests and sets its own
  standard for proficiency to report adequate
  yearly progress
• States are required to participate in NAEP
  reading and mathematics assessments at grades 4
  and 8

3
The NAEP/State Issue
4
The NAEP/State Issue
5
The NAEP/State Issue
6
State Standards and NAEP Proficient 2005
Fourth-Grade Reading
7
Issues to Be Addressed

• Proficiency standards vary from one state to
  another
• Percentages of students meeting the state
  proficiency standard vary from those meeting the
  NAEP standard
• Students categorized as proficient in one state
  may not be categorized as proficient in another
  state

8
The NCES Response

• NCES has conducted extensive investigations to
  determine a methodology for establishing a common
  basis for comparing proficiency standards across
  states
• The methodology has been refined over a number of
  assessments

9
Study Methodology
10
(No Transcript)
11
(No Transcript)
12
State Standards Not Related to Students
Performance on NAEP
1 State pro?ciency standards expressed in terms
of NAEP-equivalent scores.SOURCE U.S.
Department of Education, Institute of Education
Sciences, National Center for Education
Statistics, National Assessment of Educational
Progress (NAEP), 2005 Reading Assessment and
National Longitudinal School-Level State
Assessment Score Database (NLSLSASD).
13
Considerations

• State assessments vary widely in content and
  design both among themselves and with NAEP
• States and NAEP may attach different meanings to
  the label Proficient
• States and NAEP vary in their approaches to
  establishing cut scores for proficiency

14
State Profiles

• Definition of State standards and state
  performance standard for AYP
• Skills assessed on state exam
• Performance standards development
• Year the standard was adopted
• Substantive changes to assessment

15
What We Will Release

• Highlights report Comparing State Proficiency
  Standards
• Technical report Mapping 2005 State Proficiency
  Standards Onto the NAEP Scale
• Full population estimates (on the Web)
• State profiles, prepared by each state in study
  (on the Web)
• Table comparing state percent proficient and NAEP
  percent Proficient (on the Web)

16
Future Releases

• Comparison between NAEP and State Reading
  Assessment Results 2003
• Comparison between NAEP and State Mathematics
  Assessment Results 2003