The District Technology Director (DTD) completes the School Technology Survey (STS) in the NAEP Assessment Management System (AMS) on behalf of all NAEP-selected schools within the district. The STS collects information about each school's technology infrastructure and the technical specifications of devices available for testing. This information is used to determine whether a school can support the NAEP assessment using school-managed devices or whether NAEP-provided devices will be required.

For schools approved to use school-managed devices, the DTD must designate an App Installer who will be responsible for managing the technology requirements associated with the assessment. Ideally, the App Installer should be physically located at the school or have direct access to the school and its devices. It is strongly recommended that the App Installer be available on-site on the day of the assessment.

The App Installer is the individual who performs the technical installation of the NAEP Assessment application (NAEP App) on school-managed devices. This may be a district technology staff member, school technology staff member, technology contractor, managed service provider, or the District Technology Director (DTD) if no separate installer is available.

The App Installer should:

• be familiar with the devices students will use for the NAEP assessment and be able to complete required technical tasks before and during the administration;

• have access to and be able to use the eNAEP Download Center;

• verify that the NAEP Assessment application (NAEP App) has been successfully installed on all designated school devices prior to assessment day;

• participate in a virtual Assessment Planning Meeting (APM) with the School Coordinator and NAEP Representative; and

• meet with the NAEP Representatives upon their arrival on assessment day to provide credentials and assist with device and internet access, as needed.

In most cases, schools will not need this role. However, districts that use a technology contractor or managed service provider to support their technology infrastructure may designate a Technology Coordinator (TC) to serve as the liaison between NAEP and the contractor or provider.

The TC may participate in the virtual Assessment Planning Meeting (APM) with the School Coordinator and NAEP Representative. On assessment day, the TC may also meet with NAEP Representatives upon arrival to provide necessary credentials and assist with device and internet access, as needed.

Each principal will be responsible for

• assigning a school staff member to serve as the School Coordinator;

• including the NAEP assessment date on the school calendar;

• empowering the designated School Coordinator to work with NAEP Representatives and NAEP State Coordinator to prepare for the assessment, and

• informing school staff and students about NAEP and why student participation is critically important.

The School Coordinator is the single point of contact for all matters pertaining to the NAEP assessment. This person works with a NAEP Representative and the Office of Public Instruction (OPI) in preparing for assessment day.  The School Coordinator will be responsible for:

• confirming the scheduled assessment date with the NAEP State Coordinator;

• registering for the Assessment Management System (AMS) website, which will serve as the primary resource and action center throughout the NAEP assessment process;

• providing information about the school;

• using the AMS to prepare for the assessment;

• being familiar with how students participate in statewide assessments;

• using the AMS website to collect and enter student information;

• accessing student information such as birth date, demographic information, and enrollment status;

• notifying parents of the assessment;

• communicating with the NAEP Representative and participating in a virtual Assessment Planning Meeting (APM) with the App Installer (if selected for school devices) to finalize assessment preparations;

• reserving dedicated space for most, if not all, of the day with tables or flat desks and an adequate number of electrical outlets in the assessment location;

• ensuring the availability of a school or district staff member on assessment day to address any technical issues;

• collaborating with school staff to ensure a high rate of student participation, and

• meeting the NAEP Representatives when they arrive on assessment day to provide assessment location and introduce to the App Installer (if selected for school devices).

The School Coordinator can designate a SD/EL Specialist access to the Assessment Management System to help provide student information. The SD/EL Specialist will be responsible for:

• reviewing NAEP Inclusion Policy,

• providing information about students with disabilities (SD) and or English learners (EL) so that NAEP Representatives can plan appropriate testing accommodations; and

• ensuring SD and EL students are included in the NAEP assessment to the fullest extent possible unless they participate in the alternate assessment - DLM ELA/Math assessments.

What do teachers say about NAEP?

These short videos explain the importance of NAEP, the relevance of NAEP and how it applies to teachers and students.

YouTube: Introducting NAEP to Teachers 

YouTube: Introducing NAEP to Students 

Visit the Nation's Report Card to access:

• NAEP Question Tools (NQT) for Teachers. Create your own NAEP test and see what students know and can do.

• NAEP Item Maps for Teachers. Item maps help to illustrate what students know and can do in NAEP subject areas by positioning descriptions of individual assessment items along the NAEP scale at each grade level. An item is placed at the point on the scale where students are more likely to give successful responses to it. The descriptions used in NAEP item maps focus on the knowledge and skills needed to respond successfully to the assessment item.

• Test yourself. Try sample questions in a variety of subjects for yourself. At the end of the quiz, see how students across the nation performed.

The “What Every Parent Should Know About NAEP” video and brochure explains eight things parents should know about NAEP such as (1) What is NAEP? (2) How is NAEP different? (3) How was my child selected? (4) Are students with disabilities included? (5) Are the data confidential? (6) Can I see the results? (7) How does my state measure up? (8) How can I see sample questions?

• YouTube: What Every Parent Should Know about NAEP

• What Every Parent Should Know about NAEP Brochure

• NAEP Parent information

Learn More About NAEP

• Learn why NAEP participation is important.

• Learn how students are selected for the assessment.

• See sample questions used in the assessments.

• Browse questionnaires that are given to students.

• Test yourself. Try sample questions in a variety of subjects for yourself. At the end of the quiz, see how students across the nation performed.

Each school has been designated NAEP Representatives. The representatives consist of an Assessment Coordinator (AC) and Assessment Administrator (AA). The NAEP Representatives, employed by a U.S. Department of Education contractor to work directly with schools, will be responsible for

• verifying information that the School Coordinator has provided via the Assessment Management System (AMS) website;

• working with the School Coordinator to finalize assessment logistics;

• participating in a virtual Assessment Planning Meeting (APM) with the School Coordinator and App Installer (if selected for school devices);

• bringing all assessment materials and equipment (if selected for NAEP devices) to the school on assessment day; and

• administering the assessment.

The NAEP State Coordinator works at the Montana Office of Public Instruction and will be responsible for

• working with schools to confirm the assessment date;

• communicating with authorized representatives and principals about the importance of NAEP and student participation;

• preparing and submitting a list of students enrolled in NAEP-selected schools in November;

• preparing and submitting a list of students newly enrolled in NAEP selected schools in January;

• providing schools with instructions and information about notifying parents of participating students;

• providing guidance for including students with disabilities (SD) and English learners (EL); and

• responding to questions from the school community throughout the assessment period.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a congressionally-mandated project of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education. It is the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what our nation's students know and can do in various subjects such as mathematics, reading, science, civics, and U.S. history. For more information, review An Overview of NAEP. 

Participation is required under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), reauthorized as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015, for any district receiving Title I funding. As of the 2003 administration, participation in mathematics and reading at grades 4 and 8 became a requirement in all states and school districts receiving Title I funding. With over a decade of trend in these grades and subjects, the biennial NAEP state-level administration is a vital data collection for Montana and it helps inform policymakers of what Montana students know and can do in these various subjects and grades. For more information on this national assessment, visit The Nation’s Report Card. 

The probability (or chance) of being selected for the NAEP sample depends on the size of the student enrollment at each school. Generally, if a school is chosen frequently it is because the school's enrollment in the grade constitutes a relatively large proportion of the state's student population. Therefore, large schools are more likely to be selected than smaller ones. For more information, review Selecting Schools for Participation in State-Level NAEP. 

The NAEP Inclusion Policy and the Montana Office of Public Instruction (OPI) expect that all sampled students participate in the assessment, including students with disabilities (SD) and English learners (EL). SD and EL students should be included in the NAEP assessment to the fullest extent possible, unless they participate in alternate assessments such as MSAA or AMSA.

Any verbal commands such as cueing to stay on task, prompts to stay on task, or frequent reminders to stay on task have never been allowed in Montana. Under the MontCAS Test Security Manual, the OPI believes that administering these supports to students too closely relates to “coaching,” which is a testing irregularity that gives an unfair advantage to a student or group of students. These should not be requested under “Other Specify,” because they are not permitted under OPI policies for state assessments.

NAEP does not allow the use of spell check, a 100-number chart, or a multiplication table, even though these tools are allowed on Montana’s state assessments. These should not be requested under “Other Specify.”

The NAEP results are found at The Nation’s Report Card. Teachers, principals, parents, policymakers, and researchers all use NAEP results to assess progress and develop ways to improve education in the United States. It is the only national assessment that can compare results across states.

Students’ performance on main NAEP assessments is reported as scale scores and as the percentages of students at or above three NAEP achievement levels (NAEP Basic, NAEP Proficient, and NAEP Advanced).

Average scores are reported on a 0–500 scale for reading, mathematics at grades 4 and 8, history, and geography, or on a 0–300 scale for science, writing, civics, and mathematics at grade 12. Scores at five percentiles on each scale provide results for lower-performing students (at the 10th and 25th percentiles), middle-performing students (at the 50th percentile), and higher-performing students (at the 75th and 90th percentiles) in that subject.

NAEP achievement levels are performance standards showing what students at the NAEP Basic, NAEP Proficient, and NAEP Advanced levels should know and be able to do. Based on recommendations from policymakers, educators, and members of the general public, the National Assessment Governing Board sets specific NAEP achievement levels for each subject area and grade assessed. View the NAEP achievement level descriptions for mathematics and reading.

Because NAEP scales and achievement levels are developed independently for each subject, results cannot be compared across subjects.

Students’ performance on the NAEP long-term trend assessments is reported as scale scores (on 0–500 scales in mathematics and reading) and as the percentages of students attaining performance levels that correspond to five points on the scale (150, 200, 250, 300, and 350). In each subject, the performance of 9-year-olds tends to concentrate within the lower three performance levels, 13-year-olds within the middle three levels, and 17-year-olds within the top three levels. Read more about the long-term trend performance levels.

NAEP results are not reported for individual students or schools, but are available for selected student groups (for example, by gender or race/ethnicity) and based on responses to student, teacher, and school questionnaires.

No. By design, information is not available at the individual student or school levels. Reports traditionally disclose state, regional, and national results. Because NAEP is a large-group assessment, each student takes only a small part of the overall assessment. In most schools, only a small portion of the total grade enrollment is selected to take the assessment, and these students may not reliably or validly represent the total school population. Only when the student scores are aggregated at the state or national level are the data considered reliable and valid estimates of what students know and can do in the content area; consequently, school- or student-level results are never reported. 

The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) is charged by Congress with informing the public about what America’s students know and can do in various subject areas, as measured by The Nation’s Report Card. This information helps our nation understand where more work is needed to improve students’ education.