Conclusion

The National Assessment in the next century will provide student achievement results at the national level each year. State-level data will be provided every other year. Student achievement in reading, writing, mathematics and science will, appropriately, receive the most attention, with testing once every four years, but not to the exclusion of other important subjects. By continuing to report results using achievement levels and improving the process by which achievement levels are set, the National Assessment will help advance standards-based assessment and reporting in the United States. With a focus on its core purpose -- measuring and reporting on the status of student achievement and change over time -- the National Assessment design can be made more streamlined, more effective, and more efficient. With a clear sense of its primary audience -- the general public -- National Assessment reports will have more impact.

With a predictable schedule of assessments and reporting of National Assessment results, the public at regular intervals will discuss and debate education quality, states can plan ahead for their participation, and educators will have an external standard against which to compare their own efforts.