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2013 NAEP Writing Achievement Levels Contract Award

Governing Board Awards $4 Million Contract for 2011, 2013 NAEP Writing Achievement Levels

 

WASHINGTON (October 08, 2010) — The National Assessment Governing Board has awarded a contract for more than $4 million to Measured Progress, Inc. for development of achievement levels for the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Writing Assessment at Grades 8 and 12, and for the 2013 at Grade 4.

The contract, awarded under full and open competition, will be in place for four years with Measured Progress, a Dover, N.H.-based, nonprofit company that develops customized, K-12 student assessments for schools, districts, and states. WestEd, an education research and development company, will serve as a subcontractor to Measured Progress for this work.

Student performance for the NAEP Writing is assessed entirely through collection of student essays in response to writing prompts. Students have approximately 25 minutes to respond to each prompt, and each student will be presented with two prompts. This will be the first completely computer-based assessment in the NAEP program, and Measured Progress plans to implement a completely computerized methodology in the achievement levels-setting process—another first for the NAEP program.

The operational assessment for grades 8 and 12 will be administered in 2011, and the initial computer-based NAEP for grade 4 writing will be administered in 2013. The same process and methodology will be implemented for developing achievement levels for all three grades.

NAEP results are reported as percentages of students performing at or above the Basic and Proficient levels, and at the Advanced level, based on the cut scores developed through the achievement levels-setting process.

Stephaan Harris

The National Assessment of Educational Progress is the only nationally representative, continuing evaluation of the condition of education in the United States. It has served as a national yardstick of student achievement since 1969. Through the Nation's Report Card, NAEP informs the public about what American students know and can do in various subject areas and compares achievement between states, large urban districts, and various student demographic groups.
The National Assessment Governing Board is an independent, bipartisan board whose members include governors, state legislators, local and state school officials, educators, business representatives and members of the general public. Congress created the 26-member Governing Board in 1988 to oversee and set policy for NAEP.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a congressionally authorized project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. The National Center for Education Statistics, within the Institute of Education Sciences, administers NAEP. The Commissioner of Education Statistics is responsible by law for carrying out the NAEP project.