This paper describes (1) the procedures developed to set achievement levels for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) that contribute to establishing the validity of the levels and (2) the research studies designed to collect information related to the validity of the achievement levels and the outcomes of the process. The central…

This paper describes the feedback included in operational achievement level setting (ALS) procedures for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). It does not describe the feedback form field trials, pilot studies, or other research studies related to the NAEP. The NAEP ALS process includes three rounds of item-by-item ratings, and…

The description of achievement levels is important to the process of reporting student performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). A process was designed to develop achievement level descriptions (ALDs) for writing and civics. To begin, focus groups were conducted in each of the four NAEP regions for both writing and…

Field trials were conducted to test rating methods and the impact of feedback about consequences for the 1998 achievement levels-setting (ALS) process for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The field trials provided the opportunity to try out different methods similar to those used successfully by others, as well as to try out…

In 1999 a validation study of the 1998 Civics Assessment of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) was conducted, combining a similarity classification study and a booklet classification study. The rationale was that if the teachers who had participated in the 5-day achievement levels-setting process could not use the descriptions…