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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
The study was supported by the U.S. Department of Education under contract number E95083001. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the organizations or agencies that provided support for this project.
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Suggested citation: National Research Council (2000) Reporting District-Level NAEP Data: Summary of a Workshop. Committee on NAEP Reporting Practices: Investigating District-Level and Market-Basket Reporting. Pasquale J. DeVito and Judith A. Koenig, editors. Board on Testing and Assessment, Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Engineering
Institute of Medicine
National Research Council
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. William A. Wulf is president of the National Academy of Engineering.
The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth I. Shine is president of the Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts and Dr. William A. Wulf are chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the National Research Council.
COMMITTEE ON NAEP REPORTING PRACTICES: INVESTIGATING DISTRICT-LEVEL AND MARKET-BASKET REPORTING
PASQUALE DeVITO (Chair),
Office of Assessment, Rhode Island Department of Education
LINDA BRYANT,
Westwood Elementary School, Pittsburgh
C. MELODY CARSWELL,
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky
MARYELLEN DONAHUE,
Planning, Research & Development, and District Test Coordination, Boston Public Schools
LOU FABRIZIO,
Division of Accountability Services, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction
LEANN GAMACHE,
Assessment and Evaluation, Education Services Center, Littleton Public Schools, Littleton, Colorado
DOUGLAS HERRMANN,
Department of Psychology, Indiana State University
AUDREY QUALLS,
Iowa Testing Program, Iowa City, Iowa
MARK RECKASE,
Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education, Michigan State University
DUANE STEFFEY,
Department of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, San Diego State University
JUDITH KOENIG,
Study Director
KAREN MITCHELL,
Senior Program Officer
KAELI KNOWLES,
Program Officer
DOROTHY MAJEWSKI,
Senior Project Assistant
BOARD ON TESTING AND ASSESSMENT
ROBERT L. LINN (Chair),
School of Education, University of Colorado, Boulder
CARL F. KAESTLE (Vice Chair),
Department of Education, Brown University
RICHARD C. ATKINSON, President,
University of California
CHRISTOPHER F. EDLEY, JR.,
Harvard Law School
RONALD FERGUSON,
John F. Kennedy School of Public Policy, Harvard University
MILTON D. HAKEL,
Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University
ROBERT M. HAUSER,
Institute for Research on Poverty, Center for Demography, University of Wisconsin, Madison
PAUL W. HOLLAND,
Graduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley
RICHARD M. JAEGER,
School of Education, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
DANIEL M. KORETZ,
Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation, and Education Policy, Boston College
RICHARD J. LIGHT,
Graduate School of Education and John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
LORRAINE McDONNELL,
Departments of Political Science and Education, University of California, Santa Barbara
BARBARA MEANS,
SRI International, Menlo Park, California
ANDREW C. PORTER,
Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin, Madison
LORETTA A. SHEPARD,
School of Education, University of Colorado, Boulder
CATHERINE E. SNOW,
Graduate School of Education, Harvard University
WILLIAM L. TAYLOR,
Attorney at Law, Washington, D.C.
WILLIAM T. TRENT,
Associate Chancellor, University of Illinois, Champaign
GUADALUPE M. VALDES,
School of Education, Stanford University
VICKI VANDAVEER,
The Vandaveer Group, Inc., Houston, Texas
Acknowledgments
At the request of the U.S. Department of Education, the National Research Council (NRC) established the Committee on NAEP Reporting Practices to examine the feasibility and potential impact of district-level and market-basket reporting practices. As part of its charge, the committee sponsored a workshop in September 1999 to gather information on issues related to district-level reporting for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). A great many people contributed to the success of this workshop, which brought together representatives from state and local assessment offices, experts in educational measurement, and others familiar with the issues related to district-level reporting for NAEP. The committee would like to thank the panelists and discussants —many of whom traveled to the workshop during a hurricane—for their contributions to a lively and productive workshop. The full participant list appears in Appendix A.
Staff from the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), under the leadership of Roy Truby, executive director, and staff from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), under the direction of Gary Phillips, acting commissioner, were valuable sources of information. Sharif Shakrani, Mary Lyn Bourque, and Raymond Fields of NAGB and Arnold Goldstein of NCES provided the committee with important background information on numerous occasions. We also thank Keith Rust of Westat for his valuable information on NAEP sampling methodology.
Special thanks are due to a number of individuals at the National Research Council who provided guidance and assistance at many stages during the organization of the workshop and the preparation of this report. We thank Michael Feuer, director of the Board on Testing and Assessment (BOTA), for his expert guidance and leadership of the project. We are indebted to BOTA staff officer, Karen Mitchell, for her assistance in planning the workshop and writing the report; she was a principal source of expertise in both the substance and process for the workshop. We also wish to thank BOTA staff members Patricia Morison, Alix Beatty, Meryl Bertenthal, Naomi Chudowsky, Viola Horek, and John Shephard for their assistance with this work. Special thanks go to Dorothy Majewski, who capably managed the operational aspects of the workshop and the production of this report. We also thank Christine McShane for her advice on structuring the content of the report, her expert editing of the manuscript, and her deft guidance of the report through the publication process.
The committee is particularly grateful to NRC project staff, Judith Koenig, study director, and Kaeli Knowles, program officer, for their efforts in putting together the workshop and preparing the manuscript. Judith acted as the coordinator of the activities while Kaeli played a major role by contacting workshop participants and discussants, soliciting their involvement, guiding them in developing their presentations, and assisting with the writing.
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making the published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.
We wish to thank the following individuals for their participation in the review of this report: Susan A. Agruso, Office of Assessment, South Carolina Department of Education; Jonathan Dings, Director of Assessment, Boulder Valley Public Schools, Colorado; Richard Jaeger, School of Education, University of North Carolina, Greensboro (emeritus); Roderick J.A. Little, Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Univer-
sity of Michigan; William D. Schafer, College of Education, University of Maryland; and Roger Trent, Director of Assessment, Ohio Department of Education. Although the individuals listed above have provided constructive comments and suggestions, it must be emphasized that responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.
Pasquale J. DeVito, Chair
Committee on NAEP Reporting Practices:
Investigating District-Level and Market-Basket Reporting