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National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
Assessment Home | Feedback | Contact Us | NAEP HomeNAEP Contractors
NCES contracts with various organizations to develop, carry out, and analyze the results of NAEP. These contractors, selected by National Center of Education Statistics (NCES), are responsible for the core activities of NAEP, such as design, sampling, data collection, printing and scoring, analysis, and reporting. The contractors who carry out the core NAEP activities are referred to as the “NAEP Alliance.”
Figure 1-A The NAEP Alliance
The current members of the NAEP Alliance are Educational Testing Service (ETS), American Institutes for Research (AIR), Pearson Educational Measurement (Pearson), Westat, and Government Micro Resources, Inc. (GMRI).
NAEP Alliance Contracts
- Educational Testing Service (ETS):
- serves as the Alliance Coordinator
- ensures coordination among Alliance contractors
- maintains data for tracking NAEP's progress
- provides logistical support for written complaints
- ETS:
- serves as the Design, Analysis, and Reporting (DAR) Coordinator
- designs operational assessments, pilot and field tests, and special studies
- analyzes data to ensure the reporting of valid results
- proposes and studies psychometric and statistical analyses compatible with previous NAEP methodologies
- determines the data needed to meet the goals for reporting
- prepares national and selected state NAEP reports
- provides the tools NSCs use to analyze NAEP data and prepare state reports
- American Institutes for Research (AIR):
- serves as Item Developer (ID) in conjunction with ETS
- develops NAEP background variables, cognitive items, and scoring rubrics
- assists in scoring and training of scorers
- conducts small-scale pilot tests of the items and rubrics
- participates in reviews of items
- Pearson Educational Measurement (PEM):
- responsible for Material Preparation, Distribution, and Scoring (MDS)
- prepares and packages the assessment and auxiliary materials
- distributes assessment booklets and materials to the test administrators for each school
- develops training and scoring materials
- scores all assessments
- Westat:
- responsible for Sampling and Data Collection (SDC)
- selects representative samples of schools and students
- prepares sample weights for NAEP assessments
- administers assessments and collects data from pilot and field tests, operational assessments, and special studies
- ships completed assessment materials to the scoring sites
- Government Micro Resources, Inc. (GMRI)
- responsible for Web Operations and Maintenance (WOM)
- acquires, develops, implements, and supports Internet-related applications and services for NAEP and NAEP contractors
- identifies and deploys emerging technologies and new products to improve NAEP's offerings
- ensures timely services and release of quality products using web technologies
- oversees the public NAEP website, hosts the NAEP Network website, and develops and hosts an information management system for NAEP contractors
- supports and provides access to web-based analysis tools that NSCs use to prepare state-specific analyses and reports
Other NAEP Contracts
NCES contracts with other companies to obtain additional expertise. These include Hager Sharp, NAEP State Coordinators (NSCs), Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO), and the NAEP Education Statistics Institute (NESSI).
- Hager Sharp:
- responsible for Dissemination and Outreach (DO)
- creates products to promote public awareness of NAEP and to facilitate the administration of NAEP
- designs and produces a booth to display materials and showcase NAEP
- provides staffing of booths for two major conferences per year
- creates dissemination plans for NAEP reports, special studies, and secondary analysis grants
- issues press releases, handles data release events, and maintains relationships with the press
- Westat:
- manages the NAEP State Service Center (NSSC)
- develops and delivers technical assistance and training for the NSCs through the NAEP State Service Center (NSSC)
- answers information requests regarding NAEP
- maintains a NAEP Information Center
- NAEP State Coordinator (NSC): NCES awards funding to State Education Agencies to support a fulltime NSC in each state. NSCs
- serve as the liaison between the State Education Agency and NAEP
- review NAEP assessment items and processes as the state’s representative
- oversee the NAEP administration in their state
- analyze and report NAEP data
- coordinate the use of NAEP results for policy and program planning
- Hager Sharp: Hager Sharp, in conjunction with their subcontractor CRP, Inc.,
- handles Meeting Logistics (ML)
- plans and staffs meetings
- arranges travel and related activities for meetings within and external to the Washington, DC metropolitan area
- AIR:
- performs the duties of State Analysis (SA)
- monitors academic progress and the performance trends of states and their identified subgroups
- portrays patterns of achievement gaps between the subgroups on NAEP state assessments
- explains the NAEP state results
- identifies patterns of performance that could affect NAEP assessments in states/jurisdictions
- Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO):
- handles NAEP Quality Assurance (QA)
- monitors and identifies potential technical and operational errors HumRRO staff often attend NSSC workshops along with NSCs.
- NAEP Education Statistics Services Institute (NESSI):
- helps NCES incorporate scientific advances in how NAEP data are designed, collected, analyzed, and reported by statistical and psychometric research and analyses
- provides development services and project management
The NAEP contact for the state
of Florida is Michele Sonnenfeld. She can be contacted by e-mail at
or by telephone at (850) 245-0513.