The National Assessment of Educational
Progress (NAEP), conducted by the National Center for Education
Statistics (NCES), is a federally authorized survey of student
achievement at grades 4, 8, and 12 in various subject areas, such
as mathematics, reading, writing, science, U.S. history, civics,
geography, economics, technology and engineering literacy (TEL),
and the arts. The National Assessment of Educational Progress
Authorization Act (Public Law 107-279 Title III, section 303)
requires the assessment to collect data on specified student groups
and characteristics, including information organized by
race/ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, disability, and
limited English proficiency. It requires fair and accurate
presentation of achievement data and permits the collection of
background, noncognitive, or descriptive information that is
related to academic achievement and aids in fair reporting of
results. The intent of the law is to provide representative sample
data on student achievement for the nation, the states, and
subpopulations of students and to monitor progress over time. The
nature of NAEP is that burden alternates from a relatively low
burden in national-level administration years to a substantial
burden increase in state-level administration years when the sample
has to allow for estimates for individual states and some of the
large urban districts (as part of the Trial Urban District
Assessment, or TUDA, program). This request is to conduct NAEP
2021, including operational assessments and pilot tests:
operational national/state/TUDA Digitally Based Assessments (DBA)
in mathematics and reading at grades 4 and 8, and Puerto Rico in
mathematics at grades 4 and 8; and operational national DBA in U.S.
history and civics at grade 8. In 2021, NAEP will begin to
transition to a design in which students will take additional
set(s) of cognitive items from another subject area. This design
will allow more information to be collected from each individual
student, thereby reducing the number of overall students (and,
thus, schools) that are required. The NAEP results will be reported
to the public through the Nation's Report Card as well as other
online NAEP tools.
PL:
Pub.L. 107 - 279 303 Name of Law: National Assessment of
Educational Progress Authorization Act
The nature of NAEP is that
burden alternates from a relatively low burden in national-level
administration years (i.e., even years) to a substantial burden
increase in state-level administration years that include one or
more assessments that support national, state-by-state, and certain
urban districts reporting (i.e., odd years). In state/district
assessment years, NAEP samples approximately 400,000-800,000
students, while in national-only assessment years, approximately
50,000-100,000 students. In 2021, NAEP will conduct state/district
assessments. Previous clearances have included multiple years and
reported annualized burden averages, while this submission covers
only 2021. In addition, in 2021 many students will take additional
cognitive section(s), likely from a different subject. This will
increase the student burden time from 30 minutes to 53 minutes, but
will also reduce the overall student sample size as compared with
previous administrations (approximately 450,000 students compared
to approximately 750,000 for similar assessments in 2019). The
decrease in student sample size is also reflected in fewer schools
and associated burden.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.