For more than 35 years NAEP has measured student achievement nationally, state by state, and among 20 large urban districts. NAEP has served as an independent monitor of what students know and can do in various subject areas, including reading, mathematics, science, U.S. history, and writing. For each subject area measured by NAEP, a framework is used to provide recommendations on the content and processes to be assessed, the types of assessment questions to be asked, and the administration of the assessment. Each framework is designed to guide the assessment for about a decade until it is updated. NAEP results, commonly referred to as The Nation's Report Card, have become an important source of information on what U.S. students know and are able to do in a range of subject areas. The resulting data on student knowledge and performance have been accompanied by background information that allows analyses of a number of student demographic and instructional factors related to achievement. The assessments have been designed to allow comparisons of student performance over time and among subgroups of students defined according to region, parental education, gender, and race/ethnicity. The Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) was initiated in 2002 to report on the achievement of public school students in large urban districts. Under this program NAEP has administered its mathematics, reading, science, and writing assessments to samples of students in large urban districts that have volunteered to participate in NAEP.
