Mathematics Framework for the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress

Since 1973, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has gathered information about student achievement in mathematics. Results of these periodic assess-ments, produced in print and web-based formats, provide valuable information to a wide variety of audiences. They inform citizens about the nature of students’ comprehension of the subject, curriculum specialists about the level and nature of student achievement, and policymakers about factors related to schooling and its relationship to student proficiency in mathematics.

The NAEP Assessment in mathematics has two components that differ in purpose. One assessment measures long-term trends in achievement among 9-, 13-, and 17-year-old students by using the same basic design each time. This unique measure allows for com-parisons of students’ knowledge of mathematics since it was first administered in 1973. The main NAEP Assessment is administered at the national, state, and selected urban district levels. Results are reported on student achievement in grades 4, 8, and 12 at the national level and for grades 4 and 8 at the state level and for large urban districts that volunteered to participate. The main NAEP Assessment is based on a framework (such as this one) that can be updated periodically. The 2011 Mathematics Framework only re-flects changes in grade 12 from 2005; mathematics content objectives for grades 4 and 8 have not changed. Therefore, main NAEP trend lines from the early 1990s can continue at fourth and eighth grades for the 2011 assessment. Special analyses have also deter-mined that main NAEP trend lines from 2005 can continue at 12th grade for the 2011 as-sessment.

Learn more about framework development