The Nation’s Report Card
The Nation’s Report Card, also called the National Assessment of Educational Progress or NAEP, is the gold standard assessment for measuring U.S. students’ knowledge and skills in math, reading, writing, science, U.S. history, and civics.
A Congressionally-mandated program overseen by the Governing Board and administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the Nation’s Report Card is the only common yardstick to measure how U.S. students are performing.
Who Takes the NAEP Assessment?
A representative sample of students in 4th, 8th, and 12th grades across all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, and the Department of Defense (DoDea) schools take the NAEP assessment. NAEP is designed to report results for the nation, states, and selected urban districts.
What Can NAEP Scores Tell Us About Student Learning?
NAEP scores provide invaluable insights about achievement trends for students by socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity, region, and locale for both public and private schools. NAEP also includes surveys that offer additional context and insights about students’ learning experiences, resources, and opportunities.
What are NAEP Achievement Levels?
The Governing Board sets the NAEP Achievement Levels on what students should know and be able to do at NAEP Basic, NAEP Proficient, and NAEP Advanced.
The goal is for all students to reach NAEP Proficient, a level that represents solid academic performance and meets the high expectations to be successful academically.
NAEP Achievement Levels are not the same as individual state’s definitions of proficiency. The Governing Board sets a consistent high bar for what it means to be NAEP Proficient. States set their own standards and definitions of proficiency (often referred to as “cut scores”) and what is considered “on grade-level” for students. Learn more about this in the 2022 State Mapping Study.
The Knowledge and Skills Students Need to Know on NAEP
Upcoming Release Schedule
- 2024 math and reading scores for 4th grade and 8th grade are scheduled to be January 29, 2025.
- 2024 math and reading scores for 12th grade are scheduled to be released in summer 2025.
- 2024 science scores for 8th grade are scheduled to be released in summer/fall 2025.
NAEP Assessment Schedule
The Governing Board sets a 10-year schedule outlining the timeframes, subjects, grades, and reporting levels for the Nation’s Report Card.
In May 2023, the Governing Board adopted a resolution calling on Congress to move the 2026 to 2027, and each following assessment on the two-year cycle, to return the assessment to off-cycle from federal elections.
2024
| Subject |
National Grades Assessed |
State Grades Assessed |
TUDA Grades Assessed |
Reading |
4, 8, 12 |
4, 8 |
4, 8 |
Math |
4, 8, 12 |
4, 8 |
4, 8 |
Science |
8 |
||
Transcript Studies |
Pandemic Student Timeline:
2024’s 4th graders were in Kindergarten; 8th graders were in 4th grade; and 12th graders were in 8th grade in 2020.
2026
Subject |
National Grades Assessed |
State Grades Assessed |
TUDA Grades Assessed |
Reading |
4, 8 |
4, 8 |
4, 8 |
Math |
4, 8 |
4, 8 |
4, 8 |
U.S. History |
8 |
||
Civics |
8 |
Pandemic Student Timeline:
2026’s 8th graders were in 2nd grade in 2020. (4th graders were 3 years old)
Congressional action in 2027.
2028
Subject |
National Grades Assessed |
State Grades Assessed |
TUDA Grades Assessed |
Reading |
4, 8, 12 |
4, 8, 12 |
4, 8 |
Math |
4, 8 |
4, 8, 12 |
4, 8 |
Science |
4, 8 |
8 | 8 |
Transcript Studies |
|
Pandemic Student Timeline:
2028’s 8th graders were in Kindergarten and 12th graders were in 4th grade in 2020. (4th graders were 1 year old)
Congressional action in 2029.