This holiday season, we’re thankful for all of the data tools and resources from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) that help us visualize, understand, and interpret NAEP data. Take a look at some examples and get started working with NAEP data!

• The NAEP Data Explorer (NDE) can create customizable tables, maps, and graphics displaying NAEP results, which can be broken down by assessment year, student group, state, urban district, and content area. The NDE also provides statistical results, such as significance testing, gap analysis, and regression analysis.
• The NAEP Questions Tool (NQT) can be used to access thousands of released NAEP questions in a variety of subject areas. The NQT also provides real examples of student answers to constructed-response questions, with scorer comments. Student performance can be evaluated on a question-by-question basis, and you can even use the questions for instruction or to build your own quiz.
• Item maps provide further detail on student performance on specific NAEP questions by breaking them down on the NAEP scale. Item maps show how likely a student is to be able to correctly answer a given multiple-choice question or receive a particular score point in a constructed-response question based on their overall score on the NAEP scale for that subject, and they explain how the student responses were scored.
• State profiles and district profiles break down student NAEP performance by state or district. These tools can be used to view trends, demographics, and snapshot reports, and the results from each state or district can be compared among themselves and with the nation as a whole.
• The Technical Documentation on the Web (TDW) section of the NAEP website contains information for researchers about the methods and procedures used in NAEP. Here you can learn how NAEP assessments are designed, conducted, and analyzed.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has stressed the importance of diligent analysis in creating data-driven solutions for the nation’s students. Researchers and analysts looking to be a part of these solutions will certainly be thankful this year for NAEP’s data tools!

Stay tuned to the R&D Hub and subscribe to the R&D program’s mailing list to stay up to date on the latest tools and innovations in NAEP.