In mid-January, the NAEP R&D Program hosted the Winter 2023 NAEP Data Training Workshop in person for the first time since February 2020. In this post, we take a look back at the highlights of these three jam-packed days of training with large-scale student-level NAEP data.

The NAEP R&D team sought applications to the workshop from quantitative researchers, graduate students, and data analysts and saw a 59 percent increase in applications compared to Winter 2022, making the selection of a final list of participants this year much more challenging. In the end, the NAEP R&D team hosted a group of 25 uniquely talented individuals from across the country and around the world at AIR’s Arlington, VA headquarters. This marked the first time in the history of the NAEP Data Training Workshop that participants flew in from overseas and representatives joined us from two state boards of education, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), and the American Educational Research Association (AERA).

The participants listened to lectures and received hands-on training from expert researchers, including NAEP researchers from the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and the NCES Acting Branch Chief for Reporting and Dissemination, Dr. Emmanuel Sikali. Multiple sessions covered the use of EdSurvey, an R software package commonly used to analyze large-scale assessment data, led by the software’s authors and developers.
In addition to learning about NAEP data analysis, many of the participants left eager to learn more about Process Data and the EdSurvey package. All were excited to get their NAEP Data Training certificates at the end of the three-day workshop.

If you missed your chance to join us for the Winter 2023 NAEP Data Training Workshop, stay up to date by following the NAEP R&D Hub and subscribing to our mailing list. That way, you will be the first to know about future trainings!