State of Indiana Student Achievement Assessment Tools (continued)

Under the current structure, the Commissioner of Education Statistics, who heads the National Center for Education Statistics in the US Department of Education, is responsible by law for carrying out the NAEP project. The National Assessment Governing Board, appointed by the Secretary of Education but independent of the department, governs the program.

NAEP does not provide scores for individual students or schools; instead, it offers results regarding subject-matter achievement, instructional experiences, and school environment for populations of students (e.g., fourth-graders) and subgroups of those populations (e.g., female students, Hispanic students). NAEP results are based on a sample of student populations of interest.

NAEP reports information for the nation as well as for specific geographic regions of the country. It includes students drawn from both public and nonpublic schools and reports results for student achievement at grades 4, 8, and 12. These assessments follow the frameworks developed by the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), and use the latest advances in assessment methodology. For example, NAEP assessments include a large percentage of constructed-response questions and questions that require the use of calculators and other materials. Innovative types of questions have been used in assessments such as the arts (theatre, music, and visual arts) and science to measure students' ability to perform hands-on tasks.

Indiana NAEP Results (EdWatch Online)

Indiana NAEP Results (National Center for Education Statistics)

3. How is student progress in Indiana compared to the progress in other countries?

TIMSS

What is TIMSS?

The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is the result of the need in the American education community for reliable and timely data about the mathematics and science achievement of our students compared to that of students in other countries. TIMSS, conducted in 1995, involved 42 countries at three grade levels and was the largest, most comprehensive and rigorous assessment of its kind ever undertaken. In 1999, TIMSS collected data in 38 countries at the eighth-grade level to provide information about change in the mathematics and science achievement of our students compared to those in other nations over the last four years.