Bismarck Public School District

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) or the “Nation’s Report Card” is administered on a biannual basis to a sample of 4th and 8th graders in every state. The most recent NAEP data available are for the 2019 administration. Each student takes a portion of a reading or mathematics assessment. The NAEP results are reported for the state as well as the nation and there are no published school or district results. Please visit the following website to access North Dakota’s results: https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/profiles/stateprofile. The most recent NAEP data available is for 2019.

For some small subgroups in North Dakota the reporting requirement is not met and therefore no data are available. Therefore, race/ethnicity and Limited English Proficiency data are not consistent across all the reports.

NAEP achievement levels are not necessarily equivalent to proficiency levels used with North Dakota’s state assessments. For more information on the mathematics and reading achievement levels go to: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/mathematics/achieve.asp or http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/reading/achieve.asp.

Participation Rates Participation rates for Students with Disabilities and Limited English Proficient can be found in the table below. The actual participation rates for NAEP will differ from the rates on the state assessment since NAEP does not allow the all the accommodations used by NDSA or the state alternate assessment, DLM. Students taking alternate assessments do not participate in NAEP.

Understanding the Proficiency Levels in NAEP:

Basic. One of the three NAEP achievement levels, denoting partial mastery of prerequisite knowledge and skills that are fundamental for proficient work at each grade assessed. NAEP also reports the proportion of students whose scores place them below the Basic achievement level.

Proficient. One of the three NAEP achievement levels, representing solid academic performance for each grade assessed. Students reaching this level have demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter, including subject-matter knowledge, application of such knowledge to real-world situations, and analytical skills appropriate to the subject matter.

Advanced. One of the three NAEP achievement levels, denoting superior performance at each grade assessed.

Each NAEP subject has a description of what students should know and be able to do at grade 4 and 8.  This description outlines the “cut score” the minimum score required for performance at each NAEP achievement level. 

If there are questions about NAEP data, please contact the North Dakota’s NAEP State Coordinator, Gwyn K Marback at gkmarback@nd.gov.