Board Ponders New Format To Make NAEP More Cost-Effective, Useful

By Millicent Lawton

Washington

Pushed by a tight budget, policymakers are considering changes in the format of the National Assessment of Educational Progress that they hope will make it more cost-effective and more useful to educators and the public.

In a possible move that would likely spark controversy, however, NAEP may buck current thinking among many educators that performance-based test items more accurately assess students' learning than multiple-choice questions. Among other changes, the draft for a redesigned NAEP calls for a greater proportion of multiple-choice questions because they are less expensive to develop, administer, and score than items that require students to perform an experiment or...