Board Adopts New Guidelines for Participation in NAEP

Washington

The panel that oversees the nation’s test of academic progress has approved new guidelines for determining whether students with disabilities and limited English skills must take part in it.

The National Assessment Governing Board voted last month to conduct a pilot of the new rules during the 2005 administration of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often referred to as "the nation’s report card."

The move, taken at the board’s quarterly meeting, held here Aug. 5-7, was one of several changes the panel approved, including the use of a new reading framework, or guidelines for what reading content should be tested, beginning in 2009. It marks the first such change since 1992 to the reading section of NAEP, and the end of the line for the trend data from that test. States must participate in the reading and mathematics tests for...