Education Dept. Policy on NAEP Release Makes Reporters Pledge Confidentiality

When advance copies of “the nation’s report card” were distributed to news reporters last week, they came with tight restrictions on who could see that information before its official public release.

The U.S. Department of Education required reporters to sign a confidentiality agreement promising not to distribute the data from the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress—even for comments from outside experts—until its official release a...