Content and Grade Trends in State Assessments and NAEP. - Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation

Each state is required by the No Child Left Behind Act to report the percents of its students who have reached a score level called “proficient” or above for certain grades in the content areas of reading (or a similar construct) and math. Using 2005 data from public web sites of states and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), state-to-state differences in percents were analyzed, both unconditionally and conditionally on NAEP, for (1) trend across content areas (horizontal moderation), (2) trend across grade levels (vertical moderation), and (3) consistency with NAEP. While there was considerable variation from state to state, especially on an idealistic-realistic dimension, the results generally show that states are relatively consistent in trends across grades and contents.