National Assessment Governing Board Awards Contracts to Measured Progress

Measured Progress has been awarded two contracts for the implementation of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) this week awarded the company a four-year contract to set achievement levels for the NAEP writing assessments. In addition, Measured Progress will serve as subcontractor to San Francisco-based WestEd on another NAGB/NAEP contract, implementing standard setting for college and occupational preparedness for the NAEP grade 12 reading and mathematics assessments.

Often referred to as "the nation's report card," the NAEP has been the leading national measure of elementary and secondary student achievement since its inception in 1969. The NAEP is administered every two years. Content areas, which vary from administration to administration, include: the arts, civics, economics, mathematics, reading, United States history, and writing. The sample of students who are chosen to participate represents the geographic, racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity of the nation's student population.

Measured Progress will be the prime contractor to establish achievement levels for the NAEP writing assessment for the first fully computerized NAEP test administration for grades four, eight and twelve. The contract represents a major step forward technologically, as the process the company will develop to establish NAEP achievement levels will also be computerized.

Achievement level-setting is a set of procedures for establishing the numerical scores that correspond to "Basic," "Proficient," and "Advanced" levels of achievement. Cut scores resulting from the process, as well as samples of student writing that exemplify achievement at each level, will be recommended to NAGB, which makes policy decisions on the NAEP.

The NAGB awards reflect Measured Progress's extensive experience in this area. The company has conducted standard setting for many state testing programs over the last 25 years. In addition, Measured Progress developed the Body of Work (BOW) method of establishing achievement levels. BOW involves examining actual student work and matching it to achievement-level descriptions.

Measured Progress Assistant Vice President Luz Bay, who will serve as project director/co-director for the Measured Progress/WestEd contracts, is co-creator of the BOW method. This work with NAGB brings her full circle. "I started my career as assistant project director for the NAEP, involved with setting achievement levels," she said.

Stuart Kahl, Measured Progress CEO, also has longstanding ties to the NAEP, having worked early in his career on the assessment. "We are proud to be a part of the NAEP," Kahl said. "Since its inception, it has been the most dependable national measure of student achievement."