National Assessment of Educational Progress
Dear Parent or Guardian,
Our school has been selected to represent schools across Oregon and the United States by participating in the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP). In our school, the NAEP test will be given in January/February of 2019. Your child may be selected to take a mathematics or reading assessment. It will take about two hours for most students to take the test. NAEP is different from our state assessments because it provides a common measure of student achievement across the country. The results are released as The Nation's Report Card, which provides information about student achievement to educators, parents, policymakers, and the public.
Your child will take a mathematics or reading test. At the end of the test, your child will also be asked some survey questions. NAEP includes these additional questions to help educators better understand how to meet the needs of all students. These questions will ask students to share information about themselves, their educational experiences here at school, access to technology, parental jobs and education history, and information on their living situation. As part of the 2019 National Indian Education Study, American Indian and Alaska Native students may receive additional questions tailored to their educational experiences and their opportunities to learn about their culture and traditions. All the student survey questions can be viewed online at https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/experience/survey_questionnaires.aspx. Students are free to skip any of these survey questions if they do not wish to provide the information.
Information regarding your child's participation in NAEP:
- Your child's grades will not be affected by this test.
- Your child will not receive a score for the NAEP test.
- Your child's answers to the questions on the NAEP test are completely confidential and will not be shared with the school, the district, or the Oregon Department of Education
- Your child may be excused from taking the test for any reason, does not have to finish the whole test, and may skip any question.
NAEP is voluntary and student participation provides a measure of student achievement that can help lead to improvements in education. If you do not want your child to participate, please notify Chris Wagner, Assistant Principal, in writing by December 20, 2018.
Your child does not have to study to get ready to take NAEP. We do ask however, that you encourage your child to do their best and get plenty of rest the night before the assessment. You can read about NAEP online at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/parents/2012469.pdf.
If you have questions, please contact the school office.
Sincerely,
Christopher Wagner
School Assistant Principal
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is authorized to conduct NAEP by the National Assessment of Education Progress Authorization Act (20 U.S.C. 9622) and to collect students' education records from education agencies or institutions for the purposes of evaluating federally supported education programs under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA, 34 CFR 99.31 (a)(3)(iii) and 99.35). All of the information provided by participants may be used only for statistical purposes and may not be disclosed, or used, in identifiable form for any other purpose except as required by law (20 U.S.C. 9573 and 6 U.S.C 151). By law, every NCES employee as well as every NCES agent, such as contractors and NAEP coordinators, has taken an oath and is subject to a jail term of up to 5 years, a fine of $250,000, or both if he or she willfully discloses ANY identifiable information about participants. Electronic submission of participant's information will be monitored for viruses, malware, and other threats by Federal employees and contractors in accordance with the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015. The collected information will be combined across respondents to produce statistical reports.