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The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a program designed to provide statistical analysis of the progress and performance of America's educational system. For this reason, the NAEP is often referred to as the Nation's Report Card. The NAEP was initiated in 1964 and the very first assessments were released in 1969.

What is the purpose of NAEP?
The purpose of the NAEP assessments is to provide a broad range of information about student achievement and teaching goals using finely tuned demographic breakdowns and analysis. These assessments are not based on results from individual schools, but rather are extrapolated from representative samples of students across the country.

The primary long term assessments of the NAEP are determined from test results conducted in 4th, 8th and 12th grades, focusing on students who are 9, 13, or 17 years old. These specific grades and ages were singled out after research indicated these were the most critical and decisive points during the average student's academic career.

Goals of NAEP
Although the NAEP is used to determine short term goals, the primary purpose is to establish a long term commitment to education excellence by supplying information on what instructional goals are working best. Assessment material is therefore gleaned from testing conducted across a comprehensive range of disciplines including, reading, writing, mathematics, science and U.S. history.