Educational Assessment
Investment ID: 018-000000091
Overview
Program Title
Educational Assessment
Description
The Educational Assessment investment incorporates IT endeavors of the National Assessment of Educational Progress and multiple international assessments to provide a measurement of educational performance for educators, researchers, legislators, and the general public.
Type of Program
Major IT Investments
Multi-Agency Category
Not Applicable
Associated Websites
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/, http://nationsreportcard.gov, http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/international/, http://naepims.org
Investment Detail
As computers and digital tools play an increasingly important role in the classroom, NAEP must explore new testing methods and item types that reflect this growing use of technology in education. NAEP's future lies in using technology to measure and report on the types of skills that are increasingly important in students' lives and are critical to success in a digital world. As such, NAEP must leverage technology to fully understand what students know and can do, including how they engage with technology to approach problem solving. Through digitally based assessments (DBAs) NAEP has been able to introduce a variety of new item types that move beyond the traditional format of multiple-choice and constructed-response to better reflect the kinds of technology tools and interactions students are expecting to find in classrooms across the country.
The NAEP program has undergone significant changes during the COVID pandemic. The operational assessments scheduled for 2021 were postponed to 2022, whereas activities planned for 2022 were reprioritized. In addition the scope for the 2024 next-generation platform has increased to include online and device-agnostic delivery. The exploration of online and/or device-agnostic delivery could result in cost savings in field staff, tablet usage costs and other equipment in upcoming years (FY2024 and beyond). As a result, the O&M costs for FY2022 will have decreased because the operational administration in 2022 was based on the system developed in 2021. On the other hand, the DME costs in FY2022 increased because of the increased scope for the next-gen platform development.
Overall, the goal with the next-gen platform is to continue to modernize NAEP while finding ways to save the government money, by exploring online delivery, automated scoring, and a two-subject NAEP which could begin saving money in future years.
The NAEP program has undergone significant changes during the COVID pandemic. The operational assessments scheduled for 2021 were postponed to 2022, whereas activities planned for 2022 were reprioritized. In addition the scope for the 2024 next-generation platform has increased to include online and device-agnostic delivery. The exploration of online and/or device-agnostic delivery could result in cost savings in field staff, tablet usage costs and other equipment in upcoming years (FY2024 and beyond). As a result, the O&M costs for FY2022 will have decreased because the operational administration in 2022 was based on the system developed in 2021. On the other hand, the DME costs in FY2022 increased because of the increased scope for the next-gen platform development.
Overall, the goal with the next-gen platform is to continue to modernize NAEP while finding ways to save the government money, by exploring online delivery, automated scoring, and a two-subject NAEP which could begin saving money in future years.