U.S. Department of Education 

NCES 2011-460

NAEP

 Tools on th
Whether you’re an educator, 

a member of the media, a parent, 

a student, a policymaker, or 

a researcher, there are many 

resources available on the National 

Assessment of Educational Progress 

(NAEP) website that can help you 

fi nd exactly what you’re looking for 

as you explore the results.

Do you want to know...

• How well the nation’s students 

are performing in school? 

• How well your state is doing 

compared to other states? 

• How to fi nd NAEP sample questions?

• What a Profi cient student can do? 

Find information that will help you 

to answer these questions—and 

many more—using the NAEP Tools 

on the Web. 

View the most recent results at 

http://nationsreportcard.gov.

Get star ted exploring the data at 

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/

about/naeptools.asp.

NAEP Data Explorer

Analyze NAEP data and create tables, maps, and 

other graphics. 

NAEP Questions Tool

Search, sort, and print NAEP sample questions.

Test Yourself

Try out actual questions administered in the NAEP 

assessments. 

Item Maps

See what students at each achievement level are likely 

to know and be able to do.

State Comparisons

Compare state performance by various demographic groups.

State and District Profi les

See NAEP performance results and student demographics 

for states and participating districts.
How well are the 

nation’s students 

performing in 

school? 

NAEP DATA EXPLORER

Th e NAEP Data Explorer allows you to view national results 

or search for detailed results for various subjects, grades, and 

jurisdictions. Student, teacher, and school variables let you 

look behind the results to see which factors relate to student 

performance. Create custom tables, graphics, and maps to 

illustrate the results in your presentations and reports!

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata

How can I fi nd 

NAEP sample 

questions? 

NAEP QUESTIONS TOOL

Use the NAEP Questions Tool to view more than 2,000 

questions in nine subject areas that have been released from 

past NAEP assessments. You can search for questions by 

subject, grade, diffi culty, and other characteristics; view 

actual student responses for available questions; and create 

quizzes for your classroom. You can also view scoring guides 

and data on how students performed on each question. 

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/itmrlsx

18% are

Below Basic

10% are

at Advanced

32% are 

at Profi cient

A.

B.

C.

D.

To describe the va

To explain the wa

To show the ways

To show what diff

What is the main purpose
How would you 

do on NAEP? 

TEST YOURSELF

Use the NAEP Test Yourself tool to answer available NAEP 

questions at each grade and subject, and compare your scores 

to those of students from across the nation to see how you 

would perform on NAEP. Use the link provided to click 

through to the NAEP Questions Tool to see details of 

available questions, including scoring guides and results from 

the nation, states, and participating urban districts.

http://nationsreportcard.gov/testyourself.asp

What can 

a Profi cient

student do? 

ITEM MAPS

Th e NAEP Item Maps help you understand what a score 

indicates about what a student knows. Item maps illustrate 

the knowledge and skills demonstrated by students 

performing at diff erent scale scores and each achievement 

level on NAEP assessments. 

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/itemmaps

ch picture shows that is the same as ? 3

4

6

8

C.

D.

291

288

285

282

281

277

273

Advanced

Profi cient

Grade 4 Mathematics
How does your 

state compare to 

others?

STATE COMPARISONS 

Th e NAEP State Comparisons tool can help you make 

quick comparisons between your state, other states, 

and the nation. Use this tool to create tables and maps 

that compare states based on average scale scores for 

demographic groups of students. Th is allows you to examine 

achievement gaps based on factors such as socioeconomic 

status, gender, and race/ethnicity.

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/statecomparisons

WY

CO

IN

KY

WV

VT

HI

MD

DE

RI

MT ND

SD

MN

WI

MI

ME

NY

PA

VA

IA NE

MO

OH

KS

AR OK

TX

NM

LA

TN NC

SC

GA

FL

MS AL

NJ

IL

CT

NH

MA

How well are 

your students 

doing? 

STATE AND DISTRICT PROFILES

NAEP State and District Profi les provide key information 

about the characteristics of a state’s or participating 

district’s students and schools, as well as its history of 

NAEP performance and participation. 

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/states

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/districts

1998200220032005

220

205

190

Reading (0-500)

20022003200520072009

240

230

220

210

Mathematics (0-500)

2000 2005 2002

Writing (0-300)

160

120

80

40

0

160

120

80

40

0

Science (0-300)
To locate quick reference guides and tutorials that will help 

you learn how to use the tools, visit: http://nces.ed.gov/

nationsreportcard/about/naeptools.asp. 

If you are a student who has been selected to take NAEP, 

stop by the student website to see what it’s all about: 

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/students.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is 

the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment 

of what our nation’s students know and can do. NAEP is 

congressionally mandated, and was fi rst administered in 1969 

to measure student achievement nationally. The results of NAEP 

are released as The Nation’s Report Card, and are used to 

develop ways to improve education in the United States. 
For more informa

or to download t

http://nces.ed.gov/

You can also contact t

Education Stati

National Center for 

Assessment Div

1990 K S

Washington

Phone: 202

http://nces.ed.gov/nations

To order copies of The 

other NAEP publication

ED P

U.S. Departme

P.O. Box 

Alexandria

www.ED

www.ed.gov 

This report was prepared for the National Cent

ED-07-DO-0338 with Hager Sharp. The con

refl ect the views or policies of the U.S. Depar

commercial products, or organizations does no