About the Mathematics Assessment

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2011 mathematics assessment was designed to measure students' knowledge of mathematics and their ability to apply that knowledge in problem-solving situations.

Results are reported for the nation, states, and participating urban districts at fourth and eighth grade. At the national level, results are presented for students in public and nonpublic schools, while state and district results are for public school students only.

The mathematics assessment was developed and reviewed by a committee of mathematics and measurement experts to capture the goals of the mathematics framework. The National Assessment Governing Board, through a comprehensive national process involving mathematics teachers, researchers, measurement experts, policymakers, and members of the general public, created the framework, which describes the goals of the assessment and the kinds of exercises it ought to feature. The Mathematics Standing Committee was instrumental in the development of the assessment.

The series of tables on the student population and sample, school and student participation rates, and inclusion of students with disabilities and English language learners provide context for interpreting the results of the assessment. Read the NAEP inclusion policy to learn more about NAEP accommodations and the history of the policy.

Learn more about procedures used as part of the 2011 mathematics assessment:

• Learn what the mathematics assessment measures.
• Read more about how the assessment was developed.
• See information about the process used to score constructed-response questions.
• Browse the descriptions of the mathematics achievement levels.
• Read about the NAEP mathematics scale on the NAEP website.
• Learn more about the sampling design.
• Read about how to interpret NAEP mathematics results.

Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) in Mathematics

The primary goal of TUDA is to focus attention on urban education and measure educational progress within large urban districts. Read more about the TUDA program on the NAEP website. When comparing the results for urban districts to results for the nation and large cities, it is important to consider how the demographics of the jurisdictions are different. For example, large cities and participating urban districts differ from the nation in the proportion of students eligible for the National School Lunch Program (an indicator of lower family income). The percentages of lower-income students eligible for free/reduced-price school lunch in the nation in 2011 were 52 percent at grade 4 and 48 percent at grade 8; the percentages of lower-income students in the districts ranged from 52 to 100 percent across the two grades. In Cleveland, all students were categorized as eligible.

Representative samples of fourth- and eighth-grade public school students from 21 urban districts participated in the 2011 mathematics assessment. Between 1,000 and 2,700 students in each district were assessed at grades 4 and 8. The 18 districts listed below participated in the 2009 and 2011 assessments.

The following three districts participated for the first time in 2011:

Just as the national public sample is used as a benchmark for comparing results for states, results for urban districts are compared to results from large cities nationwide. Results for large cities are for public schools located in the urbanized areas of cities with populations of 250,000 or more. Large city is not synonymous with "inner city." Schools in participating TUDA districts are also included in the results for large cities, even though most districts (Albuquerque, Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Cleveland, Dallas, Fresno, Hillsborough County, Houston, Jefferson County, Los Angeles, and Miami-Dade) include some schools not classified as large city schools.