About the Assessment: Target Population and Sample Size

The schools and students participating in NAEP assessments are selected to be representative of all schools nationally and of public schools at the state level. Samples of schools and students are drawn from each state and from the District of Columbia and Department of Defense schools. The results from the assessed students are combined to provide accurate estimates of the overall performance of students in the nation and in individual states and other jurisdictions.

While national results reflect the performance of students in both public schools and nonpublic schools (i.e., private schools, Bureau of Indian Education schools, and Department of Defense schools), state-level results reflect the performance of public school students only. Results are also reported separately for Department of Defense schools in state tables and maps. More information on sampling can be found in NAEP Technical Documentation.

Some charter schools that operate within the geographic boundaries of a school district are independent of the district and are not included in the districts' Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) report to the U.S. Department of Education under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Beginning in 2009, charter schools of this type are no longer included in the results for TUDA districts as they had been in past NAEP assessments.

The sample of students in the participating Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) school districts is an extension of the sample of students who would usually be selected by NAEP as part of state and national samples. Results for students in the TUDA samples are also included in state and national samples with appropriate weighting.

Student sample sizes and target populations for Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) in mathematics at grade 4, by jurisdiction: 2011
Jurisdiction	Sample size	Target population
Albuquerque	1,700	7,000
Atlanta	1,900	4,000
Austin	1,900	7,000
Baltimore City	1,500	6,000
Boston	1,800	4,000
Charlotte	1,700	11,000
Chicago	2,400	29,000
Cleveland	1,400	3,000
Dallas	1,800	13,000
Detroit	1,200	5,000
District of Columbia (DCPS)	1,500	3,000
Fresno	1,900	6,000
Hillsborough County (FL)	1,700	15,000
Houston	2,800	16,000
Jefferson County (KY)	2,000	8,000
Los Angeles	2,400	44,000
Miami-Dade	2,700	24,000
Milwaukee	1,400	5,000
New York City	2,500	71,000
Philadelphia	1,600	12,000
San Diego	1,700	9,000
NOTE:The sample size is rounded to the nearest hundred. The target population is rounded to the nearest thousand. DCPS = District of Columbia Public Schools. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2011 Mathematics Assessment.

Learn more about the sampling design.