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About the Assessment: Inclusion Rates

NAEP endeavors to include as many sampled students as possible in the assessment, including students with disabilities (SD) and English language learners (ELL), and has established specific inclusion goals: 95 percent of all sampled students and 85 percent of sampled students identified as SD or ELL. Inclusion rates were computed for each state/jurisdiction participating in the 2011 assessment and compared to NAEP inclusion goals. Three inclusion percentages were computed for each state/jurisdiction. An overall inclusion percentage represents included students as a percentage of all students sampled within the state/jurisdiction. In addition, separate percentages were computed to signify included students as a percentage of the state/jurisdiction sample that was identified as SD or ELL.

Inclusion percentages are sample estimates that are associated with a measure of uncertainty or margin of error. Confidence intervals quantify this uncertainty due to sampling, resulting in interval estimates of the inclusion percentages. Therefore, methods appropriate for constructing confidence intervals for percentages were used to determine upper and lower confidence bounds around the inclusion point estimates.

When determining whether each state/jurisdiction met the NAEP inclusion goals, the confidence intervals were used, rather than just the point estimates. In other words, if the inclusion goal, whether 95 percent or 85 percent, fell within the corresponding confidence interval, the state/jurisdiction was considered as having met the goal. Therefore, states/jurisdictions for which the upper bound of the confidence interval was less than 95 percent did not meet the overall inclusion goal.

Read more about the NAEP inclusion policy, including exclusion rates from current and previous assessments in all subject areas.

National and State
District
Percentage of fourth- and eighth-grade public school students with disabilities (SD) and English language learners (ELL) included in NAEP reading, as a percentage of identified SD or ELL students, by jurisdiction: 2011
  Percentage of identified SD or ELL students
  Grade 4 Grade 8
Jurisdiction SD S.E. ELL S.E. SD S.E. ELL S.E.
       Nation (public) 77   (0.5) 89 2 (0.7) 76 (0.5) 86 2 (0.8)
       Large city 1 78   (1.2) 88 2 (1.0) 79   (1.5) 88 2 (1.1)
Albuquerque 73 (3.8) 88 2 (2.5) 71 (3.2) 67 (3.2)
Atlanta 62 (3.6) ‡ (†) 72 (3.2) ‡ (†)
Austin 42 (4.6) 70 (3.0) 50 (3.8) 77 (2.6)
Baltimore City 15 (2.5) ‡ (†) 14 (2.2) ‡ (†)
Boston 73   (2.0) 88 2 (1.2) 73   (2.8) 70 (2.9)
Charlotte 85 2 (3.2) 95 2 (1.8) 83 2 (2.9) 87 2 (3.4)
Chicago 90 2 (2.0) 92 2 (2.0) 90 2 (1.9) 88 2 (3.5)
Cleveland 79 (2.1) 83 2 (2.9) 80 (2.2) 92 2 (3.1)
Dallas 43 (5.0) 69 (4.7) 49 (4.9) 86 2 (1.9)
Detroit 56   (5.2) 94 2 (2.2) 56   (2.4) 93 2 (1.8)
District of Columbia (DCPS) 81 2 (2.7) 88 2 (2.5) 86 2 (1.8) 78 2 (4.3)
Fresno 76 (3.0) 98 2 (0.7) 79 2 (3.9) 97 2 (1.1)
Hillsborough County (FL) 85 2 (4.4) 95 2 (1.7) 90 2 (1.9) 93 2 (2.4)
Houston 54 (4.2) 68 (3.5) 56 (3.2) 83 2 (2.1)
Jefferson County (KY) 56   (2.8) 28   (5.1) 55   (3.7) ‡   (†)
Los Angeles 84 2 (2.7) 97 2 (0.6) 84 2 (2.5) 93 2 (1.2)
Miami-Dade 83 2 (3.4) 86 2 (3.7) 87 2 (2.0) 72 (3.6)
Milwaukee 88 2 (2.4) 98 2 (0.9) 85 2 (2.7) 94 2 (2.2)
New York City 93 2 (2.5) 90 2 (1.8) 92 2 (1.7) 86 2 (3.0)
Philadelphia 80 2 (3.6) 94 2 (2.1) 83 2 (3.4) 78 2 (4.9)
San Diego 69   (4.9) 96 2 (1.0) 91 2 (2.4) 97 2 (1.2)
† Not applicable. Standard error estimate cannot be accurately determined.
‡ Reporting standards not met. Sample size insufficient to permit a reliable estimate.
1 Large city includes students from all cities in the nation with populations of 250,000 or more including the participating districts.
2 The jurisdiction's inclusion rate is higher than or not significantly different from the National Assessment Governing Board's goal of 85 percent.
NOTE: Standard errors of the estimates appear in parentheses.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2011 Reading Assessment.