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About the Assessment: Exclusion Rates

NAEP has always endeavored to assess all students selected as a part of its sampling process, including students who are classified by their schools as students with disabilities (SD) and/or as English language learners (ELL). The decision to exclude any of these students is made by school personnel. School personnel are encouraged to use inclusion criteria provided by NAEP and may discuss their inclusion decisions with NAEP field staff. Some students participate with testing accommodations. Read more about the NAEP inclusion policy, including exclusion rates from current and previous assessments in all subject areas.

The tables below show the percentage of students identified as SD and/or ELL, and provide the rate of students excluded and accommodated in two ways: as a percentage of all students in the NAEP sample, or as a percentage of students identified as SD and/or ELL. Tables that provide percentages of SD students include those identified under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (Title 29 U.S.C. 794 Section 504), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of handicap in federally assisted programs and activities.

Grade 8 National and State
Grade 8 Trend
Percentage of eighth-grade students with disabilities (SD) excluded in NAEP science, as a percentage of identified SD students, by state/jurisdiction: 2009 and 2011
  Percentage of identified SD students
State/jurisdiction 2009 2011
    Nation 13 12
      Nation (public) 14 12
Alabama 12 10
Alaska 7
Arizona 16 8
Arkansas 9 8
California 16 18
Colorado 12 9
Connecticut 10 10
Delaware 8 11
Florida 9 6
Georgia 13 15
Hawaii 8 9
Idaho 13 16
Illinois 6 7
Indiana 14 9
Iowa 8 6
Kansas 11
Kentucky 19 20
Louisiana 10 8
Maine 9 9
Maryland 20 14
Massachusetts 17 15
Michigan 19 19
Minnesota 14 14
Mississippi 10 11
Missouri 8 9
Montana 16 13
Nebraska 9
Nevada 12 11
New Hampshire 10 11
New Jersey 11 6
New Mexico 23 13
New York 7 7
North Carolina 11 11
North Dakota 27 23
Ohio 14 14
Oklahoma 21 17
Oregon 13 12
Pennsylvania 9 7
Rhode Island 10 3
South Carolina 14 10
South Dakota 12 10
Tennessee 14 12
Texas 26 18
Utah 15 16
Vermont 7
Virginia 12 15
Washington 17 14
West Virginia 11 12
Wisconsin 13 13
Wyoming 11 10
Other jurisdictions
    District of Columbia 7
    DoDEA1 9 6
— Not available. The state/jurisdiction did not participate at state level in 2009.
1 Department of Defense Education Activity (overseas and domestic schools).
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2009 and 2011 Science Assessments.