[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 81 (Friday, April 26, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17819-17820]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-08393]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Draft Mathematics Assessment Framework for the 2025 National 
Assessment of Educational Progress

AGENCY: National Assessment Governing Board, U.S. Department of 
Education.

ACTION: Notice of opportunity for public comment for the Mathematics 
Assessment Framework for the 2025 National Assessment of Educational 
Progress (NAEP).

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SUMMARY: The National Assessment Governing Board (Governing Board) is 
soliciting public comment for guidance in updating the Assessment 
Framework for the 2025 National Assessment of Educational Progress 
(NAEP) in Mathematics.
    The Governing Board is authorized to formulate policy guidelines 
for NAEP. The NAEP legislation specifies that the Governing Board 
determines the content to be assessed for each NAEP Assessment. Each 
NAEP subject area assessment is guided by a framework that defines the 
scope of the domain to be measured by delineating the knowledge and 
skills to be tested at each grade and subject, the format of the 
assessment, and the achievement level definitions--guiding assessments 
that are valid, reliable, and reflective of widely accepted 
professional standards. The NAEP Mathematics Assessment Framework was 
last revised in 2006. It is anticipated that the current update of the 
NAEP Mathematics Assessment Framework will be presented for approval at 
the National Assessment Governing Board quarterly meeting on August 1-
3, 2019.
    Public and private parties and organizations are invited to provide 
written comments and recommendations on the draft framework. This 
notice sets forth the review schedule and provides information for 
accessing additional materials that will be useful for this review.

DATES: Comments must be received no later than June 7, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be uploaded at the following URL: https://www.naepframeworkupdate.org. Comments may also be provided via email at 
[email protected]

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michelle Blair, National Assessment 
Governing Board, 800 North Capitol Street NW, Suite 825, Washington, 
DC, 20002-4233, Telephone: (202) 357-0396.
    If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text 
telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll-free, at 1-
800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Assessment and Item Specifications elaborate 
on the framework as guidance for item development conducted by the 
National Center for Education Statistics

[[Page 17820]]

(NCES) and the NAEP assessment development contractor(s). The framework 
development and update process also produces recommendations for 
contextual variables, which supports NCES' development of the 
questionnaires administered to students, teachers, and schools to help 
the public understand the achievement results in each subject. By 
engaging NAEP's audiences, partners, and stakeholders in the panels 
that provide recommendations for NAEP frameworks and seeking public 
comment, NAEP frameworks reflect content valued by the public as 
important to measure.
    All responses will be taken into consideration before finalizing 
the updated NAEP Mathematics Assessment Framework for Board adoption. 
Once adopted, the framework will be used to guide assessment 
development and reporting for the 2025 NAEP Mathematics Assessment.
    Additional information (including the materials referenced below) 
can be found on the project website at https://www.naepframeworkupdate.org.

Proposed Updated Mathematics Framework for the 2025 National Assessment 
of Educational Progress

    The proposed revised framework can be downloaded from the framework 
project website at https://www.naepframeworkupdate.org.

Existing Mathematics Framework for the National Assessment of 
Educational Progress

    The existing framework (adopted in 2006) can be downloaded from the 
Governing Board website at https://www.nagb.gov/naep-frameworks/mathematics.html.

Governing Board's Periodic Review and Updating of NAEP Frameworks

    Governing Board policy articulates the Board's commitment to a 
comprehensive, inclusive, and deliberative process to determine and 
update the content and format of all NAEP assessments. For each NAEP 
assessment, this process results in a NAEP framework, outlining what is 
to be measured and how it will be measured. Periodically, the Governing 
Board reviews existing NAEP frameworks to determine if changes are 
warranted. Each NAEP framework development and update process considers 
a wide set of factors, including but not limited to reviews of recent 
research on teaching and learning, changes in state and local standards 
and assessments, and the latest perspectives on the nation's future 
needs and desirable levels of achievement.
    In 2018, the Board initiated a review of the NAEP Mathematics 
Framework. To inform its discussions about the extent to which the NAEP 
Mathematics Framework needs revisions, the Board decided it would be 
prudent to gather and analyze mathematics curricular standards for 
grades K through 8 in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the 
Department of Defense Education Activity. The Governing Board's NAEP 
Mathematics Framework review used this analysis of state standards 
along with expert commentary to determine whether a framework update 
was required and the type of updates that may be needed. As a result of 
this review, the Governing Board initiated a framework update process 
for the NAEP Mathematics Assessment. Learn more about the review at 
https://www.nagb.gov/focus-areas/framework-development/framework-development-mathematics.html.

Summary of Proposed Revisions

    Compared to the existing NAEP Mathematics Framework for the 2009--
2017 NAEP Mathematics Assessments, the proposed updated framework 
reflects the following changes:
     The grade 4 version of six objectives were removed (two 
objectives each in Number and Operations; Geometry; and Data Analysis, 
Statistics, and Probability). One objective was added to grade 4 in 
Algebra.
     Three grade 8 objectives were edited, one was deleted in 
Number and Operations, and one was added in Algebra.
     Descriptions of objectives in grade 12 were edited. In 
Measurement, one objective was made optional, and one new optional 
objective was added.
     Distribution of items for each content area at grades 4 
and 12 remains the same. In grade 8, the proportion of items in Data 
Analysis, Statistics, and Probability was increased 5% (to 20%) and for 
Algebra decreased by 5% (to 25%).
     A new chapter on Mathematical Practices describes and 
illustrates the assessment of five mathematical practices through which 
students engage in knowing and doing mathematics. This chapter replaces 
the previous chapter on Mathematical Complexity and removed the need 
for the subtopic of ``Reasoning'' (this subtopic was introduced in 2009 
for Number and Operations; Geometry, Data Analysis, Statistics, and 
Probability; Algebra). The objectives in that subtopic have been 
removed.
     The two chapters on item formats and assessment design 
were merged into a single chapter, Overview of the Assessment Design, 
and updated extensively to reflect current and future digital platform 
use and the new item option of scenario-based tasks.
     Continuing the policy established for the 2017 digital 
administration of NAEP, students will have access to a calculator 
emulator in blocks of items designated as ``calculator blocks'': four-
function for grade 4, scientific for grade 8. The one change in 2025 
will be that the grade 12 calculator will include a graphing emulator.
    Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this 
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    Dated: April 22, 2019.
Lesley Muldoon,
Executive Director, National Assessment Governing Board, U.S. 
Department of Education.
[FR Doc. 2019-08393 Filed 4-25-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4000-01-P