The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will appoint an ad hoc panel to consider several innovations that could substantially reduce the cost structure of NAEP while maintaining its technical quality and value in informing the public about education progress. The panel will review the major cost components of NAEP and related assessment programs and consider the following possible changes to the NAEP program: 1) automatic item generation; 2) remote test administration; 3) computer adaptive testing; and 4) consolidation and elimination of substantive overlaps between NAEP assessments and between NAEP and other assessments, such as PISA, TIMSS, and PIRLS. The panel will also solicit and consider suggestions of other major changes that reflect modern methods of assessment and that could substantially reduce NAEP costs while largely preserving its technical quality and informative value. The panel will review relevant research and industry practice to draw conclusions about the likely effects of these potential changes on the cost, technical quality, and informative value of NAEP.
The panel will produce a short and broadly accessible report that summarizes its findings and conclusions about these potential changes to NAEP and recommends potential assessment or programmatic changes and research needed for NAEP to explore innovations while balancing the competing objectives of cost reduction, technical quality and informative value.