This report describes selected results from the 2021 NAEP School and Teacher Questionnaire Special Study conducted in March and April 2021. Results are based on a survey sample consisting of schools and teachers that serve fourth- and eighth-grade students, and are limited to states/jurisdictions and districts that agreed to participate in the study and met reporting standards. The report provides insight into some of the efforts schools and teachers made during a period of widespread academic disruption, including what support schools provided for distance learning; how schools and teachers supported students to address gaps in learning that may have occurred because of school closures; and how confident teachers were in facing the challenges of distance learning.

This report describes selected results from the age 9 2022 long-term trend (LTT) reading and mathematics assessments. The report focuses on the comparison of a nationally representative sample of age 9 students who took the assessments in the winter of the 2019-2020 school year with those who took the assessments in the winter of 2021-2022 school year. The report provides insight into the performance of age 9 students in reading and mathematics, as well as data from students and school administrators about the widespread disruptions in learning that occurred during the 2020−2021 and 2021−2022 school years. In addition, the report provides links to data tables comparing 2022 performance in LTT reading and mathematics across all administrations dating back to the early 1970s.

The National Indian Education Study (NIES) is a special study funded by the Office of Indian Education (OIE). The study includes oversampling of American Indian / Alaska Native (AI/AN) students in public schools and Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) Schools. The study design includes students taking the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) operational assessment followed by a short survey questionnaire specific to AI/AN students about the role of AI/AN culture in students' lives and school experiences. Additionally, for teachers of the sampled AI/AN students there are surveys that collect information about teachers' backgrounds and instructional practices as they relate to the education of AI/AN students. (Note there also is a school administrator survey, however those data are unrelated to this data product.)

For both the student and teacher surveys, all of the questions were multiple choice, but a space was provided at the end of the survey for respondents to write in comments. There are two such write-in questions for each of the student and teacher surveys. The responses for these write-in questions are the purpose of this data product.

The 2019 NAEP High School Transcript Study (HSTS) describes the coursetaking patterns and academic performance of graduates from a national sample of U.S. public and private schools who also took the 2019 NAEP twelfth-grade mathematics and science assessments. This report uses data from the 1990, 2000, 2009, and 2019 NAEP HSTS for coursetaking results and from 2005, 2009, and 2019 for comparisons to NAEP.

The study of high school graduates’ academic performance and coursetaking patterns is based on an analysis of their transcripts and NAEP twelfth-grade mathematics and science assessment results. HSTS show trends from 1990, 2000, 2009, and 2019 in grade point averages, course credits earned, curriculum levels, and various coursetaking patterns. The 2019 HSTS uses a new course classification system, the School Courses for the Exchange of Data (SCED), to provide a more detailed breakdown of cross-disciplinary coursetaking programs such as Career and Technical Education (CTE) and Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) coursetaking.

The study also compares graduates’ average NAEP scale scores from the twelfth-grade mathematics and science assessments to the academic achievement reported in their transcripts. The linkage of the NAEP twelfth-grade mathematics and science assessments to HSTS provides the opportunity for school leaders, policy makers, and researchers to analyze student performance by a rich set of HSTS and NAEP contextual factors.

These online Highlights present an overview of results from the NAEP 2019 science report. Highlighted results include key findings for nationally representative samples of fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students. Results are presented in terms of average scale scores and as percentages of students performing at the three NAEP achievement levels: NAEP Basic, NAEP Proficient, and NAEP Advanced. In addition to the overall average scale score, NAEP science results are also reported as average subscale scores for each of three content areas—Physical Science, Life Science, and Earth and Space Sciences. Highlighted results also include performance data for demographic student groups, scores at five selected percentiles, and responses to NAEP survey questionnaires

The 2019 average science score was lower for grade 4, and not significantly different for grades 8 and grade 12, compared to average scores in 2015. Average science scores were higher for grades 4 and 8, but not significantly different for grade 12, compared to 2009, the first year under the current science framework. Compared to 2015, the average score was lower for grade 4 in two of the three science content areas; there were no significant changes in average content areas scores for grades 8 and 12. Average scores were higher in two of the three content areas for grades 4 and 8 compared to 2009 while there were no significant changes in average scores across the content areas for grade 12.

Reported results include responses of students, teachers, and school administrators to survey questionnaires designed to collect information about student’s educational experiences and opportunities to learn both inside and outside of the classroom. The report includes detailed descriptions of released interactive scenario-based tasks and discrete questions to illustrate the types of science knowledge and scientific inquiry skills that were measured as part of the NAEP science assessment.

Full results are available in the 2019 NAEP Science Report Card.