Roles suggested for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in proposed national testing are discussed. Recent proposals center around monitoring, evaluation and accountability, and serving as a benchmark for other tests. Monitoring has been the traditional function of the NAEP, and in this role, its influence has been substantial. The movement to use this assessment for evaluation and accountability is well under way, as exemplified in the Trial State Assessment of 1990 and its extensions. Proposals to use the NAEP would, in effect, use it as a substitute for publisher's norming samples or as a national anchor test. These proposals raise the following technical issues: (1) linking a broad matrix-sampled test to narrower student-level tests; (2) linking taught-to tests to uncorrupted tests; (3) keeping the NAEP itself uncorrupted; and (4) erroneous evaluations based on insufficient data. It is concluded that the NAEP remains best suited for its original monitoring function. There is a 13-item list of references. (SLD)