This essay provides a two-pronged critical assessment of a subset of the literature on racial disproportionality in special education: that which aims to estimate racial disparities among otherwise similar children. This body of research has shown that Black students are less likely than "comparable" White students to receive special…

IES is the primary research, evaluation, and statistics arm of the U.S. Department of Education. Established through the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA), the Institute's mission is to expand fundamental knowledge and understanding of education and to provide education leaders and practitioners, parents and students, researchers, and…

For decades, when elected officials, researchers, educators, and parents have wanted a clear-eyed measure of what students know in a range of subjects, they have turned to an authoritative source: the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Now the country stands poised to enter a new testing era. All but two states have agreed to work…

Provides details on the instrument development, sample design, data collection, and data analysis procedures of the 1996 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) long-term trend and main assessments for the United States. (Author/SLD)

This report documents the design, administration, and data analysis procedure of the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) for 1996. It indicates the technical decisions that were made and the rationale behind them. Detailed substantive findings are not presented in this report. These chapters provide technical information about the…

As mandated by Congress, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) surveys the educational accomplishments of U.S. students and monitors changes in those accomplishments. NAEP tracks the educational achievement of 4th, 8th, and 12th graders over time in selected content areas, and has been tracking achievement for 30 years. The goals…