Mapping State Proficiency Standards onto NAEP Scales

Under NCLB, states are required to report the percentages of students achieving proficiency in reading and mathematics for grades 3 through 8. As tempting as it is to compare proficiency scores across states, researchers are well aware of the pitfalls of this approach, given the differences in state curriculum standards and assessments.

In a recently released report (see link below), the Department's Institute of Education Sciences compared state assessment proficiency percentages to the estimated
percentages of students achieving proficiency with respect to the standards established by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). IES found large discrepancies between the two. It attributed this variation to differences in both content standards and student academic achievement from state to state, as well as from differences in the stringency of the standards adopted by the states.