NAEP Technical DocumentationBatching and Scanning Student Booklets and Questionnaires

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Once the presence of all paper-based student booklets listed on the administration form for a session is confirmed, the booklets, along with a scannable header containing the school number, session number, and number of books present in the session, are forwarded to the batching area where they are put into batches. Each batch is assigned a unique number. This number, created on Work Flow Management (WFM) system for all image-scannable documents, facilitates the internal tracking of the batches and allows departmental resource planning.

All booklets listed on the administration form, whether it is used or not, is sent through the regular scanning process. The only exception to this policy was when bio-hazard (books with blood etc. on them) is received. Bio-hazard books are examined to determine if they are still able to be processed and, if not, are deemed as absent or other and removed from the security list manually and disposed of in a secure manner.

Three capture methods are used to transcribe NAEP data from the paper booklets to a computerized form. Data on the scannable documents is collected using optical-scanning equipment. These scanners are capable of capturing multiple-choice responses; images of the open-ended constructed-responses for human scoring; and numbers or alpha characters written in a specific field on a page. Data is edited and suspect cases are resolved before further processing. 

Unused/Unassigned booklets not listed on the administration form received are forwarded to security processing, where the booklet ID bar codes are read and recorded into a separate file. If intact bundles of unused booklets are returned from the field, the bar code on the bundle slip is scanned, eliminating the need to scan each booklet in the bundle individually. The security scanning file and the processed documents file are later compared to the original bundle security file for individual booklet matching. All unused materials received are then inventoried and sent to the materials distribution processing warehouse for storage, awaiting authorization from NCES to securely recycle them.

Paper school and teacher questionnaires are batched together for scanning and editing. The materials processing staff batch the questionnaires using a batch/stack header(s) to identify the batch number for tracking purposes. The WFM system assigns a batch number for tracking through each processing stage.

There were also various non-scannable questionnaire types printed. These were entered  into the NAEPq online system by the materials distribution processing staff.

The questionnaires are submitted for scanning as sufficient quantities become available for batching. Batches are then forwarded to the scanning area. Just like the student booklets, data is edited and suspect cases are resolved before further processing.  The number of questionnaires scanned or entered online can be found in the links on the right. 

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