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NAEP Sample Design → Sample Design for the 2000 Assessment → State Assessment Sample Design in 2000 → Student Sample Selection in the 2000 State Assessment → Reduced Sample Option

NAEP Technical DocumentationReduced Sample Option

The reduced sample option adjusts the number of assessment sessions for participating schools with multiple sessions in some participating jurisdictions, easing their testing burdens. Assessment estimates obtained from jurisdictions that exercise this option, however, prove more variable than the estimates obtained without the option.

A school is eligible for the reduced sample option if it meets the following criteria:

• its jurisdiction contains fewer than 100 schools, and

• it has more than two fourth-grade assessment sessions or three eighth-grade assessment sessions.

Under this option, participating jurisdictions reduce student sample sizes by adjusting the number of sessions within the eligible schools. The reduction is subject to the following constraints:

• the minimum number of sessions per school equals one session,

• the maximum number of sessions per school equals two fourth-grade sessions or three eighth-grade sessions, and

• the expected student size from the reduced sample equals one-half or more of the original student sample size.

For the 2000 state assessment, no participating jurisdictions exercised the reduced sample option.

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