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NAEP Sample Design → Sample Design for the 2001 Assessment → National Main Assessment Sample Design in 2001 → Sampling Within Schools in the 2001 National Main Assessment → Assignment of Sessions to Schools for the 2001 National Main Assessment

NAEP Technical DocumentationAssignment of Sessions to Schools for the 2001 National Main Assessment

In the 2001 assessment, schools were assigned two types of sessions: "main"—for geography and U.S. history, and "field test"—for future NAEP assessments. The field tests were not weighted.

Schools were assigned 1, 2, 3, or 4 sessions depending on their estimated grade enrollment from the frame. The cutoffs were as follows:

• Schools with 25 or less estimated grade enrollment: 1 session;

• Schools with 26 to 50 estimated grade enrollment: 2 sessions;

• Schools with 51 to 75 estimated grade enrollment: 3 sessions; and

• Schools with 76 or more estimated grade enrollment: 4 sessions.

If the school was found to have significantly fewer students than was expected at the time of assessment, then the session count was adjusted downwards.

Each session for the school was then assigned as main or field based on the following probabilities:

• Fourth and eighth grade public: 10/11 chance of main, 1/11 chance of field;

• Fourth and eighth grade nonpublic: 30/31 chance of main, 1/31 chance of field;

• Twelfth grade public: 15/16 chance of main, 1/16 chance of field; and

• Twelfth grade nonpublic: 45/46 chance of main, 1/46 chance of field.

Note that, in some cases, a school with only one session could have that session assigned as a field session. In that case, the school drops out of the sample for the history and geography assessment. The weights of schools with only one session that are assigned to the main assessment are adjusted upwards to account for these schools which are assigned solely to the field test.

The following table presents the session results for the participating schools in the history/geography assessment by grade.

Distribution of main and field test sessions among sampled schools by grade, national main assessment: 2001

Session sampling outcomes	Fourth grade	Eighth grade	Twelfth grade
Total participating schools	365	369	374
All field test sessions	2	1	1
All geography/U.S. history sessions	308	279	301
1:1 Geography/U.S. history to field test sessions	551	3	3
2:1 Geography/U.S. history to field test sessions	0	122	3
3:1 Geography/U.S. history to field test sessions	0	73	66
4:1 Geography/U.S. history to field test sessions	0	1	0
1 Nine of these schools had two sessions each. The rest had one session each. 2 Two of these schools had six sessions altogether. The rest had three sessions altogether. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2001.

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