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NAEP Sample Design → Sample Design for the 2001 Assessment → National Main Assessment Sample Design in 2001 → Participation Results for the 2001 National Main Assessment → Student Participation Results for the 2001 National Main Assessment

NAEP Technical DocumentationStudent Participation Results for the 2001 National Main Assessment

The following table shows the unweighted student participation rates of invited students by grade and school type for the 2001 national main assessment. The set of invited students consists of the selected students that remained after the removal of excluded students. When, for various reasons, more than a predetermined tolerable number of invited students were absent from the originally scheduled session to which they were invited, a makeup session was held. The participation rates given in the table express the number finally assessed as a percentage of those initially invited in the participating schools. Participation rates are shown for public and nonpublic schools separately.

In each of 10 schools (3 in eighth grade and 7 in twelfth grade), the school allowed only a subset of its grade-eligible students to be included in the sample. In each case the students who were excluded from the sampling frame for the school were assigned a "pseudo-nonrespondent" code in the NAEP data records. In all steps of weighting and participation rate calculations, pseudo-nonrespondent students were treated as absent students.

Student participation counts and (unweighted) rates, by school type and grade, national main assessment: 2001

Grade	Public school students		Nonpublic school students		Combined number invited
	Number of public school students invited	Public school participation rate	Number of nonpublic school students invited	Nonpublic school participation rate	Combined number invited	Overall participation rate
4	14,300	95.1	2,200	96.8	16,400	95.3
8	21,600	91.8	3,000	95.9	24,600	92.3
12	26,200	74.5	2,600	90.6	28,700	75.9
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2001.

The combined impact of school nonparticipation and student absenteeism from sessions within participating schools is summarized in the table below. The table shows weighted participation rates by grade, assessment, and reporting population. The table shows the school participation rates before and after cooperating substitute schools are added, and the student participation rates after absentee sessions are added. The two overall student participation rates are the student participation rates multiplied by the before-substitution school participation rate and the after-substitution school participation rates, respectively.

The procedures for substituting for nonparticipating schools or imputing for them through weighting and the procedures for imputing for absent students through weighting were designed (so far as feasible) to reduce the biases resulting from school and student nonparticipation.

Results from the table below show that, consistent with earlier rounds of NAEP, the overall level of participation decreases substantially with the increase in the grade of the students.

Weighted school and student participation rates, by subject area and grade, national main assessment: 2001

Grade	Participation	U.S. history R2 participation rate (percent)	U.S. history R3 participation rate (percent)	Geography R2 participation rate (percent)	Geography R3 participation rate (percent)
4	School participation before substitution	83.3	83.3	83.3	83.3
	School participation after substitution	88.3	88.3	88.3	88.3
	Student participation overall	96.0	95.8	95.2	95.2
	Student participation before school substitution	79.9	79.8	79.2	79.2
	Student participation after school substitution	84.7	84.6	84.0	84.0
8	School participation before substitution	79.5	79.5	79.5	79.5
	School participation after substitution	87.1	87.1	87.1	87.1
	Student participation overall	93.3	92.8	92.5	92.1
	Student participation before school substitution	74.2	73.8	73.5	73.2
	Student participation after school substitution	81.3	80.9	80.6	80.2
12	School participation before substitution	72.5	72.5	72.5	72.5
	School participation after substitution	80.1	80.1	80.1	80.1
	Student participation overall	77.6	77.4	77.5	77.1
	Student participation before school substitution	56.2	56.1	56.1	55.9
	Student participation after school substitution	62.2	62.0	62.0	61.8
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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