Table of Contents  |  Search Technical Documentation  |  References

NAEP Sample Design → NAEP 2005 Sample Design → National Assessment Sample Design → Private School National Assessment → Sampling of Schools for the 2005 National Private School Assessments

NAEP Technical DocumentationSampling of Schools for the 2005 National Private School Assessments

As in the state operational sample of public schools, the goal was to achieve a self-weighting sample at the student level. The target sample size of students in each school was 120.

The measure of size computation was similar to that used for the fourth- and eighth-grade state assessment. One difference was that the estimated grade enrollment used to create the preliminary measure of size was weighted by the PSS school weight from the PSS area sample. As with the state sample, multiple "hits" were allowed per school.

Schools were ordered within each school type, using a serpentine sort (by census division, urbanicity, race/ethnicity status, and estimated grade enrollment). A systematic sample was then drawn with probability proportional to size using this serpentine sorted list and the measures of size.

Schools with unknown affiliation were treated separately. A fixed sample of 25 schools with unknown affiliation were sampled at each of the three grades.

Printer-friendly Version