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NAEP Technical Documentation Sample Design for the 2009 State Assessment

			Target Population Sampling Frame Stratification of Schools School Sample Selection Substitute Schools Ineligible Schools Student Sample Selection School and Student Participation

The NAEP 2009 state operational mathematics, reading and science assessments covered fourth- and eighth-grade students for each subject. A representative sample of students was drawn in each participating jurisdiction, including states, the District of Columbia, Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools, Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools, and in school districts chosen for the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) study. The state operational mathematics and reading assessments also covered twelfth-grade students in public schools in 11 states for each subject. A representative sample of public school students was drawn in each participating jurisdiction.

All jurisdictions participated in the mathematics and reading assessments at the fourth and eighth grades, whereas four states declined to participate in the science assessment. By design, the District of Columbia and BIE schools participated in mathematics and reading only, as they each lacked the required number of students for the state science assessment.

Each jurisdiction sample was designed to produce aggregate estimates with approximately equal precision for all the participating jurisdictions, as well as estimates for various subpopulations of interest. The target student sample size per jurisdiction for an operational assessment was 3,150 students. In the fourth and eighth grades, the total sample size for a jurisdiction that was participating in science assessment was 9,450, which included mathematics, reading, and science assessments. Jurisdictions not participating in the state science assessment had a target sample size of 6,650, which included mathematics and reading assessments, and 350 science students sampled for the national science sample. In the twelfth grade, the target sample sizes varied by jurisdiction. Details can be found in the school sample selection.

The target population for the NAEP 2009 state assessment included students in public schools who were enrolled in the fourth, eighth and twelfth grades at the time of assessment. The sampling frame included public schools having the relevant grade in each jurisdiction. The samples were selected based on a two-stage sample design:

1. selection of schools within participating jurisdictions, and
2. selection of students within schools.

From the stratified frame of public schools for each grade within each jurisdiction, a systematic random sample of grade-eligible schools was drawn with probability proportional to a measure of size based on the estimated grade-specific enrollment of the school.

For the TUDA study, schools were sampled from the 18 participating TUDA districts at the same time schools were selected for the jurisdiction samples. The TUDA districts were as follows:

• Atlanta Public Schools, Georgia;
• Austin Independent School District, Texas;
• Baltimore City Public Schools, Maryland;
• Boston Public Schools, Massachusetts;
• Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, North Carolina;
• Chicago Public Schools, Illinois;
• Cleveland Metropolitan School District, Ohio;
• Detroit Public Schools, Michigan;
• District of Columbia Public Schools, District of Columbia;
• Fresno Unified School District, California;
• Houston Independent School District, Texas;
• Jefferson County Public Schools (Louisville) , Kentucky;
• Los Angeles Unified School District, California;
• Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Florida;
• Milwaukee Public Schools, Wisconsin;
• New York City Department of Education, New York;
• School District of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and
• San Diego Unified School District, California.

These subsamples affected the design of the state samples in those states where TUDA districts were oversampled. In each of these states, there were distinct sampling rates for each TUDA district and for the balance of the state (i.e., the rest of the state not in a TUDA district).

Each selected school provided a list of eligible enrolled students from which a systematic sample of students was drawn. In fourth- and eighth-grade schools that did not participate in the state science assessment, 63 students, if possible, were selected from each school: 30 for mathematics, 30 for reading, and 3 for science.  In fourth and eighth-grade schools that did participate in the state science assessment, 90 students, if possible, were selected from each school, one-third for each of the three subjects. In twelfth-grade, the student sample sizes varied by jurisdiction. Details can be found in the student sample selection. 

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