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NAEP Weighting Procedures → Weighting Procedures for the 2005 Assessment → Computation of Full-Sample Weights for the 2005 Assessment → School and Student Nonresponse Adjustments for the 2005 Assessment → Student Nonresponse Adjustment for the 2005 Assessment → Development of Initial Student Nonresponse Cells for the 2005 Assessment

NAEP Technical DocumentationDevelopment of Initial Student Nonresponse Cells for the 2005 Assessment

Cell definitions for the student nonresponse adjustment vary by public and private schools. The public school samples formed initial student nonresponse cells within grade, jurisdiction, and TUDA district for the state-based samples and within grade for the national samples using the following nesting cell structure:

• SD/ELL by subject,
• school nonresponse cell,
• age¹ (classed into "older" student and "modal age or younger" student),
• gender, and
• race/ethnicity.

The highest level variable in the cell structure separates students who were either with disabilities (SD) or English language learners (ELL) from those that are neither since SD or ELL students tend to score lower on assessment tests than those without these limitations. In addition, the students in the SD/ELL category are further broken down by subject, since rules for excluding students from the assessment differ by subject. Non-SD and non-ELL students are not broken down by subject, since the exclusion rules do not apply to them.

Private school samples formed initial student nonresponse cells hierarchically within grade as follows:

• school nonresponse cell,
• age¹ (classed into "older" student and "modal age or younger" student),
• gender, and
• race/ethnicity.

The structure for private school cells for student nonresponse is slightly different from public school cells. SD/ELL status is not included in the private school cell structure because very few students in private schools fall into the SD/ELL category.

¹ Older students are those born before October 1, 1994 for grade 4; October 1, 1990 for grade 8; and October 1, 1986 for grade 12.

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