NAEP Technical DocumentationDevelopment of Initial Student Nonresponse Cells for the 2007 Assessment

Cell definitions for the student nonresponse adjustment vary by public and private schools. Nonresponse adjustment procedures are not applied to excluded students because they are not required to complete an assessment. The public school samples formed initial student nonresponse cells within grade, jurisdiction, and Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) district for the state-based samples at grades 4 and 8 and nationally for the national sample at grade 12 using the following nesting cell structure:

Student with disabilities (SD)/English language learner (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 classified either as SD or ELL from those who 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:

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

Although exclusion rules differ by subject, there were not enough SD or ELL private school students to break out by subject as was done for the public schools.

¹ Older students are those born before October 1, 1996 for grade 4; October 1, 1992 for grade 8; and October 1, 1988 for grade 12.

Last updated 28 August 2009 (JL)

Printer-friendly Version