The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the "Nation's Report Card," is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do. Its major goals are to measure student achievement and to report change in performance over time. NAEP provides results for the nation and for the states, but does not provide scores for Idaho school districts, schools, classrooms, or individual students.

   The Idaho State Board of Education includes NAEP (at grades 4, 8, and 12) in the state testing program because it gives us comparative state and national information about student achievement in reading, mathematics, science and writing. Even though the U.S. Department of Education pays for and administers NAEP, there is no federal requirement that an individual student complete all or any part of the assessment. However, Idaho administrative law does require that students enrolled in Idaho public schools (and public charter schools) participate in NAEP, if selected, just as they would in the Idaho Standards Achievement Tests or any of the other state mandated assessments.

Idaho Administrative Code: Assessment in the Public Schools (IDAPA 08.02.03.111)