Sensitivity of NAEP to the Effects of Reform-Based Teaching and Learning in Middle School Mathematics

This study is a validity study intended to test the adequacy of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for detecting and monitoring the effects of mathematics education reform. Seventh- and eighth-grade students in reform mathematics classrooms were tested at the beginning and end of the school year. On both occasions they took both NAEP and a reform-oriented assessment called the Balanced Assessment in Mathematics (BAM). The two assessments were scaled jointly, and the effect sizes of the gains were compared across assessments. NAEP and BAM were equally successful in detecting gains in Connected Mathematics Project (CMP) classrooms, but NAEP was better able to detect effects in Algebra classrooms in the same schools.