Supporting statement part B wave 3 2009

Supporting Statement Part B

Information for the 2009 Components Contained in Wave 3 Submittal

Teacher and School Questionnaires

Teacher Background Questionnaires

At grades 4 and 8, teachers of students participating in the main NAEP assessments are administered a questionnaire. No teacher questionnaire will be administered at grade 12. At grade 4, a single teacher questionnaire will be administered across all subjects assessed based on the structure of the schools. At grade 8, teacher questionnaires are administered for subject-specific areas.

Both operational and pilot mathematics- and reading-specific sections of the grades 4 and 8 teacher questionnaires will be administered in 2009. The science-specific sections of the teacher questionnaires will be operational, and the subject-specific sections for U.S. history, civics, and geography will be piloted.

The NAEP 2009 Teacher Questionnaires are composed of multiple parts: Background, Education, and Training (Part I) and one or more Classroom Organization and Instruction components that are subject-specific. Given the structure of elementary school, the grade 4 teacher questionnaire contains multiple subjects in the subject specific sections of a single questionnaire. The grade 8 teacher questionnaires focus on a single subject (or, as is the case in the 2009 pilot, on multiple-related subjects such as U.S. history, civics, and geography), utilizing multiple forms of questionnaires.

The following table depicts the layout for the 2009 teacher questionnaires.

Teacher Background Questionnaires for the NAEP 2009 Assessment
Grade	Type	Section 1	Section 2	Section 3	Section 4	Section 5
4	Operational	BET	COIMATH	COIREAD	COISCI
	Pilot	BET	COISCI	COIREAD (Pilot)	COIMATH (Pilot)	COISS (Pilot)
8	Math Operational	BET	COIMATH
	Reading Operational	BET	COIREAD
	Science Operational	BET	COISCI
	Math Pilot	BET	COIMATH (Pilot)
	Reading Pilot	BET	COIREAD (Pilot)
	US History, Civics, & Geography Pilot	BET	COISS (Pilot)

BET – Background, Education and Training COI – Classroom Organization and Instruction

School Background Questionnaires. School questionnaires will be administered at each grade. Three forms of the school questionnaire will be administered per grade across operational and pilot sessions alike. Each form will contain all operational school questionnaire items. The difference between the forms is a variable (pilot) section. For most schools, the School Background Questionnaire will not include the pilot section. However, some schools will be administered a questionnaire which includes either an additional Reading/Mathematics or Social Studies pilot section.

The NAEP 2009 School Questionnaires are composed of up to six parts: School Characteristics and Policies (Part I); Operational Reading (Part II); Operational Mathematics (Part III); Operational Science (Part IV); Pilot Items for Reading/English/Language Arts, Mathematics, or Social Studies (Part V); and Charter School (Part VI). Unlike teacher questionnaires, the same components of school questionnaires are used across grades since school administrators will answer the school questionnaires.

The attached table depicts the layout for the 2009 teacher questionnaires.

Table 3. 2009 School Questionnaire Components

Grade	Form	Section 1	Section 2	Section 3	Section 4	Section 5	Section 6
4	A	SCP	Reading (Operational)	Mathematics (Operational)	Science (Operational)	Reading/Math (Pilot)	Charter School (Operational)
	B	SCP	Reading (Operational)	Mathematics (Operational)	Science (Operational)	Social Studies (Pilot)	Charter School (Operational)
	C	SCP	Reading (Operational)	Mathematics (Operational)	Science (Operational)	Charter School (Operational)
8	A	SCP	Reading (Operational)	Mathematics (Operational)	Science (Operational)	Reading/Math (Pilot)	Charter School (Operational)
	B	SCP	Reading (Operational)	Mathematics (Operational)	Science (Operational)	Social Studies (Pilot)	Charter School (Operational)
	C	SCP	Reading (Operational)	Mathematics (Operational)	Science (Operational)	Charter School (Operational)
12	A	SCP	Reading (Operational)	Mathematics (Operational)	Science (Operational)	Reading/Math (Pilot)	Charter School (Operational)
	B	SCP	Reading (Operational)	Mathematics (Operational)	Science (Operational)	Social Studies (Pilot)	Charter School (Operational)
	C	SCP	Reading (Operational)	Mathematics (Operational)	Science (Operational)	Charter School (Operational)

SCP – School Characteristics and Policies

The development activities for the teacher and school questionnaires entailed reviews of (a) the past Issue Papers for the various subjects, (b) reviews of past operational questionnaires for teachers and schools, (c) reviews of past pilot questionnaires for the teacher and school questionnaires that have been piloted in 2008, and (d) the item performance results based on the operational data and the 2008 pilot testing.

SD (Students with Disabilities) and ELL (English Language Learners)

These questionnaires are completed by school personnel who are most knowledgeable about students identified as SD or ELL. NAEP encourages the inclusion of all students who can meaningfully participate in the assessment, including those with disabilities and those with limited English proficiency. In order to obtain a complete picture of educational progress for all students, it is important to collect supplemental information on students in the sample who have been identified as having a disability or are English language learners. Students with disabilities include those who have an individual education plan (IEP), Section 504 plan, or equivalent documentation.

The 2008 SD and ELL questionnaires received extensive review by the NAEP State Coordinator Inclusion Special Interest Group (SIG), the NCES Accommodations and Inclusions Coordinating Council, and NAEP developers and field staff. The 2009 versions of these questionnaires incorporated revisions from the 2008 versions to ensure a more efficient collection of valid student-level data. The flowchart format reduces the number of questions required to complete the questionnaires, thus reducing overall burden. Since schools may have several students identified as SD and/or ELL, this format is aimed at reducing overall school burden.

High School Transcript Study (HSTS)

The 2009 High School Transcript Study (HSTS) is designed to provide information about the course-taking behavior of students graduating from high schools in the United States in 2009. The study is being conducted by the NCES at schools participating in the 12^th-grade 2009 NAEP. Transcript information is linked to NAEP scores for those graduates who participated in the science or mathematics NAEP assessments, permitting analysis of the relationships between assessment scores and course-taking behavior.

High school transcript studies have been conducted by NCES as part of NAEP in 1987, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2000, and 2005. Prior to 2005, these studies collected catalogs and transcripts from schools, and data collection staff were instructed to obtain whatever supplemental information was necessary to interpret these documents. Since the data collected were administrative rather than survey data and the questions asked were not highly standardized, HSTS staff did not seek OMB clearance. In 2005, our procedures were modified to collect non-administrative data in a more systematic fashion. We therefore requested and received OMB approval for the 2005 HSTS. The 2009 HSTS will, with slight modifications, use the same procedures that were used in 2005.

The HSTS provides an understanding of curricula offered in our nation's high schools, graduation requirements, course-taking behavior, and the relationships between these factors and achievement on NAEP. The link between the HSTS and NAEP also permit analyses of the relationships between the variables measured in the HSTS and the school and student characteristics collected in NAEP.

Westat (the data collection contractor) will gather the data from approximately 750 high schools. Transcript information will be obtained for approximately 28,000 students graduating in the spring or summer of 2009. The average number of person hours to complete the School Information Form, locate school catalogs, pull transcripts, and complete the textbook form is estimated as 3.0 hours per school, based on experience with prior HSTS studies. Since an estimated 750 schools are expected to participate, total response time is therefore estimated to be 2,250 hours for the national HSTS. Students are not asked to provide information for this study.

National Indian Education Study (NIES)

Guided by Executive Order, the Office of Indian Education (OIE) enlisted the help of NCES to study the achievement and educational circumstances of American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) students. The resultant two part study, called the National Indian Education Study (NIES), includes both an examination of the performance of AI/AN students on NAEP, and surveys of student attitudes, teachers’ educational practices, and other school-related factors that might affect the educational achievement of this population.

The NIES will be conducted as part of the 2009 assessment. The national sample includes students from both public and nonpublic schools that have both large and small AI/AN student populations. The administration of the NAEP assessment will be followed with the administration of a questionnaire specifically designed for the NIES study. Questionnaire data will be linked to NAEP performance data in 2009.

Extended Student Background Questionnaire (ESBQ)

These questionnaires will be administered to a pilot sample at grades 4, 8, and 12. Variables to be measured through ESBQ are intended to assess socioeconomic status (SES). Research literature identifies education, occupation, and income/wealth as being the three major components of socioeconomic status. In the case of NAEP, these three components are (a) parental education, (b) parental occupational status, and (c) family income and wealth. With the exception of parental education, however, the other two are not asked of NAEP respondents; thus, NAEP relies on proxy variables to best measure SES.

The 2009 ESBQ consists of 7 matrix items at grade 4 and 10 matrix items at grades 8 and 12. The items included are the following: household composition, number of siblings, mother and father’s employment status, ownership of a cell phone, and ownership of a variety of home possessions (such as Internet access or clothes dryer). At grades 8 and 12, three additional items are included: mother’s education, father’s education, and home ownership (own, rent, or other).