COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

P.O. BOX 2120

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23218-2120

SUPTS. MEMO NO. 122

September 6, 2002

INFORMATIONAL

TO:	Division Superintendents
FROM:	Jo Lynne DeMary Superintendent of Public Instruction
SUBJECT:	2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress

For more than 30 years, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has served American educators as an information resource, providing reliable profiles of what students know and can do in key subject areas. The Nation's Report Card, as NAEP has come to be known, is the only ongoing project to monitor trends in students' achievement at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. The NAEP state assessment is designed to help states evaluate the performance of students in light of results from other states and the nation at-large. In large part, NAEP owes its success to the support from local educators whose schools are randomly chosen to participate. The Commonwealth of Virginia is proud of its continued participation in NAEP assessments and currently is working toward meeting new guidelines.

Beginning in the 2002-2003 school year, as part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, NAEP will conduct national and state assessments at least once every two years in reading and mathematics in grades four and eight. These NAEP assessments will be administered January 27 through March 7, 2003 to a representative sample of students. The NAEP staff will select approximately 200 Virginia schools for the 2003 NAEP assessment. Selected schools will be notified by the end of September.

As part of the No Child Left Behind legislation, each state has been provided federal funds to support a state NAEP coordinator position. The NAEP coordinator will be responsible for overseeing the administration of NAEP within Virginia; promoting better understanding of NAEP and its relevance to the state assessment program; and disseminating and communicating NAEP results to stakeholders. The NAEP coordinator for Virginia is Dr. Wendy Geiger. Please feel free to contact Dr. Geiger at (804) 225-2102 or wgeiger@mail.vak12ed.edu if you have any questions or need assistance. Information concerning NAEP also can be found at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/

Thank you in advance for your continued support of the NAEP assessment program.

JLD/SLR/jc