Aligning Mathematics Assessment Standards

This Technical Brief examines the alignment between the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) mathematics assessment standards and the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics framework. It looks at the extent to which current state assessment standards cover the content on which 2009 NAEP assessments will be based. Applying the methodology used by Regional Educational Laboratory Southwest in 2007 in a similar study that examined the alignment of TAKS science assessment standards with the 2009 NAEP (http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=76&productID=36), this study presents results for areas of full alignment, partial alignment, nonalignment, and areas where the TAKS assessment standards go beyond the NAEP standards. The study finds that 74 percent of the NAEP grade 4, 81 percent of the NAEP grade 8, and 71 percent of the NAEP grade 12 assessment standards are either fully or partially addressed by the TAKS assessment standards.