National Assessment of
Educational Progress (NAEP) 2026 Amendment 1
Revision of a currently approved collection
No
Regular
08/04/2025
Requested
Previously Approved
36 Months From Approved
08/31/2027
796,937
786,113
456,764
449,560
0
0
The National Assessment of Educational
Progress (NAEP), conducted by the National Center for Education
Statistics (NCES), is a federally authorized survey of student
achievement at grades 4, 8, and 12 in various subject areas, such
as mathematics, reading, writing, science, U.S. history, and
civics. The National Assessment of Educational Progress
Authorization Act (Pub. L. 107–279, title III, section 303)
requires the assessment to collect data on specified student groups
and characteristics, including information organized by
race/ethnicity, sex, socio-economic status, disability, and limited
English proficiency. It requires fair and accurate presentation of
achievement data and permits the collection of background,
noncognitive, or descriptive information that is related to
academic achievement and aids in fair reporting of results. The
intent of the law is to provide representative sample data on
student achievement for the nation, the states, and subpopulations
of students and to monitor progress over time. NAEP consists of two
assessment programs: the NAEP long-term trend (LTT) assessment and
the main NAEP assessment. The LTT assessments are given at the
national level only and are administered to students at ages 9, 13,
and 17 in a manner that is very different from that used for the
main NAEP assessments. LTT reports mathematics and reading results
that present trend data since the 1970s. In addition to the
operational assessments, NAEP uses two other kinds of assessment
activities: pilot assessments and special studies. Pilot
assessments test items and procedures for future administrations of
NAEP, while special studies (e.g., the Middle School Transcript
Study (MSTS), and the High School Transcript Study (HSTS)) are
opportunities for NAEP to investigate particular aspects of the
assessment without impacting the reporting of the NAEP results.
This request is an Amendment to the initially approved NAEP 2026
Clearance Package (OMB# 1850-0928 v.36) to conduct NAEP in 2026,
specifically: (1) Main NAEP operational assessments will include
for grades 4 and 8 (first administration of the new frameworks for
reading and mathematics), grade 8 (civics and U.S. history); in
Puerto Rico, grades 4 and 8 mathematics will be the only subject
assessed and will include the new framework; (2) Pilot testing in
grades 4, 8, and 12 (reading and mathematics); in Puerto Rico,
grades 4 and 8 mathematics will be the only subject assessed. Some
documents in this package will be updated in Amendment #2, which
will be posted for a separate 30-day public comment period
following the 30-day public comment period for Amendment #1. These
packages will contain all final materials to be used for the data
collection in early 2026. As of April 2025, NCES’s assurances of
confidentiality protections for NAEP 2026 have changed due to
recent staffing changes at the Department of Education. NCES has
removed the Foundations of Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018,
Title III, Part B, Confidential Information Protection (‘‘CIPSEA’’)
as a confidentiality assurance. However, confidentiality assurances
under the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA) remain in
effect.
PL:
Pub.L. 107 - 279 303 Name of Law: National Assessment of
Educational Progress Authorization Act
This Amendment #1 reflects
updates to the NAEP 2026 Clearance package burden and budget as a
result of removing the Field Trial and NCES’ decision not to
administer Pilot teacher and school administrator questionnaires
for grade 8 mainland U.S. and grades 4 and 8 Puerto Rico. In
addition, a discrepancy in the number of schools in the school
device model was corrected. These changes resulted in a slight
increase in burden hours from the initial Clearance package
(449,560 hours) compared to Amendment #1 (456,764 hours). In
addition, the costs to the Federal Government have been reduced by
$8,197,412 from the initial Clearance package.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.