What is NAEP?
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s Report Card, was first administered in 1969 and is the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of what our nation’s students know and can do in subjects such as mathematics, reading, science, and writing. Standard administration practices are implemented to provide a common measure of student achievement. Teachers, principals, parents, policymakers, and researchers all use NAEP results to assess progress and develop ways to improve education in the United States. State-level results provide information about student achievement in South Carolina, while also allowing for comparisons between our state and other states, regions, and the nation.
Who takes NAEP?
NAEP uses a carefully designed sampling procedure for the assessment to ensure that assessment results are representative of the geographical, racial, ethnic, and socio-economic diversity of schools and students in the state. First, schools are selected to be representative of schools statewide on the basis of characteristics such as school location, minority enrollment, level of school achievement, and average income of the geographic area. Then, within each school, students are randomly selected to participate. Each participating student represents hundreds of other similar students.
The main NAEP assessments are administered to students in grades four, eight, and twelve. The student samples for the long-term trend assessments are aged-based (ages nine, thirteen, and seventeen). Results are never reported for individual students or schools. District-level results are only reported for the twenty-one districts participating in the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA).
Which subjects are included in 2025–26 NAEP?
The 2025-2026 program includes the following assessments:
Main NAEP Reading: Grades 4 and 8 (national- and state-level results)
Main NAEP Mathematics: Grades 4 and 8 (national- and state-level results)
Civics: Grade 8 (national-level results)
US History: Grade 8 (national-level results)
Pilot Main NAEP Reading: Grades 4, 8, and 12 (no score release)
Pilot Main NAEP Mathematics: Grades 4, 8, and 12 (no score release)
When are the 2025–26 assessments administered?
Districts were notified of sampled schools in August 2025. The assessment window for 2025–2026 is January 26-March 20.
Must schools participate in NAEP?
Yes. Federal law requires that states and districts, receiving Title I funding, participate in the State NAEP reading and mathematics assessments every two years. Additionally, South Carolina state law (S.C. Code Ann. §59-18-330) requires annual NAEP participation, not limited to reading and mathematics. A make-up session is required when fewer than ninety percent of sampled students are present for NAEP testing on the scheduled assessment day.
NAEP 2025–26 Information for Districts and Schools
Additional Resources
Additional NAEP resources.
| External Resources |
Links to external NAEP resources with information for educators, parents, students, and media. |
| Tools and Applications |
This section provides direct links to NAEP tools and applications. |
| State Level Reports |
The one-page snapshot reports provide an overview of key findings and multi-year trends in South Carolina’s NAEP results. The full state reports include in-depth coverage of NAEP results for South Carolina’s public schools, descriptions of achievement levels, and explanations of what was assessed in each subject. The ten-year trend reports include data graphics to illustrate trends in achievement in reading and mathematics for South Carolina’s students overall and for demographic groups. |
