What Does the NAEP U.S. History Assessment Measure?
National Center for Education Statistics 2004 NAEP measures the U.S. history knowledge and skills of fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students. According to the NAEP U.S. History Framework, developed by the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), the assessment should be organized around three dimensions: historical themes, chronological periods, and ways of knowing and thinking about U.S. history. Four historical themes are the core organizing structure of the framework. The themes were intended to cover all major branches of historical study. The themes are also used to define the subscales for reporting the U.S. history assessment results; in other words, one can compare the performance among different population groups on each of the themes. The themes are as follows: Change and continuity in American democracy: ideas, institutions, practices, and controversies; The gathering and interactions of peoples, cultures, and ideas; Economic and technological changes and their relat
