What is the rationale behind attaching Title I funding to SEA and LEA participation in NAEP?
Stakeholders wanted public school students to have an opportunity to participate in the national dialogue around issues of accountability and student performance in educational assessment. So, a representative sample is drawn in each state that matches the state’s demographics because administering the assessment to every student in the country would be very expensive. To take the responsibility for deciding who would or would not participate off states, districts, and schools, Title I funding provides an incentive to insure that state and local agencies provide students with the opportunity to participate in NAEP if their school is selected as part of the representative sample. At the same time, stakeholders and policy makers gave parents/guardians the responsibility for the student’s participation in NAEP through federal legislation that requires state education agencies (SEA) and local education agencies (LEA) to notify parents that student participation is voluntary and that studen
