This technical report on the National Association of Educational Progress (NAEP) 1996 State Assessment Program in Science provides an overview of the design, implementation and analysis of the educational assessment including details of sampling design, field administration, preliminary data analysis, and reporting of state results. This report also provides details on the background of the development of the 1996 instrument for science, sample design and selection, state and school cooperation, processing and scoring assessment materials, creation of the database and database products, weighting procedures and variance estimation, theoretical background and philosophy of NAEP scaling procedures, data analysis and scaling for the science assessment program, and conventions used in reporting the results. (DDR)

The purpose of this report is to provide technical information about the 1996 State Assessment in Mathematics. It provides a description of the design for the State Assessment and gives an overview of the steps involved in the implementation of the program from the planning stages through to the analysis and reporting of the data. The report describes in detail the development of the cognitive and background questions, the field procedures, the creation of the database and data products for analysis, and the methods and procedures used for sampling, analysis, and reporting. It does not provide the results of the assessment--rather, it provides information on how those results were derived. Chapters include: (1) "Overview: The Design, Implementation, and Analysis of the 1996 State Assessment Program in Mathematics"; (2) "Developing the Mathematics Objectives, Cognitive Items, Background Questions, and Assessment Instruments"; (3) "Sample Design and Selection"; (4) "State and School Cooperation and Field Administration"; (5) "Processing and Scoring Assessment Materials"; (6) "Creation of the Database, Quality Control of Data Entry, and Creation of the Database Products"; (7) "Weighting Procedures and Variance Estimation"; (8) "Theoretical Background and Philosophy of National Assessment Educational Progress (NAEP) Scaling Procedures"; (9) "Data Analysis and Scaling for the 1996 State Assessment Program in Mathematics"; and (10) "Conventions Used in Reporting the Results of the 1996 State Assessment Program in Mathematics." Appendices include: "Participants in the Objectives and Item Development Process"; "Summary of Participation Rates"; "Conditioning Variables and Contrast Codings"; "IRT (Item Response Theory) Parameters for Mathematics Items"; "State Assessment Program Reporting Subgroups; Composite and Derived Common Background Variables; and Composite and Derived Reporting Variables"; "Setting the NAEP Achievement Levels for the 1996 State Assessment in Mathematics"; "Correction of the NAEP Program Documentation Error in the 1992 State Mathematics Results"; "The Information Weighting Error"; and "Sample Design and Selection Tables." (Contains 78 references.) (ASK)