Archived Commissioner’s Remarks - Before 2010
December 10, 2008
NCES Statement on NAEP 2007 Puerto Rico Mathematics Assessment – In 2007 the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) conducted the third National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics assessment in Puerto Rico, following two earlier assessments in 2003 and 2005. The assessment was given in early 2007 to fourth- and eighth-grade public school students. About 76 percent of Puerto Rico students at grade 4 and about 78 percent at grade 8 attend public schools, while the remaining students attend private schools. Approximately 3,000 students were assessed in each grade.
December 9, 2008
NCES Statement on TIMSS 2007 – Today the National Center for Education Statistics is releasing results on the performance of students in the United States on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The 2007 TIMSS is the fourth administration since 1995 of this cross-national comparative study. Developed through the auspices of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), TIMSS assesses the mathematics and science knowledge and skills of fourth- and eighth-graders.
May 30, 2008
Benefits and Limitations of States Benchmarking to International Standards – Over the past two decades, large-scale international assessments of student performance have become well-established programs in which the United States and many other countries around the world participate. These international assessments allow us to "benchmark" the knowledge and skills of our students against students in other countries in key subjects such as mathematics and science. The United States conducts these assessments at the national level; only occasionally have these tests been conducted at the state level.
April 29, 2008
An Exploratory Analysis of the Content and Availability of State Administrative Data on Teacher Compensation – This report identifies state education agencies (SEAs) that maintain records on pay for public school teachers, the comparability of these records, and whether the data might be available to the research community. The report finds that many states maintain teacher-level records with earnings and other teacher characteristics, and are willing to share these data with researchers. It is feasible to use teacher employment and compensation data collected by SEAs to conduct large multistate comparative studies of teacher pay. These studies would not only permit overall comparisons of pay, but also comparisons of teacher pay at various points along typical career trajectories, with breakdowns by teacher demographics and state or district characteristics.
April 3, 2008
Commissioner’s Remarks - The Nation’s Report Card: Writing 2007 – Today I am releasing the results of the 2007 writing assessment from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. This assessment was given January through March 2007 to 8th- and 12th-grade students across the country.
Return to the NCES Commissioner’s Page