Digging Deeper into K-12 Geography Achievement and Why It Matters: A NAEP Data Workshop

One of the most powerful sources of data for understanding student achievement is the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) program.

Although many people know about NAEP through media coverage of its reports on the status of K-12 education, the program also offers an array of practical tools and resources that put assessment data into the hands of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers working to improve learning outcomes in schools.

The AAG and National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) invites you to learn more in a virtual NAEP data workshop on Thursday, August 20 from 2:00 – 3:00 pm EDT.

NCES staff will provide an overview that describes the NAEP program, how it assesses what students know and can do in school subjects, and the rich datasets it generates to help advance knowledge of factors that affect student achievement.

Making enhanced uses of NAEP geography data will be important for securing geography’s existence in future national assessments (for additional context, see this commentary). Participants in the workshop will learn how to use a free online tool — the NAEP Data Explorer — to investigate what young people can accomplish when given the opportunity to learn geography. The August 20 workshop will provide examples of research questions that the NAEP Data Explorer can address. Participants will also view preliminary results from research currently underway, which is leveraging NAEP data for clues about what works in bolstering student performance in geography classrooms.

Registration for this workshop is free — sign up here.