One of the best tools for educators at all levels who are interested in improving their students’ literacy rates is provided by the National Assessment of Educational Progress.  This is the NAEP Data Explorer that takes full advantage of the vast quantities of NAEP data that have been produced and makes NAEP released passages and items available for teaching purpose (see http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/about/naeptools.asp)

The Web site provides many different applications, but two are perhaps most notable:  the Data Explorer and the Question Tool.  The Data Explorer allows users to create customized statistical tables, graphs, and other displays of NAEP national and state data.  Administrators at all levels can learn more about how students similar to their have done on NAEP and about information gained from NAEP that may be relevant to their own instructional decision-making.

The Question Tool provides comprehensive information about NAEP items in many subject areas, including reading and writing. Teachers and others can view real reading passages and writing prompts, complete with the items that were asked, answers to them, and explanation of the correct answers.  These items can also be printed for use in “testlets” if teachers want to give students practice in test taking strategies, and data are provided to help gauge how well students do in comparison to state or national results. 

This resource highlights the ways teachers can use the rich, complex, and thoughtful NAEP released passages, writing prompts, items, and information about them to help their students practice literacy skills, while also gaining insight into the kinds of reading and writing strategies that are required on tests. NAEP has long been considered the “gold standard” of assessments because of the high quality, challenging test material its many tests include and also because of the thoroughness of the technical information provided about test results.

So how should teachers use the material the Web site offers?  They might use the passages and their accompanying items as teaching tools to help students, especially struggling readers, understand and practice reading strategies in general and test taking strategies specifically.  Some of the items for every passage require a written response, and complete scoring information is presented so that teachers and students can discuss what actually constitutes a thorough, correct constructed response. Using a “think aloud” procedure, teacher could explain the passages and items, elicit students’ thoughts, and then conduct “workshop” sessions so that students can talk about their responses with their peers.  Teachers might also develop short progress monitoring or check-up exercises, especially for use in classes that attempt to improve students’ literacy skills.

Material drawn from the NAEP writing tests can be used in similar ways.  Many of the prompts on the writing test require students to read a short piece of prose (such as a poem) and then write about what they have read.  Practice in this complex skill – writing about reading – can be invaluable for test taking but even more for work in English and other content area classes.

This Web site offers considerable information on how specific constructed response items are scored and on scoring written responses in general.  This information can help teachers and students understand the specific aspects of written work that show best how students can demonstrate their comprehension skills.

Teachers in other content areas – mathematics, science, U.S. history, economics, geography, civics, and the arts – will also find this resource useful and informative. Sample items from NAEP assessments in these areas are presented, along with “content classification” information that explains what the items are seeking to assess and scoring guides for constructed response items.  The “content classification” information ties the items to the underlying principles of these domains in ways that can deepen students’ understanding of the structure of fields they are trying to master. 

Another useful resource is the Doing What Works Web site (www.dww.ed.gov). This Web site provides educators with research-based practices in the areas of mathematics and science, English language learners, early childhood education, the psychology of learning, and school improvement.  A section on adolescent literacy is currently under development.  In addition to details about research-based practices that teachers can think about using in their classrooms, there are also video-interviews with researchers and real teachers about why these practices work and how they can be implemented in real school settings.

There are, of course, other useful tools that teachers can find through careful web-searches.  But such tools need to be examined carefully because they rarely have undergone the kind of review that entries to the NAEP Data Explorer or the Doing What Works website receive.  Just as research reports developed by the Department of Education receive comprehensive review for technical accuracy and quality, so too are web-based products reviewed to ensure they can be used easily and successfully.  Experienced teachers develop a “feel” for what will work with their students and what they can adapt to make work, and that innate sense of quality should always be used in evaluating materials on websites that do not receive comprehensive reviews.