Setting Student Performance Standards: The Role of Achievement Level Descriptions in the Standard Setting Process

This paper looks at using descriptions of subject matter content to assist in the development and interpretation of student performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). These descriptions of content, called achievement level descriptions (ALDs), were initially conceptualized as exemplary statements of the knowledge and skills students should have at the various levels. Gradually, over the past decade the descriptions have evolved into comprehensive, rather than exemplary, statements of assessment content that must reflect the subject matter item pools to ensure consistency. This paper traces the policy development of the ALDs, discusses the various approaches to developing the ALDs over the past 10 years, and reviews the form and function of the ALDs in the current NAEP context. The paper suggests that ALDs should be retained and that they play an important role in shaping the end results from the NAEP and providing replicability in the process. The ALD process seems to be working; however, the ALDs may not serve the reporting function very well. Several approaches could remedy this weakness to help make NAEP results understandable for the U.S. public. (Contains 18 references.) (SLD)