A Washington State University College of Education professor has been invited to be a part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Mathematics Standing Committee.
Professor of mathematics education Amy Roth McDuffie accepted a two-year appointment to the committee to develop the 2026 NAEP assessment.
“It is an honor to be asked to join as a committee member and this assessment is critically important for our nation,” she said.
The NAEP assessment, often referred to as the nation’s report card, is a federally-legislated requirement to collect data that reports on educational progress among students in the context of teaching and teacher preparation. The assessment is distributed to a sample population of students in grades 4, 8 and 12.
The Mathematics Committee’s current task is focused on evaluating questions from previous NAEP assessments and developing questions to align with the goals for 2026.
The committee consists of established individuals ranging from mathematics education researchers and presidential award-winning educators to Department of Education representatives from other states.
“This gives us a snapshot of where we are – it lets us know if students are learning, are teachers prepared well and implementing research-based practices, and are students learning what is important in today’s society,” Roth McDuffie said.
As a rigorously developed national assessment, the data from the NAEP report is seen by curriculum and textbook authors as an early sign for where more focus is needed. It is also used by state and federal agencies to prioritize funding and has many other functions as well.
“As academics, we can get into whether it is a perfect assessment or not. No test is perfect, but it is a long-standing tool to help us track how we’re doing,” she said. “To the extent that it continually needs to be updated and improved, I am honored to be in that group to make it better.”
