The National Assessment of Educational Progress, widely known as "the Nation's Report Card," is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various academic subjects in grades 4, 8, and 12. NAEP does not report individual student scores but reports results for large representative student samples. A congressionally mandated project of the National Center for Education Statistics within the Institute of Education Sciences of the US Department of Education, NAEP has been assessing student achievement since 1969.
The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) was created by Congress in 1988 to oversee and set policy for NAEP. The 26-member Governing Board is an independent, bipartisan group whose members include governors, state legislators, local and state school officials, educators, business representatives, and members of the general public. Members are appointed by the Secretary of Education but remain independent of the Department.