A VERTICAL SCHEME OF BUNDLING NAEP BOOKLETS

A new scheme of bundling National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) booklets, vertical bundling, was proposed in this study to overcome the limitations of the traditional methodology on booklet pairing balance and bundle length choice. This study compared the vertical scheme with the horizontal scheme through simulations using the 2002 NAEP spiral plans for Reading and Writing assessments. The results showed that the vertical scheme not only had flexibility with respect to bundle length, it also demonstrated potential for reducing the required number of different bundles, decreasing book wastage, and improving balance of within-session booklet pairings. On the other hand, it inflated within-session booklet duplication to some extent compared to the horizontal approach, a relatively small trade-off for improved balance of booklet pairings.