NAEP to assess noncognitive skills, starts 2017

Education Week reports that starting in 2017, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) will include measures of motivation, mindset, and other noncognitive factors. According to Education Week:

The background survey will include five core areas—grit, desire for learning, school climate, technology use, and socioeconomic status—of which the first two focus on a student’s noncognitive skills, and the third looks at noncognitive factors in the school. These core areas would be part of the background survey for all NAEP test-takers. In addition, questions about other noncognitive factors, such as self-efficacy and personal achievement goals, may be included on questionnaires for specific subjects to create content-area measures.

The data are likely to indicate correlations between academic outcomes and these five core areas in ways that are more useful and nuanced that current measures allow.