Acommon measure of student achievement, the national assessment of educational progress (naep) is the only assessment that measures what u. s. students know and can do in various subjects across the nation, states, and in some urban districts. also known as the nation's report card, naep has provided important information about how students are performing academically since 1969.naep is a congressionally mandated project administered by the national center for education statistics (nces) within the u. s. department of education and the institute of education sciences (ies).