BAY MINETTE — Bay Minette Middle School has been tapped to take part in a national-assessment program.

In a recent electronic notification system, the school announced that it has been selected to participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

“NAEP is given by the National Center for Education Statistics within the U.S. Department of Education and tells us what our nation’s students know and can do in key subject areas,” the announcement states.

The results of the testing are published in “the Nation’s Report Card,” the announcement states, “which provides information about student achievement to educators, parents, policymakers and the public It is the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment and has been providing valid and reliable data on student performance since 1969.”

According to Baldwin County Public Schools spokesman Terry Wilhite, BMMS is an ideal choice for representing Baldwin County education at the national level.

“Bay Minette Middle School is an excellent school and has been appropriately picked for the National Education Assessment Program because of its strong qualities,” he said. “We know Bay Minette Middle students will represent our county and state well, and we wish them the best.”

At BMMS, 85 randomly chosen eighth-graders will take part in the 90-minute assessment on Wednesday, Feb. 2. The testing will include mathematics, reading or science.

“In addition to subject area questions, students will be asked some questions about themselves and their educational experience,” the announcement states.

However, students’ individual results will remain confidential, in accordance with the Confidential Information Protection provisions of Title V, Subtitle A, Public Law 107-347.

According to information found in the National Education Center website, an assessment was last conducted in 2004. The results of testing concluded that since previous assessment in 1999, reading levels of 9-year-olds across the nation increased, as did math levels for ages 9-13.

Efforts to contact Bay Minette Middle School Principal Tammie Fleming for comment by press time were unsuccessful.