NAEP Technical DocumentationReading Assessment Subscale Composition for New and Previously Administered Blocks at Grade 8: 2002

The NAEP 2002 reading assessment was based upon a framework of three scales: "reading for literary experience," "reading to gain information," and "reading to perform a task." At each grade, only one new block was added; at grade 8 this was block R4. All items in this block fell into the "reading for literary experience" scale.

The 2002 assessment includes blocks of new items and blocks of items from previous assessments. For the new items and for the previously administered items in the reading scale, the number of multiple-choice, dichotomously scored constructed-response, and polytomously scored constructed-response items are provided below for grade 8. The item counts are available for each scale as defined in the final Item Response Theory (IRT) scales.

Scale composition by item type for new blocks as defined after scaling, grade 8 reading combined national and state main assessment: 2002
Scale	Multiple-choice items		Dichotomously scored constructed-response items		Polytomously scored constructed-response items
Scale	Scaled	Dropped	Scaled	Dropped	Polytomous (uncollapsed)	Dichotomous collapsed	Polytomous collapsed	Dropped
Total	2	0	0	0	5	2	0	0
Reading for literary experience	2	0	0	0	5	2	0	0
NOTE: "Dropped" denotes items that were deleted from the final scaling. "Collapsed" denotes items that had categories that were combined and recoded for scaling. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2002 Reading Assessment.

**Scale composition by item type for previously administered blocks as defined after scaling, grade 8 reading combined national and state main assessment: 2002**
Scale	Multiple-choice items			Dichotomously scored constructed-response items			Polytomously scored constructed-response items
Scale	Concurrent	Split	Dropped	Concurrent	Split	Dropped	Concurrent polytomous (uncollapsed)	Concurrent dichotomous collapsed	Concurrent polytomous collapsed	Split	Dropped
Total	40	0	0	34	0	0	24	3	1	0	0
Reading experience	10	0	0	6	0	0	3	1	1	0	0
Reading to gain information	19	0	0	12	0	0	15	2	0	0	0
Reading to perform a task	11	0	0	16	0	0	6	0	0	0	0
NOTE: "Concurrent" denotes items that were scaled as common items across assessment years. "Split" denotes items that were scaled as different items in each assessment year. "Dropped" denotes items that were deleted from the final scaling. "Collapsed" denotes items that had categories that were combined and recoded for scaling. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2002 Reading Assessment.

Last updated 13 February 2009 (RF)

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