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The instruments used in the NAEP reading assessment are composed of blocks containing reading passages and items from previous NAEP assessments, as well as blocks that are newly developed for the current assessment year. Administering many of the same blocks of items across years allows for the reporting of trends in reading performance. At the same time, developing new sets of items makes it possible to release some blocks to the public. Released blocks can be accessed via the
NAEP Questions Tool.
The
NAEP reading framework and specifications documents guide the item development efforts. In 2009, a new reading framework was introduced, and all of the blocks were newly developed. The framework for the 2019 assessments was the same as that used in 2009.
Items in the reading blocks are written by NAEP item development staff and reviewed by members of the Reading Standing Committee. All assessment materials are reviewed by specialists in reading education, measurement, and assessment development for accessibility and potential bias. The reading passages and associated cognitive items are assembled into blocks containing a range of questions aligned to one of three cognitive targets for reading:
For more information, see
what the NAEP reading assessment measures.
Following approval from the
National Center for Education Statistics, the blocks are packaged as digital test forms for computer delivery of the assessment.
In 2009, a special trend study was conducted to determine whether the results of the 2009 reading assessment could be compared to those from earlier assessment years developed under an earlier framework, thereby maintaining the trend lines established in 1992. The 2019 assessment continues this trend line.
NAEP officially transitioned from a paper-based assessment to a digitally based reading assessment at grades 4 and 8 in 2017. In 2017, a
bridge study was conducted which involved randomly equivalent samples receiving the NAEP reading assessment in either the paper or the digital format. In 2019, the reading assessments at grades 4 and 8 were administered digitally for the second time. The transition from paper-based assessment (PBA) to digitally based assessment (DBA) was completed in 2017. Most of the content at grades 4 and 8 in 2019 was also used in the 2017 digitally based assessment and in the 2015 paper-based assessment. In 2017, ten blocks were administered at grade 4 and 13 blocks were administered at grade 8. Four blocks were grade 4/grade 8 cross-grade blocks. Of the 19 unique passages and question sets administered across grades 4 and 8, one set at each grade was newly developed for 2017. For the 2019 digitally based assessment, twelve blocks were administered at grade 4 and 15 blocks were administered at grade 8. Three blocks were grade 4/grade 8 cross-grade blocks. Four new passages and question sets were developed at each grade. Because the transition which placed the DBA results onto the trend line occurred in 2017, the usual NAEP procedure of common item linking was used to calculate the trend line from 2017 to 2019. The 2019 results at grades 4 and 8 were based on the performance of students who took the assessment on tablets.
The assessment at grade 12 was administered digitally for the first time in 2019. Most of the content at grade 12 was also used in the 2015 paper-based assessment. Of the 15 passage and question sets administered at grade 12 in 2019, eleven were transitioned from the 2015 paper-based assessment and four sets were newly developed.
As with the grades 4 and 8 assessments in 2017, a multistep process was used for the transition from the paper-based assessment to a digitally based assessment in order to preserve trend lines that show student performance over time. In addition to the digitally based assessment, a random subsample of students was administered the complete 2015 paper-based version of the grade 12 assessment in 2019. NCES administered the assessment in both modes—paper-based and digitally based—in all the sampled schools to investigate potential differences in performance between students taking the assessment on a tablet and students taking the paper-based assessment. Each participating student, however, took the assessment in only one mode. After the administration of the assessment at grade 12, NCES conducted rigorous analyses of the data and aligned the 2019 results to previous assessment years using a two-step process: common item linking and common population linking.
These analyses—common item linking based on paper results and common population linking of paper results to digital results—enabled NCES to successfully maintain the reading trend line while transitioning to the digital assessment at grade 12 in 2019. The 2019 grade 12 reading assessment results were based on the combined performance of students who took the assessment on paper and students who took the assessment on tablets.
For more information, see the grade 12 transition and mode evaluation
.