• The NAEP 1998 Reading Assessment
• NAEP Reading Assessment Results for the Nation
• School and Home Factors Related to Reading Achievement
• Reading Performance Within States

In 1998, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) administered the NAEP reading assessment to a national sample of students at grades 4, 8, and 12, and to state samples of students at grades 4 and 8. The results of this assessment present a broad view of how America's students are achieving in reading—one of the most important sets of skills that young people acquire and develop throughout their lives. Because the assessment administered in 1998 shared a common set of reading passages and comprehension questions with assessments given in 1992 and 1994, it is possible to use NAEP results to chart the progress American students have made in reading since 1992.

This article provides highlights from the 1998 NAEP reading assessment, describing its content, its major findings at the national and state levels, and students' experiences at school and at home that support achievement in reading. Student performance is reported as an average score based on the NAEP reading scale, which ranges from 0 to 500. The average scale score reflects the overall reading performance of a particular group of students. Student reading performance is also reported in terms of three achievement levels: Basic, Proficient, and Advanced. The achievement levels are performance standards, adopted by the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) as part of its statutory responsibilities. The levels are collective judgments of what students should know and be able to do for each grade tested. They are based on recommendations by broadly representative panels of classroom teachers, education specialists, and members of the general public.

As provided by law, the Commissioner of Education Statistics, upon review of a congressionally mandated evaluation of NAEP, has determined that the achievement levels are to be considered developmental and should be interpreted and used with caution. However, both the Commissioner and NAGB believe these performance standards are useful for understanding trends in student achievement. They have been widely used by national and state officials, including the National Education Goals Panel, as a common yardstick of academic performance.

The NAEP reading framework developed by NAGB describes reading as an interactive process. To comprehend what is being read, the reader must interact with the written word and interpret ideas presented in the reading material based, in part, upon the reader's knowledge and purpose for reading. The NAEP reading assessment included three types of reading material that represent different purposes for reading: reading for literary experience, reading to gain information, and reading to perform a task.

The materials that were used in the NAEP reading assessment were taken from sources that are typically available to students, such as collections of stories, children's or youth magazines, or informational books. These materials were presented in their original formats in the test booklets so as to reproduce, as much as possible, an "authentic" reading experience. By giving students different types of reading materials, NAEP was able to provide a measure of reading performance that reflects students' typical reading experiences both in and out of school.

To measure students' comprehension of the reading materials included in the assessment, students responded to both multiple-choice and open-ended questions. At all three grades, at least half of the questions required students to provide their own written responses, so that they could explain and support their understanding.

The results of the 1998 reading assessment are mixed. At grade 8, the 1998 average reading score was higher than the 1992 and 1994 scores (figure A). In contrast, although the scores increased between 1994 and 1998 for students in grades 4 and 12, these increases showed no net gains over the 1992 average scores for reading.

Figure A.—Average reading scores for the nation: 1992, 1994, and 1998

Achievement-level results for the nation's 4th-, 8th-, and 12th-grade students are presented in table A. In reading this table, it is necessary to keep in mind that the levels are cumulative. The percentage of students who are at or above Basic includes not only students at the Basiclevel of performance, but also those students who attained the Proficient and Advanced levels. Likewise, the percentage of students at or above Proficient includes those who attained the Advanced level.

Table A.—Percentage of students at or above the reading achievement levels for the nation: 1992, 1994, and 1998

In 1998, performance at or above the Proficient level—the achievement level identified as the standard all students should reach—was attained by 31 percent of students at grade 4, 33 percent of students at grade 8, and 40 percent of students at grade 12.

• At grade 4, there was no significant change in achievement-level performance across the three assessment years.
• At grade 8, the percentages of students at or above Basic and at or above Proficient were higher in 1998 than in 1994 and in 1992.
• At grade 12, the achievement-level results were somewhat mixed. Higher percentages of students attained each level of performance in 1998 than in 1994. In addition, the percentage of students at the Advanced level was higher in 1998 than in 1992. Al

• though the percentage of students at or above Basic increased between 1994 and 1998, it was still lower than it had been in 1992.

In 1992, 1994, and 1998, the average reading scores for females were higher than those for males at all three grades. The results are generally positive, showing that most students are making gains in reading.

• At grade 4, the average score for male students went up between 1994 and 1998; however, there was no change in the average score for female students.
• At grade 8, the average scores for both male and female students in 1998 were higher than in 1994 and in 1992.
• At grade 12, the average score for female students went up between 1994 and 1998. The apparent gain between 1994 and 1998 for male 12th-graders was not significant, and their average score in 1998 remained lower than it was in 1992.

For both males and females at grade 8, there were gains in the percentage of students at or above Proficient. In 1998, the percentage of male eighth-graders was higher than in 1994 and in 1992, and the percentage of female students was higher than in 1992. Among female 12th-graders, a higher percentage of students were at or above Proficient in 1998 than in 1994.

In 1998, white and Asian fourth-grade students outscored their black, Hispanic, and American Indian peers. American Indian students also scored higher than black students at grade 4. Among eighth-graders, white and Asian students again scored higher than their black, Hispanic, and American Indian peers. At grade 12, white students had higher scores than black, Hispanic, and American Indian students. Asian students outscored their black and Hispanic peers, and Hispanic students had higher scores than black students.

• At grade 4, the average score for black students went up between 1994 and 1998.
• At grade 8, the average scores for both white and black students in 1998 were higher than in 1994 and 1992.
• At grade 12, the average scores for both white and Hispanic students went up between 1994 and 1998.

Across the three grades in 1998, between 39 and 47 percent of white students were at or above the Proficient level. In comparison, 10 to 18 percent of black students and 13 to 26 percent of Hispanic students reached or exceeded this level of performance. The only significant increases seen in the percentages of students at or above the Proficient level in any racial/ethnic group were for white students at grades 8 and 12 between 1994 and 1998.

Results are reported in terms of average reading scores for students attending two types of schools: public and nonpublic. Included among nonpublic school students are those who attended Catholic schools and those who attended other nonpublic schools. For all three grades in 1998, students in nonpublic schools had higher reading scores than their peers in public schools. It should be noted that differences between the performance of students in public and nonpublic schools may be due to a variety of factors, such as student selection and parental involvement.

In 1998, scores for students in nonpublic schools were not significantly different from scores in 1994 and in 1992. The 1998 score for fourth-graders in public schools also was not significantly different from those in the previous two assessments. However, there were some gains for 8th- and 12th-graders in public schools.

• At grade 8, the average score for public school students in 1998 was higher than in 1994 and in 1992.
• At grade 12, the average score for public school students went up between 1994 and 1998.

The only significant increase seen in the percentages of students at or above the Proficient level was for public school students at grade 8; the percentage in 1998 was higher than that in both 1994 and 1992.

Do students' reading habits in school and at home affect their reading proficiency? Is there a relationship between students' television viewing habits and their reading achievement? What kinds of teaching practices seem to enhance students' reading performance? NAEP collects information that can help researchers answer these questions.

This information may be especially useful. It may help educators discover, for example, that some of their own established classroom activities are also practiced by their colleagues across the nation. It also can suggest different approaches to help students become better readers, and provide a resource for parents to strengthen their children's at-home reading habits.

Research has found that children who read every day have the best chance of becoming competent readers. Daily practice at reading in school and for homework may not only increase fluency, but may also encourage both literacy habits and literary appreciation. Although the amount of reading students do each day may vary depending on a school's instructional goals and student needs, most schools do require their students to read on a daily basis.

Students in the NAEP 1998 reading assessment were asked about the number of pages they read daily in school and for homework. The data show that the more students read each day, the higher their scores were on the NAEP reading assessment. Eighth- and 12th-graders in 1998 were reading more pages each day in school and for homework than were 8th- and 12th-graders in 1994.

Most educators today agree that integrating reading and writing benefits the development of literacy. Numerous studies have shown that reading development does not take place in isolation; children develop simultaneously as readers, listeners, speakers, and writers. The NAEP reading assessment recognized the importance of these interrelationships by asking students and teachers questions about the ways in which reading and writing are combined in their classrooms.

Students in the NAEP 1998 reading assessment were asked how frequently in school they were asked to write long answers to questions on tests or assignments that involved reading. The data show an increase since 1994 in the percentage of students at grades 4 and 8who wrote long answers to questions at least once a week. The students who said they wrote long answers on a weekly or monthly basis had higher scores than those who said they did so twice a year or less.

The lessons students learn in school are reinforced when they have opportunities to share them with caring family members. Research studies have documented the higher achievement of students whose families have taken an active role in their learning. Recognizing this, recent education reform efforts, such as Goals 2000, have sought to strengthen cooperation between parents and schools.

The NAEP 1998 reading assessment sought to gauge the impact of parental involvement on students' reading achievement by asking students how often they discuss their studies with someone at home. Students in all three grades who discussed studies at home at least weekly had higher reading scores than students who did so less frequently. At grades 8 and 12, students who did this almost every day had the highest reading scores. There were no significant changes over time in the frequency of this activity.

Television watching has been widely criticized for distracting children from their studies and discouraging recreational reading. Numerous research findings provide support for these concerns and underscore the negative relationship between TV viewing and literacy development.

The NAEP reading assessment has long recognized the importance of monitoring the effects of television watching on students' reading achievement. Students in the assessment were asked how many hours of television they watched each day. At all three grades, students who watched 3 hours or less of television daily had higher reading scores than students who watched 4 or more hours daily. The percentages of students watching 4 or more hours daily generally decreased between 1994 and 1998, suggesting that students are watching less television on a daily basis.

While the average scores of students across the nation provide parents and educators with a broad view of how well the nation's students are performing in reading, it is also informative to examine the reading performance of students within individual states. In 1998, the NAEP assessment was conducted not only at the national level, but also within states or other jurisdictions that volunteered to participate in the state-level assessments at grades 4 and 8.

Table B compares the average score of each of the 43 states or jurisdictions that participated in the 1998 state assessment at grade 4 with the national average score. Thirteen states or jurisdictions had average scores that were above the national average, 15 were at or around the national average, and 15 were below the national average.

Table B.—1998 NAEP reading comparison of state versus national average reading scores for public schools: Grade 4

Table C compares the average score of each of the 40 states or jurisdictions that participated in the 1998 state assessment at grade 8with the national average score. Fifteen states or jurisdictions had average scores that were above the national average, 11 were at or around the national average, and 14 were below the national average.

Table C.—1998 NAEP reading comparison of state versus national average reading scores for public schools: Grade 8

The 1998 NAEP reading assessment was the third in which states or jurisdictions could participate in a state-level assessment of reading at grade 4. Thus, it is possible to observe changes over time in students' reading performance by comparing the 1998 score to the 1994 and 1992 scores in each state or jurisdiction. Because 1998 was the first time a state-level assessment of reading was conducted at grade

8, it is not possible to observe changes across time in the reading performance for eighth-graders in each state.

Between 1992 and 1998, the reading scores for fourth-grade public school students went up in Colorado, Connecticut, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, and the Virgin Islands. However, in Utah, Wyoming, and the District of Columbia, the reading score in 1998 was lower than it was in 1992.

Between 1994 and 1998, the reading scores for fourth-grade public school students went up in Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington, and Department of Defense overseas schools. There were no significant declines in scores between 1994 and 1998 for any participating jurisdiction.

Between 1992 and 1998, the percentage of public school fourth-graders who reached or exceeded the Proficient level increased in Colorado, Connecticut, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, and the Virgin Islands. There were no significant decreases for any state or jurisdiction.

Between 1994 and 1998, the percentage of public school fourth-graders at or above Proficient increased in Colorado, Connecticut, Louisiana, and Department of Defense overseas schools. There were no significant decreases for any state or jurisdiction.