The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading assessment is given every 2 years to students at grades 4 and 8, and approximately every 4 years at grade 12. The assessment measures reading comprehension by asking students to read selected grade-appropriate materials and answer questions based on what they have read. The results present a broad view of students’ reading knowledge, skills, and performance over time. The most recent assessment was given in 2017 to approximately 148,800 students in grade 4 and 141,800 students in grade 8.
The reading framework specifies that the assessment use three types of literary texts and three broad categories of informational texts that vary by grade. The framework also outlines what science knowledge and skills students should have to reach Basic, Proficient, and Advanced achievement. The reading framework was updated in 2009 and replaced the framework used for the 1992-2007 reading assessments. Survey questionnaires, administered to students, teachers, and school administrators who participate in a reading assessment, are used to collect and report contextual information about students’ learning experience in and out of the classroom.
Student performance on the NAEP reading assessment is reported in two ways: as scale scores and as achievement levels.
Item maps illustrate how specific reading knowledge and skills correspond to different NAEP achievement levels. Item maps answer the question, "What does it mean for students to be at Basic, Proficient, or Advanced in terms of what they know and can do?"
Find out how to interpret the results of the reading assessment, including the potential effects of exclusion on assessment results.
Learn MoreSee the results of the 2002 oral reading study that was undertaken to discover how well the nation's fourth-graders can read aloud a typical grade 4 story.
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