NAEP - What Does the Reading Assessment Measure?

What Does the NAEP Reading Assessment Measure?

NAEP measures the reading comprehension of students in grades 4, 8, and 12.

In 2002, the reading framework was updated to provide more explicit details about the assessment design and content. During that process, some of the terms used to describe elements of the reading assessment were changed. The following description of the reading framework incorporates these changes. It should be noted, however, that the revision in the framework does not represent a change in the design or content of the NAEP reading assessment that was first administered in 1992.

According to the framework, developed by the National Assessment Governing Board, NAEP assesses three contexts for reading: reading for literary experience, reading for information, and reading to perform a task (reading to perform a task at grades 8 and 12 only). In addition to reading within different contexts, NAEP reading comprehension questions are developed to engage the different approaches that readers may take in the process of trying to understand what is being read.

Three different contexts for reading were assessed:

Students were assessed on four different aspects of reading:

Reading for literary experience: Readers explore events, characters, themes, settings, plots, actions, and the language of literary works by reading novels, short stories, poems, plays, legends, biographies, myths, and folktales.
Reading for information: Readers gain information to understand the world by reading materials such as magazines, newspapers, textbooks, essays, and speeches.
Reading to perform a task:⁴ Readers apply what they learn from reading materials such as bus or train schedules, directions for repairs or games, classroom procedures, tax forms (grade 12), maps, and so on.

Forming a general understanding:¹ The reader must consider the text as a whole and provide a global understanding of it.
Developing interpretation: The reader must extend initial impressions to develop a more complete understanding of what was read.
Making reader/text connections:² The reader must connect information in the text with knowledge and experience.
Examining content and structure:³ This requires critically evaluating, comparing and contrasting, and understanding the effect of such features as irony, humor, and organization.

¹This aspect of reading was formerly referred to as "Forming an initial understanding" in previous versions of the reading framework.
²This aspect of reading was formerly referred to as "Personal reflection and response" in previous versions of the reading framework.
³This aspect of reading was formerly referred to as "Demonstrating a critical stance" in previous versions of the reading framework.
⁴Reading to perform a task is not assessed at grade 4.

The reading framework specifies the distribution of questions for each context of reading and each aspect of reading. Sample Questions booklets for the reading assessment are available for download.

For more detailed information about the objectives of the reading assessment, explore the NAEP reading framework (801K PDF).

What Does the NAEP Reading Assessment Measure?

Last updated 20 September 2007 (FW)

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