NAEP Reading: National Achievement-Level Results

National Achievement-Level Results

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Overall NAEP Achievement Levels

Thirty-three percent of fourth-graders at or above NAEP Proficient in reading, lower compared to 2019

Thirty-three percent of fourth-grade students performed at or above the  NAEP Proficient level on the reading assessment in 2022. This percentage was 2 percentage points lower compared to 2019 but was 5 percentage points higher in comparison to 1992, the first reading assessment year.

Sixty-three percent of fourth-grade students performed at or above the  NAEP Basic level in 2022. This percentage was 4 percentage points lower compared to 2019 but was not significantly different compared to 1992. Thirty-seven percent of fourth-grade students performed below the NAEP Basic level in 2022, which was 4 percentage points higher compared to 2019 and not significantly different from 1992. Nine percent of fourth-graders performed at the NAEP Advanced level in 2022, which was not significantly different from 2019 but was higher in comparison to 1992.

NAEP achievement levels are performance standards that describe what students should know and be able to do. Results are reported as percentages of students performing at or above three achievement levels (NAEP Basic, NAEP Proficient, and NAEP Advanced). Students performing at or above the NAEP Proficient level on NAEP assessments demonstrate solid academic performance and competency over challenging subject matter. It should be noted that the NAEP Proficient  achievement level does not represent grade-level proficiency as determined by other assessment standards (e.g., state or district assessments). NAEP achievement levels are to be used on a trial basis and should be interpreted and used with caution. Find out more about the NAEP reading achievement levels.

Scroll down to explore NAEP achievement-level results for student groups.

NAEP achievement-level setting is based on the judgments of a broadly representative panel of teachers, education specialists, and members of the general public. The authorizing legislation for NAEP requires that the achievement levels be used on a trial basis until the Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) determines that the achievement levels are reasonable, valid, and informative to the public (20 USC § 9622[e][2][C]). The NCES Commissioner's determination is to be based on a congressionally mandated, rigorous, and independent evaluation. The latest evaluation of the achievement levels was conducted by a committee convened by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in 2016. The evaluation concluded that further evidence should be gathered to determine whether the achievement levels are reasonable, valid, and informative. Accordingly, the NCES Commissioner determined that the trial status of the achievement levels should be maintained at this time. Read more about how NAEP achievement levels are set. In 2018, the National Assessment Governing Board issued a revised Policy Statement clarifying that the NAEP Proficient level is not intended to reflect grade-level performance expectations but is specific to performance on NAEP assessments. Read the Governing Board Policy Statement.

The chart below lists the percentages of fourth-grade students performing at each of the NAEP reading achievement levels in 2022 and previous assessment years. Set the baseline at either NAEP Basic or NAEP Proficient to see the percentages of students performing at or above that NAEP achievement level. Click "Show NAEP achievement-level breakdown" to see the percentages of fourth-grade students at each of the NAEP achievement levels. Click "Hide NAEP achievement-level breakdown" to see the percentages of students at or above the selected baseline NAEP achievement level. Use the slider to change focal years.

Figure Trend in fourth-grade NAEP reading achievement-level results

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Baseline

NOTE: NAEP achievement levels are to be used on a trial basis and should be interpreted and used with caution.

NAEP Achievement Levels by Student Group

Lower percentage of female students at or above NAEP Proficient in grade 4 reading compared to 2019

In 2022, the percentages of fourth-grade students who performed at or above NAEP Proficient in reading were not significantly different for some reported student groups, such as Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, and Hispanic students compared to 2019; however, the percentages were lower for the following student groups:

White students;
female students;
students eligible and not eligible for the National School Lunch Program;
students attending public schools;
students attending public, noncharter schools;
students attending schools in the Northeast and Midwest regions;
students attending schools in suburban and town locations;
students who were not identified as students with disabilities; and
students who were not identified as  English learners.

The percentages of fourth-grade students who performed at or above the NAEP Basic level in reading were lower for many student groups in comparison to 2019. For example, the percentages performing at or above NAEP Basic were lower in 2022 than in 2019 for the following student groups:

Black and Hispanic students, students of Two or More Races, and White students;
male and female students;
students eligible and not eligible for the National School Lunch Program;
students attending public schools;
students attending public, noncharter schools;
students attending schools in the Northeast, Midwest, South, and West regions;
students attending schools in city, suburban, and town locations;
students who were not identified as students with disabilities; and
students who were not identified as English learners.

Compared to the first assessment year in 1992, the percentages of fourth-grade students performing at or above the NAEP Proficient level were higher in 2022 for the following student groups:

Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, Hispanic, and White students;
male and female students; and
students attending public schools.

Select a student group

Race/ethnicity

Figure Trend in fourth-grade NAEP reading achievement-level results, by race/ethnicity

Baseline

Legend

NOTE: NAEP achievement levels are to be used on a trial basis and should be interpreted and used with caution.

Related to this topic

Next page: State Average Scores

NOTE: Beginning with the 2017 assessment, NAEP reading results at grades 4 and 8 are from a digitally based assessment; prior to 2017, results were from a paper-and-pencil-based assessment for grades 4 and 8. In 2019, the digitally based NAEP reading assessment at grade 12 was administered for the first time. The 2019 grade 12 reading report includes results from students who took the digitally based assessment and students who took the paper-based assessment. For more information, see the About page. Accommodations were not permitted in NAEP reading assessments prior to 1998. Results are not shown for data points where the sample sizes are insufficient to permit a reliable estimate or where data are not available. Black includes African American, and Hispanic includes Latino. Race categories exclude Hispanic origin. In compliance with new standards from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for collecting and reporting data on race/ethnicity, additional information was collected beginning in 2011 so that results could be reported separately for Asian students and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander students. Students who identified with two or more of the racial/ethnic groups (e.g., White and Black) would have been classified as "other" and reported as part of the "unclassified" category prior to 2011, and classified as "Two or More Races" in 2011 and later assessment years. Results for these students are presented under the "Two or More Races" category in the graphics and tables in this report. Trend results for "White," "Black," "Hispanic," "Asian/Pacific Islander," and "Two or More Races" presented in this report are based on the 6-category race/ethnicity variable with data available starting in early 1990s. For the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) eligibility category, results have been reported since 2003 when the quality of the data on students' eligibility for the program improved. Because students' eligibility for NSLP may be underreported at grade 12, the NSLP results at grade 12 are not included in this report. Beginning in the 2014–15 school year, states could additionally categorize students as eligible for NSLP by including them in their Community Eligibility Provision; therefore, the percentage of students categorized as eligible has increased in comparison to 2013. Readers should interpret NSLP trend results with caution. The information about "Eligibility for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP)" variable is based on available school records. If school records were not available, the student was classified as "Information not available." The category "students with disabilities" includes students identified as having either an Individualized Education Program or protection under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The results for students with disabilities and English learners are based on students who were assessed and cannot be generalized to the total population of such students. See more information about student group variables. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding or the omission of categories. Although the estimates (e.g., average scores or percentages) are shown as rounded numbers, the positions of the data points in the graphics are based on the unrounded numbers. Unrounded numbers were used for calculating the differences between the estimates, and for the statistical comparison test when the estimates were compared to each other. Not all apparent differences between estimates are statistically significant.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), various years, 1992–2022 Reading Assessments.