2022 Reading Survey Questionnaire Results
Below are selected National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading survey questionnaire results from 2022 (grades 4 and 8) and 2019 (grade 12). The selected results describe learning disruptions and recovery efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic (grades 4 and 8 only), as well as learning contexts, opportunities, and student and educator perspectives. A special COVID-19 module was added to the 2022 NAEP grades 4 and 8 survey questionnaires to collect information about students’ learning experiences and how educators were meeting the academic challenges presented by the pandemic. Read more about NAEP survey questionnaires.
NAEP survey questionnaire responses provide additional information for understanding NAEP performance results. Although comparisons in students’ performance are made based on student, teacher, and school characteristics and educational experiences, these results cannot be used to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between the characteristics or experiences and student achievement. NAEP is not designed to identify the causes of performance differences. There are many factors that may influence average student achievement, including local educational policies and practices, the quality of teachers, and available resources. Such factors may change over time and vary among student groups; therefore, results must be interpreted with caution.
Learning Disruptions and Recovery Efforts During the Pandemic
At grades 4 and 8, larger percentages of lower-performing students who learned remotely last school year (2020–21) reported having less frequent access to learning resources compared to higher-performing students. More than one-third of fourth-graders had teachers who reported using remedial measures every day or almost every day during the current school year (2021–22) to reduce pandemic-related learning gaps, and more than half of eighth-graders had teachers who reported providing this type of instructional support about once or twice a week or more. Most students had teachers who were highly confident in their ability to provide remote instruction. For example, 91 percent of fourth-graders and 93 percent of eighth-graders had teachers who reported they probably or definitely can conduct a remote learning lesson with students in real-time. However, half or fewer students at grades 4 and 8 had teachers who were quite or extremely confident in their ability to address pandemic-related learning gaps during the current school year.
Learning Contexts, Opportunities, and Perspectives
Compared to 2019, the percentages of grade 4 students who were often or always or almost always asked do most types of reading activities did not change, with a few exceptions (e.g., a decline in often or always or almost always being asked to interpret the meaning of a passage). The percentages of grade 8 students who were often or always or almost always asked to summarize a passage, question motives and feelings of characters, and evaluate evidence when reading in class increased compared to 2019. There were declines in fourth- and eighth-grade students’ high levels of confidence in their reading knowledge and skills compared to 2019, as well as declines in their teachers’ work satisfaction (e.g., teachers agreeing quite a bit or exactly that their work inspired them). Percentages of fourth- and eighth-grade students whose teachers received training on the use of technology to support classroom instruction, including interactive video or videoconferencing, increased compared to 2019. The percentages of grades 4 and 8 students who reported having access to the Internet and a computer or tablet at home increased compared to 2019, particularly among students eligible for the National School Lunch Program.
The results in this section focus on comparisons between 2022 and 2019, the previous assessment year. Data prior to 2019 can be accessed using the NAEP Data Explorer links provided at the end of each accordion box below.
