Information About the 2005 Reading Assessment

The NAEP reading assessment presents a broad view of how well America's students are reading—one of the most important skills that young people can acquire and develop throughout their lives. The assessment was developed and reviewed by a committee of reading and measurement experts to capture the goals of the reading framework. The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), through a comprehensive national process involving reading teachers, researchers, measurement experts, policymakers, and members of the general public, created the framework, which describes the goals of the assessment and the kinds of exercises it ought to feature. The Reading Development Committee was instrumental in the development of the assessment.

Students in more than 17,600 schools participated in the 2005 reading assessment. The assessment was administered from January to early April 2005 to approximately 165,000 students at grade 4; 159,000 students at grade 8; and 12,000 students at grade 12. Results for students in grades 4 and 8 (national and state) are currently reported on this site. Results for grade 12 students (at the national level only) will be reported in the spring of 2006. Results for the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) in reading.at grades 4 and 8 will be available in the late fall. Ten urban school districts and the District of Columbia participated in the TUDA in reading.

The reading assessment consisted of both multiple-choice and constructed-response questions. Multiple-choice questions were designed to test students’ understanding of the individual texts, as well as their ability to integrate and synthesize ideas across the texts. Constructed-response questions were based on consideration of the texts the students read.

Students read complete texts from typical grade-appropriate sources. They also read three types of texts representing different contexts for reading. NAEP assesses reading for literary experience and reading for information in grades 4, 8, and 12. Reading to perform a task is assessed only in grades 8 and 12. Find out more about what the reading assessment measures, and read the descriptions of each of the contexts for reading.