2005 NAEP Reading Sample Questions at Grade 12

The sample questions below give a brief introduction to the materials that were used to assess the reading ability of twelfth-grade students. All questions are based on the NAEP reading framework, which defines the test design and content. The framework was developed through an extensive national consensus process and adopted by the National Assessment Governing Board. Visit the Governing Board's website to download the full text of the reading framework. In addition to the overall percentage of students who answered the question correctly, the percentage of students at each achievement level who answered correctly is presented. To learn more about achievement levels, read specific descriptions of the Basic, Proficient, and Advanced achievement levels in reading.

Several other tools are available to help students, parents, and teachers look more closely at NAEP questions. View the item maps that provide concrete examples of what students at various achievement levels likely know and can do. Visit the NAEP Questions Tool to search over 1,800 released items in all NAEP subject areas.

As part of the 2005 reading assessment, twelfth-graders were presented with a guide to a city's transit system. The multiple-choice question presented here required students to make a simple inference based on explicit information in the Metro Guide.

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View this question, at score 274, on a map of NAEP reading items.
 

The following is a short constructed-response question which asked students to interpret document information in relation to a real life situation. Responses to this task were rated according to a three-level scoring guide: "Evidence of full comprehension," "Evidence of partial or surface comprehension," or "Evidence of little or no comprehension." This sample student response was rated as "Evidence of full comprehension."

See more about this question or read the passage.

View this question, at score 290, on a map of NAEP reading items. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for
Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2005 Reading Assessment.