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, 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.

The reading assessment consisted of both multiple-choice and constructed-response questions, and students were asked to provide written answers for at least one-half of the questions.

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. Go to the NAEP website to read more about what the reading assessment measures, including a description of each of the contexts of reading.

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 are available for grade 12 students at the national level only. Learn more about who took the assessment, including the school and student participation rates and the percentage of students with disabilities and/or English language learners excluded from the assessment.