The table below shows the percentage of eighth-graders within each achievement level whose responses were rated as "Uneven" or higher. For example, 95 percent of students performing at the Basic level were able to, at least, write essays that presented some clear information, even if that information was presented in an unevenly organized way, was inconsistently developed, or sometimes exhibited sentence, word choice, or other errors that could interfere with reader understanding.

See additional student responses and the scoring criteria used for this writing prompt in the NAEP Questions Tool. See an illustration of each rating level plotted on the NAEP scale in the writing item maps.

Percentage rated as "Uneven" or higher for eighth-graders at each achievement level
in 2007

Overall	Below Basic	At Basic	At Proficient	At Advanced
92	49	95	100	100

The response shown below was rated "Uneven" because, while it does convey some clear information, it also demonstrates a lack of development and breakdowns in organization, moving quickly from thought to thought with little, if any, elaboration: "Everyone at my school has a packback. I’m going to tell you what a backpack is." Control over sentence boundaries and structure is uneven, at times present, at other times absent: "You will put paper, folders, pens, pencils, books, and more." There are also numerous errors in punctuation, spelling, and usage, some of which may require a reader to hesitate and puzzle over meaning, such as the consistently incorrect use of apostrophes ("for big kid’s").