Executive Summary
This document, the Reading Framework for the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress, describes the content and format of the 4th, 8th, and 12th grade assessments. The 2005 Reading Framework continues the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading trend begun in 1992.
What Is the NAEP Reading Assessment?
The NAEP reading assessment measures the achievement of the nation's students in reading. Authorized by Congress and administered by the U.S. Department of Education, NAEP regularly reports to the public on the educational progress of students in various subject areas. NAEP collects achievement information on nationally representative samples of students in grades 4, 8, and 12 and on state-level samples of fourth and eighth graders.
As the "Nation's Report Card," the NAEP reading assessment reports how well students perform in reading various texts and responding to those texts in both multiple-choice and constructed-response formats. The latter questions ask students to write their responses and explain and support their ideas with information from the text. NAEP provides information about student achievement that is needed to help the public, decisionmakers, and education professionals understand strengths and weaknesses in student performance and make informed decisions about education.
Since 1992, the NAEP Reading Framework has provided guidelines for developing the reading assessments administered to random samples of students. The NAEP Reading Framework reflects the ideas of many individuals and organizations involved in reading education, including researchers, policymakers, teachers, business representatives, and other members of the public. NAEP is a project of the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, and is overseen by the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB).
The NAEP Reading Framework reflects research that views reading comprehension as a dynamic, interactive process. The NAEP definition of reading literacy has been used internationally to help the public understand what students should know and be able to perform in the area of reading. This understanding plays a role in unifying the important reading dimensions for student achievement. Reading includes the ability to understand and use written texts for enjoyment and to learn, to participate in society, and to achieve one's goals.
What Must Students Know and Be Able To Do?
The NAEP Reading Framework specifies three contexts for reading: reading for literary experience, reading for information, and reading to perform a task (see exhibit 1).
Exhibit 1. Contexts for Reading Specified in the NAEP Reading Framework
| Context for Reading | Description |
|---|---|
| Reading for literary experience | Readers explore events, characters, themes, settings, plots, actions, and the language of literary works by reading novels, short stories, poems, plays, legends, biographies, myths, and folktales. |
| Reading for information | Readers gain information to understand the world by reading materials such as magazines, newspapers, textbooks, essays, and speeches. |
| Reading to perform a task | Readers apply what they learn from reading materials such as bus or train schedules, directions for repairs or games, classroom procedures, tax forms (grade 12), maps, and so on. |
The Framework also specifies four aspects of reading that characterize the way readers respond to text: forming a general understanding, developing interpretation, making reader/text connections, and examining content and structure (see exhibit 2).
Exhibit 2. Aspects of Reading and Reader Responses
| Aspects of Reading | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Forming a General Understanding | Developing Interpretation | Making Reader/Text Connections | Examining Content and Structure |
| Consider text in
its entirety
Understanding in a broad way |
Focus on
specific parts
Linking information across parts of the text |
Think beyond
the text
Applying the text to real-world situations |
Consider why
and how the
text was
developed
|
Detailed information on sample questions and results can be found on the NAEP Web site at nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard.
How Is the NAEP Reading Assessment Designed?
The reading assessment includes a booklet with reading materials and comprehension questions. The questions are presented in both multiple-choice and constructed-response formats. At least half are constructed-response questions, which allow students to write their answers and explain and support their ideas. Materials used in the assessment are taken from sources that are typically available to students, such as collections of stories, children's magazines, or informational books. By giving students different types of materials, NAEP is able to provide a measure of reading performance that reflects students' typical reading experiences both in and out of school.What Accommodations Are Made for Special Populations?
NAEP's intention is to assess all students who are capable of participating in the reading assessment. Although some students may be excluded according to carefully defined criteria, English-language learners and students with disabilities are accommodated as necessary with extra testing time, individual or small group administrations, large-print booklets, and/or multiple sessions. However, because NAEP is a reading comprehension assessment, test administrators are not allowed to read the passages and questions aloud to students. Since NAEP measures reading in English, the assessment cannot be translated into other languages.
How Are the Results of the NAEP Reading Assessment Reported?
NAEP reading assessment results are reported in two ways: scale scores and achievement levels. Scale scores, ranging from 0 to 500, are average scores for groups of students. Achievement level scores are reported as percentages of students who attain each of three achievement levels: Basic, Proficient, and Advanced. Achievement levels serve to identify percentages of students taking NAEP who have demonstrated certain reading proficiencies. Authorized by NAEP legislation and adopted by NAGB, these achievement levels are performance standards based on the collective judgments of experts about what students should know and be able to do in terms of the NAEP Reading Framework.
What Are the Limitations of the NAEP Reading Assessment?
School-based tests provide curriculum-specific results so that teachers and administrators can
alter classroom practice. As currently designed, the NAEP reading assessment cannot provide
the kind of diagnostic information that pertains to individual students. Instead, it profiles the
performance of groups of students at a given time—and across time—without promoting particular
approaches in curriculum or prescribing actions for certain school districts. Yet, combined
with other information, NAEP is an integral part of our nation's evaluation of the condition and
progress of education.
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