Distribution of Reading Questions: 2024

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading framework specifies the particular dimensions of reading literacy to be measured, as well as the percentage of assessment questions that should be devoted to each. The target percentage distribution for the two types of reading texts—literary and informational—and the cognitive targets in the assessment are presented in the tables below.

Target and actual percentage distribution of passages in NAEP reading, by grade and text type: 2024

Text Type	Grade 4		Grade 8
	Target	Actual	Target	Actual
Literary text	50	49	45	48
Informational text	50	51	55	52
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2024 Reading Assessment.

Target and actual percentage distribution of passages in NAEP reading at grade 12, by text type: 2024

Text Type	Target	Actual
Literary text	30	28
Informational text	70	72
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2024 Reading Assessment.

The proportion of items related to each cognitive target changes from grade to grade to reflect the changing demands made of students as they mature.

Target and actual percentage distribution of questions in NAEP reading, by grade and cognitive target: 2024

Cognitive Target	Grade 4		Grade 8
	Target	Actual	Target	Actual
Locate/Recall	30	22	20	17
Integrate/Interpret	50	63	50	62
Critique/Evaluate	20	16	30	21
NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2024 Reading Assessment.

Target and actual percentage distribution of questions in NAEP reading at grade 12, by cognitive target: 2024

Cognitive Target	Target	Actual
Locate/Recall	20	14
Integrate/Interpret	45	62
Critique/Evaluate	35	24
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2024 Reading Assessment.