NAEP - Results of the Oral Reading Study



	1,779 nationally representative fourth-graders participated.
	Students who participated were a subsample of fourth-graders who took the main NAEP reading assessment.
	Study measured students' oral reading accuracy, rate, and fluency.
	Students read aloud a 198-word portion of a passage.

Approximately three-quarters of fourth-graders read a 198-word excerpt of the passage "The Box in the Barn" with at least 95 percent accuracy.

	Approximately 65 percent of fourth-graders read the 198-word excerpt at a rate of at least 105 words per minute.

More than half the students in the study were rated as "fluent."

Compared to 37 percent of female students reading with at least 98 percent accuracy, 32 percent of male students read with that level of accuracy.

Download the NAEP 2002 oral reading study report for a printed version of the major results.

Read the passage "The Box in the Barn."

Explore all of the released 2002 reading questions in the NAEP Questions Tool.

Find out more about the oral reading study.

Find out about other special studies.

Return to the oral reading study overview.