The following grade 4 short constructed-response question asks students to explain the motivation for a character's actions in a story. See the full text of the grade 4 reading passage.
Student responses were scored according to a 3-level scale as "Full comprehension," Partial or surface comprehension," or "Little or no comprehension." The sample response below is an example of a "Full comprehension" response.
Overall, 54 percent of students were scored as having a "Full comprehension" response. When only the students in the Proficient category are considered, 69 percent scored "Full comprehension."
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View this question, at score 158, on a map of NAEP reading items.