On March 31, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reported on how well the nation’s students understand the meaning of words. NAEP’s comprehensive reading assessment includes a vocabulary portion that measures how well students can “demonstrate their understanding of words as used in literary and informational texts that they read.” According to the report, the national average fourth-grade NAEP vocabulary score in 2013 was 219, and the average eighth-grade score was 266. For private school students, the average fourth-grade score was 235, while the average eighthgrade score was 286. The 2013 NAEP Vocabulary Report is available at nationsreportcard.gov
