Reading NAEP Trend Line Could Be Severed

New test could hinder measuring impact of NCLB law's progress.

Is the end near for the trend?

That’s the question surrounding the National Assessment of Educational Progress on reading, as the board that oversees the heavily scrutinized test faces a significant decision over whether to break the trend line that allows for comparisons of student scores over time.

In 2009, students in 4th, 8th, and 12th grades are scheduled to take a new version of the reading NAEP, one that will place greater emphasis on understanding different types of written texts, from passages in novels to newspaper stories to informational documents, such as bus...