To help teachers, policy analysts, and others understand the 1994 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Assessment in Reading, this journal issue presents the objectives and examples of how students in grades 4, 8, and 12 will be assessed. The issue discusses NAEP's view of reading; key features of the assessment; reading purposes; reading stances; and question types and allocation of testing time. A table listing aspects of reading literacy in the 1994 NAEP assessment, and a table presenting the distribution of items and percentage of assessment time by question type and grade are included. (RS)