What is the main focus of a reading comprehension assessment?

The primary focus of a reading comprehension assessment is to evaluate students' ability to analyze and interpret text. This involves assessing how well readers can draw inferences, identify the central ideas, understand the author's intent, and make connections between the text and their own experiences or other texts. Analyzing and interpreting texts requires a deeper level of engagement with the material than simply recalling facts or details.

In this context, while fluency and speed are important in reading, they do not directly reflect comprehension. Similarly, determining understanding of literary themes and recalling plot details are certainly components of understanding literature, but the broader skill of analysis and interpretation is what characterizes a comprehensive assessment of reading comprehension. This skill set enables readers to engage with texts critically and to derive meaning that goes beyond mere surface-level understanding.