Items from a standardized reading test designed to measure the ability to identify the main ideas of paragraphs were administered without the associated paragraphs. The two samples consisted of graduate students and inner-city high-school students. A random half of each sample was given brief, general directions for answering the items in the absence of the passages, and the other half was given more extensive directions for answering the items in the absence of the passages. The different directions did not have a significant effect on performance, but both halves of the two samples answered a substantial number of items correctly. An index of passage-dependence was computed for each item, and the index values obtained from the responses of the graduate students and high-school students were substantially correlated. READING comprehension is often measured by asking questions about specific passages that are included in the test. Various writers have noted that unless the passages and items are carefully written, it may be possible for examinees to answer correctly the questions without paying careful attention to the associated passages (e.g., Davis, 1964, p. 105). This contention has been supported, in part, by Preston (1962), Weaver andBickley (1967), andPyrczak (1972), all of whom administered standardized readingcomprehension items without the passages. Pyrczak, furthermore, investigated the sources of information and misinformation that examinees used in responding to questions when they did not have access to the passages. In that study, it appeared that examinees at UNIV OF MONTANA on April 4, 2015 epm.sagepub.com Downloaded from 344 EDUCATIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL MEASUREMENT relied upon their general information (or misinformation) as well as the interrelationships among the items on a given passage to select choices. These two bases for responding could constitute a serious threat to the validity of reading-comprehension tests. The present study is concerned with the passage-dependence of readingcomprehension items in response to which neither of these bases for responding would be helpful.Specifically, items in Part II of the Traxler High School Reading Test (Form A) were used in this investigation. Each of the items was designed to measure the ability to find the main idea in a given paragraph. Most of the distracters in these items appear to be true statements but are incorrect as choices because they are not the main idea of the associated paragraph. Thus, it does not seem likely that examinees can use their general knowledge of -the truth or falsity of each choice as a basis for identifying the keyed choices. Furthermore, since each of the items is based upon a separate paragraph, there are no apparent interrelationships among items that examinees can use as a basis for responding.Despite these apparent strengths of the items in the Traxler High School Reading Test, Tuinman (1972, pp. 49-50) suggested that &dquo;In many instances the right answer can be found without reading the passages at all.&d...