TABLE 1

NAEP PROFICIENCY SCALE

Levels of Cognitive Taxonomy

Level
Bloom	Herber	NAEP	Category	Descriptor/Proficiency
1			Knowledge	Recalls or recognizes information
	I		Literal Comprehension
		200	Understands Simple Scientific Principles
2			Comprehension	Transforms information, gives examples, states in own words
	II		Interpretive Comprehension
3			Application	Uses information, solves a problem.
		250	Applies General Scientific Information
	III		Applied Comprehension
4			Analysis	Separates components, identifies issues, motives, or implications
		300	Analyzes Scientific Procedures and Data
5			Synthesis	Creates unique combination, identifies abstract relationships
		350	Integrates Specialized Scientific Information
6			Evaluation	Establishes criteria to judge or opine

Sources: Bloom, Benjamin, S., Max D. Engelhart, Edward J. Furst, Walker H. Hill and David R. Krathwohl. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. The Classification of Educational Goals. Handbook I: Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay.

Herber, Harold L. (1978). Teaching Reading in the Content Areas, 2^nd ed., Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

The 1990 Science Report Card: NAEP’s Assessment of Fourth, Eighth and Twelfth Grades. (Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, 1992), p. 3.

FIGURE 1

PERCENTAGES OF STUDENTS AT OR ABOVE FOUR PROFICIENCY

LEVELS ON THE NAEP SCIENCE SCALE

Percent of Students At Or Above

0 20 40 60 80 100

½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½

Level 200

Grade 4 85

Grade 8 94

Grade 12 99

Level 250

Grade 4 31

Grade 8 64

Grade 12 84

Level 300

Grade 4 1

Grade 8 18

Grade 12 45

Level 350

Grade 4 0

Grade 8 1

Grade 12 9

The 1990 Science Report Card: NAEP’s Assessment of Fourth, Eighth, and Twelfth Graders. (National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, 1992), p. 28.

TABLE 2

PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS AT PIAGET’S COGNITIVE LEVELS

Age	Grade	Intuition	Entry Concrete	Advanced Concrete	Entry Formal	Middle Formal
10	4-5	12	52	35	1
12	6-7	5	32	51	12
14	8-9	1	32	43	15	9
16	10-11	1	15	54	17	13

Source: Herman Epstein. (1981). Washington, DC: National Science Teachers Association.

TABLE 3

COMBINED CLASSIFICATIONS FOR READING ASSESSMENT ITEMS

By Bloom, NAEP and Herber Levels (N = 39)

Scale	Number of Items*	Percentage of Total
NAEP
200	27	64.3
250	13	31.0
300	2	4.7
350	0	0.0
Totals	42	100.0
Bloom’s Taxonomy
1	14	22.2
2	27	42.9
3	10	15.9
4	9	14.3
5	3	4.7
6	0	0.0
Totals	63	100.0
Herber
I	11	26.8
II	22	53.7
III	8	19.5
Totals	41	100.0

*Number of items is greater than 39 due to the multiple classifications.

TABLE 4

DAY ONE: WASL READING ASSESSMENT

Items Classified by Bloom, NAEP, and Herber Levels (N = 20)

Scale	Number of Items*	Percentage of Total
NAEP
200	12	52.2
250	9	39.1
300	2	8.7
350	0	0.0
Totals	23	100.0
Bloom’s Taxonomy
1	7	20.0
2	12	34.3
3	6	17.1
4	7	20.0
5	3	8.6
6	0	0.0
Totals	35	100.0
Herber
I	7	31.8
II	8	36.4
III	7	31.8
Totals	22	100.0

*Number will be greater than 20 due to multiple classifications.

TABLE 5

DAY TWO: READING ASSESSMENT

Items Classified by NAEP Scale, Bloom, and Herber Levels (N = 19)

Scale	Number of Items*	Percentage of Total
NAEP
200	15	79.9
250	4	21.2
300	0	0.0
350	0	0.0
Totals	19	100.0
Bloom’s Taxonomy
1	7	25.0
2	15	53.3
3	4	14.3
4	2	7.1
5	0	0.0
6	0	0.0
Totals	28	100.0
Herber
I	4	21.1
II	14	73.6
III	1	5.3
Totals	19	100.0

*The numbers will be greater than 19, due to multiple classifications.

TABLE 6

DAY ONE: GRADE 4 LISTENING ASSESSMENT

Items Classified by NAEP, Bloom, and Herber Levels (N = 13)

Scale	Number of Items*	Percentage of Total
NAEP
200	9	69.2
250	3	23.1
300	1	7.7
350	0	0.0
Totals	13	100.0
Bloom’s Taxonomy
1	2	10.5
2	6	31.6
3	7	21.1
4	4	0.0
5	0	0.0
6	0	0.0
Totals	19	100.0
Herber
I	3	23.1
II	6	46.2
III	4	30.7
Totals	13	100.0

*The numbers will be greater than 13, due to multiple classifications.

TABLE 7

GRADE 4 WRITING ASSESSMENT

Items Classified by NAEP, and Bloom Levels

Day One—Prewriting
Task	NAEP	Bloom’s Taxonomy
1	200	1
2	200	1
Day Two—Writing
1	250	2 or 3
2	250	2 or 3
Combined Day Classification
Scale	Number of Tasks*	Percentage of Total
NAEP
200	2	50.0
250	2	50.0
300	0	0.0
350	0	0.0
Totals	4	100.0
Bloom’s Taxonomy
1	27	33.3
2	2	33.3
3	2	33.3
4	0	0.0
5	0	0.0
6	0	0.0
Totals