NAEP Analysis and Scaling → Estimation of NAEP Score Scales → NAEP Scales → Scale Composition by Item Type for New and Trend Blocks → Science Assessment Subscale Composition for New and Previously Administered Blocks at Grade 8

NAEP Technical DocumentationScience Assessment Subscale Composition for New and Previously Administered Blocks at Grade 8

Each science assessment usually includes blocks of new items and blocks of items from previous assessments. However, the 2009 science assessment was based on a new framework and consisted of all new items. The number of multiple-choice, dichotomously scored constructed-response and polytomously scored constructed-response items are provided at grade 8. The item counts are available for each scale as defined in the final Item Response Theory (IRT) scales.

Scale composition for new blocks as defined after scaling, grade 8 science combined national and state main assessment, by item type: 2009

	Multiple-choice items		Dichotomously scored constructed-response items		Polytomously scored constructed-response items
	Scaled	Dropped	Scaled	Dropped	Polytomous uncollapsed	Dichotomous collapsed	Polytomous collapsed	Dropped
NOTE: Univariate scale. "Dropped" denotes items that were deleted from the final scaling. "Collapsed" denotes items that had categories that were combined and recoded for scaling. Some items were administered previously under different contexts. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2009 Science Assessment.
Total	104	4	1	0	41	4	12	0

Subscale composition for new blocks as defined after scaling, grade 8 science combined national and state main assessment, by item type: 2009

Subscale	Multiple-choice items		Dichotomously scored constructed-response items		Polytomously scored constructed-response items
	Scaled	Dropped	Scaled	Dropped	Polytomous uncollapsed	Dichotomous collapsed	Polytomous collapsed	Dropped
NOTE: "Dropped" denotes items that were deleted from the final scaling. "Collapsed" denotes items that had categories that were combined and recoded for scaling. Some items were administered previously under different contexts. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2009 Science Assessment.
Total	105	3	1	0	46	3	8	0
Physical science	33	3	1	0	13	1	0	0
Earth & Space science	45	0	0	0	17	1	4	0
Life science	27	0	0	0	16	1	4	0

Block composition, grade 8 science combined national and state assessment, by item type and block: 2009

Block	Total number of items	Number of multiple-choice items	Number of constructed-response items
			2-category	3-category	4-category	5-category
NOTE: For a small number of constructed-response items, adjacent categories were combined. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2009 Science Assessment.
Total	166	108	1	22	21	14
S3	17	12	0	1	2	2
S4	18	13	0	2	1	2
S5	18	13	0	2	2	1
S6	17	11	0	4	1	1
S7	16	10	0	1	2	3
S8	18	13	1	1	2	1
S9	14	8	0	1	5	†
S10	17	10	0	3	2	2
S11	16	9	0	3	3	1
S12	15	9	0	4	1	1

Printer-friendly Version