Table 3.

Performance and prediction on life sciences items for standards in K–4 grade band^a

		Students		Teacher predictions		Teachers
Standard	Subtopic	Mean	SE	Mean	SE	Mean	SE	Number of items
I. The Characteristics of Organisms	A. Organisms have basic needs.	0.75	0.01	0.77	0.02	0.92	0.03	15
	B. Plants and animals have different structures.	0.70	0.01	0.75	0.02	0.95	0.01	22
	C. Behavior is influenced by cues.	0.74	0.00	0.77	0.02	0.97	0.01	21
II. Life Cycles of Organisms	A. Plants and animals have life cycles.	0.51	0.00	0.66	0.02	0.94	0.02	26
	B. Plants and animals resemble their parents.	0.67	0.00	0.73	0.02	0.96	0.01	17
	C. Characteristics are inherited or learned.	0.60	0.01	0.68	0.03	0.91	0.02	22
III. Organisms and Their Environments	A. All animals depend on plants.	0.78	0.01	0.82	0.02	0.96	0.02	9
	B. Behavior is related to the environment.	0.69	0.01	0.70	0.02	0.96	0.02	22
	C. All organisms cause environmental changes.	0.64	0.01	0.66	0.02	0.96	0.02	19
	D. Humans need natural and artificial environments.	0.42	0.01	0.61	0.03	0.90	0.04	5

^aDescriptive phrases for the content of each standard are grouped by grade band. Student mean scores by standard ranged from a minimum of 0.42 correct to a high of 0.78. The minimum mean score for teachers was 0.90 and the maximum was 0.97. “Predictions” refers to how well teachers predicted their students’ performance by standard.