Using Bloom's Taxonomy as a Framework for Classroom Assessment

AS A MATHEMATICS TEACHER, I WANT MY CLASSroom tests to reflect what my students have had an opportunity to learn so that I can assess both their learning and my teaching. I find, however, that often I create tests haphazardly. As a result, the tests that I give accomplish only part of what I had intended them to do. In an attempt to discover ways to be more systematic in my test preparation, I read Assessment Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM 1995). That document contains a variety of helpful advice, including a description of an assessment framework. An assessment framework sounded like just what I needed to turn my classroom assessment practices from haphazard to systematic.