Study Guide
Field 47: Reading Endorsement 6–12
Sample Written Performance Assignment
The following materials contain:
- Sample test directions for the written performance assignment
- A sample written performance assignment
- An example of a strong response to the written performance assignment
- The scoring rubric
Sample Test Directions for Written Performance Assignment
This section of the test consists of a performance assignment. The assignment can be found on the next screen. You are asked to prepare a written response of approximately 300–600 words on the assigned topic. You should use your time to plan, write, review, and edit your response for the assignment.
Read the assignment carefully before you begin to work. Think about how you will organize your response. You may use the booklet of yellow erasable sheets to make notes, write an outline, or otherwise prepare your response. However, your score will be based solely on the version of your response typed in the on-screen response box.
Please note that symbols for long and short vowels are not available on the keyboard. A variety of symbols are available for insertion in the on-screen response box. To access these symbols, click on the
icon that appears in the upper left corner of the screen. Using the mouse, click on the symbol you wish to include in your response and then select “Insert”. The symbol will be inserted where the cursor is positioned in the response box.
As a whole, your response must demonstrate an understanding of the knowledge and skills of the field. In your response to the assignment, you are expected to demonstrate the depth of your understanding of the content area through your ability to apply your knowledge and skills rather than merely to recite factual information.
Your response to each assignment will be evaluated on the basis of the following criteria:
PURPOSE: the extent to which the response achieves the purpose of the assignment
CONTENT KNOWLEDGE: accuracy and appropriateness in the application of subject matter knowledge
QUALITY: quality and relevance of supporting details
RATIONALE: soundness of argument and degree of understanding of the subject matter
The performance assignments are intended to assess subject knowledge knowledge and skills, not writing ability. However, your responses must be communicated clearly enough to permit scorers to make a valid evaluation of your responses according to the criteria listed above. Your responses should be written for an audience of educators in this field. The final versions of your responses should conform to the conventions of edited American English. Your written responses must be your original work, written in your own words, and not copied or paraphrased from some other work.
Be sure to write about the assigned topic. You may not use any reference materials during the test. Remember to review your work and make any changes you think will improve your response.
Sample Written Performance Assignment
Read the information below; then complete the exercise that follows.
A school's multidisciplinary intervention team meets for a third time to review the progress of a high school student whose primary language is English. The student has received a series of Tier 2 interventions in comprehension of content-area texts, including targeted interventions in content-specific vocabulary and content-specific comprehension strategies. Progress-monitoring assessments indicate that, while the student improved in these specific areas, none of these interventions has provided her with adequate support to make sufficient and meaningful progress toward grade-level goals in comprehension of content-area texts.
Exercise
Use your knowledge of theoretical and research foundations of literacy—including knowledge of the continuum of reading development, knowledge of literacy assessment, and knowledge of the essential elements of evidence-based literacy intervention—to write a response in which you complete the following tasks.
- Identify one significant area of weakness in foundational reading skills that is likely a factor impeding the student's progress in comprehension of content-area texts.
- Explain how mastery of this foundational skill contributes to a student's development in comprehension of content-area texts.
- Assuming that the significant area of weakness you identified is the primary source of the student's
difficulty in comprehension of content-area texts, describe the key elements of an appropriate,
evidence-based intervention plan to address her needs in this foundational skill. In your description,
you must:
- state a specific learning goal for the intervention;
- describe two specific intervention strategies to be used; and
- describe a plan for monitoring the student's progress.
- Explain how the intervention plan you described, in conjunction with ongoing classroom instruction, will effectively promote the student's development in comprehension of content-area texts.
Sample Response for Written Performance Assignment: Score Point 4
A high school student who is making progress developing content-specific vocabulary (i.e., comprehension at the word level) and comprehension strategies specific to content-area texts (i.e., comprehension at the text level) but who is still struggling to meet grade-level goals in comprehension of content-area texts is most likely having difficulty at the sentence level. Therefore, a factor likely impeding this student's progress is a weakness in syntax.
Content-area texts include many syntactic structures, such as passive constructions, that are not commonly used in everyday oral discourse. Passive voice is acquired late in the course of a child's syntactic development because students aren't typically exposed to it in social communication. Since passive sentences tend to de-emphasize who or what is performing an action, a reader must recognize that the grammatical subject is not performing the action of the main verb but is receiving it. Thus, mastery of passive-voice contributes to a student's comprehension of content-area texts by promoting accurate interpretation of cause and effect relationships in a text, which enhances both literal and inferential comprehension.
A specific learning goal for an intervention plan for this student would be demonstrating ability to recognize and interpret passive-voice sentences in content-area texts. Two specific intervention strategies I would use are explicit instruction in passive-voice constructions and intensive guided practice interpreting and using the passive voice in reading, writing, and speaking.
In the first strategy, I would start with explicit explanations of passive voice usage, elements, and meaning, followed by modeling and guided practice in developing passive voice sentences. I would identify when passive voice is typically used (e.g., in some disciplines or styles of academic discourse) and provide examples, explaining that the key to understanding passive sentences is knowing that the grammatical subject of the sentence is not "active," and that whoever or whatever is performing the action is de-emphasized or even omitted. Using a sentence frame on the board, I'd model transforming sentences from active to passive voice. Then, I'd guide the student in transforming sentences using the frame by asking questions about meaningful elements in the active sentences. For example, to transform the active sentence, "The collie herded the sheep" into "The sheep were herded by the collie," I would ask, "What is the verb?" "Which animal was herded?" "Herded by whom?"
In the second intervention strategy, I would begin by asking the student to identify the voice of sentences from content-area texts then to rewrite them in the alternate voice. Next, the student would write a paragraph about a recent personal experience, using only the active voice—a task well within the student's ability—and then rewrite the paragraph using only the passive voice. To provide the student with guided practice, I'd also have her practice speaking about familiar topics (e.g., her weekend), using at least five passive-voice sentences. After the student mastered passage construction using familiar topics, I would guide her in applying the skills to topics from content-area texts.
To monitor the student's progress, I would keep anecdotal records of the student's daily progress in recognizing, interpreting, and constructing passive-voice sentences in both familiar and content-area contexts. On a weekly basis, I would use a curriculum-based assessment (using content-area texts) to assess the student's ability to comprehend passages containing passive constructions, graphing the student's progress on a trend line in order to monitor progress toward the intervention's aim-line goals and grade-level goals. These assessment strategies would allow close monitoring of the effectiveness of the interventions and permit timely adjustments.
This intervention plan would be effective in promoting the student's comprehension of content-area texts because it develops her sentence-level reading comprehension by developing her knowledge of passive voice. The first strategy builds on the student's current knowledge of syntax by having her transform sentences from the familiar active voice to the passive voice. The second strategy first reinforces new learning (identifying and transforming active and passive sentences), then builds on this foundation to help the student construct original discourse in the passive voice, progressing from familiar topics to content-area topics. Such intensive practice would promote the student’s ability to interpret grammatical relationships in passive-voice sentences automatically during content-area reading. By developing the student’s sentence-level comprehension, this intervention plan complements the word-level and text-level progress she has already made, thus improving her overall comprehension of content-area texts.
Scoring Rubric
Performance Characteristics
The following characteristics guide the scoring of responses to the written performance assignment.
| Purpose | The extent to which the response achieves the purpose of the assignment. |
|---|---|
| Content Knowledge | Accuracy and appropriateness in the application of subject matter knowledge. |
| Support | Quality and relevance of supporting details. |
| Rationale | Soundness of argument and degree of understanding of the subject matter. |
Scoring Scale
The scoring scale below, which is related to the performance characteristics for the test, is used by scorers in assigning a score to a response to the written performance assignment.
| Score Point | Score Point Description |
|---|---|
| 4 | The "4" response reflects a thorough knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.
|
| 3 | The "3" response reflects an adequate knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.
|
| 2 | The "2" response reflects a limited knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.
|
| 1 | The "1" response reflects a weak knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.
|
| U | The response is unrelated to the assigned topic, illegible, primarily in a language other than English, not of sufficient length to score, or merely a repetition of the assignment. |
| B | There is no response to the assignment. |