Section 5: Sample Constructed-Response Question
English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331)

General Directions

This question requires you to demonstrate your knowledge of the subject area by providing an in-depth written response. Read the question carefully before you begin to write your response to ensure that you address all components. Think about how you will organize what you plan to write.

The final version of your response should conform to the conventions of standard English. Your written response should be your original work, written in your own words, and not copied or paraphrased from some other work. You may, however, use citations when appropriate.

Exhibits for the constructed-response question will be presented in a tabbed format on the computer-administered test. You will have the ability to move between exhibits by clicking on the tab labels at the top of the screen.

An on-screen answer box will be provided on the computer-administered test. The answer box includes a white response area for typing your response, as well as tools along the top of the box for editing your response. A word counter that counts the number of words entered for the response is also provided in the lower left corner of the box. Note that the size, shape, and placement of the answer box will depend on the content of the assignment.

Sample Assignment

Use the information in the exhibits to complete the assignment that follows.

Analyze the information provided in the exhibits and, citing specific evidence from the exhibits, write a response of approximately 400–600 words in which you address each of the following:

  • describe one strategy that you would use to help the student connect prior knowledge and real-world experiences to the new content and contexts in the excerpt provided;
  • describe one area of academic need that the student demonstrates related to an English language arts and/or reading skill or learning objective;
  • describe one developmentally appropriate instructional strategy that you would use to address the student's identified need and explain why you would use that strategy;
  • describe one developmentally appropriate method of assessment that you would use to monitor the student's progress toward the identified skill or learning objective; and
  • explain how you would use data from this assessment method to measure the student's progress and plan for future instruction.

Exhibit 1:  Learning Objective and Excerpt

An eighth-grade English language arts teacher wants to help students develop comprehension skills described in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for English Language Arts and Reading below.

(5) Comprehension skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts.  The student uses metacognitive skills to both develop and deepen comprehension of increasingly complex texts. The student is expected to:

(F) make inferences and use evidence to support understanding.

The teacher sets the daily learning objective below.

Students will be able to characterize the protagonist by using text evidence to make inferences and support understanding.

The teacher assigns students to read the excerpt below from The Bone Houses, a novel by Emily Lloyd-Jones.

The village would be preparing for nightfall. Latches on all the doors locked. Gareth would blow out the candles, and the scent of burnt tallow would linger in the kitchen. Ceri would be getting ready for bed.

Ryn reached into her pack. She'd brought a bundle of hard bread and cheese, and, lastly, her axe. She liked eating out here, amid the wilds and the graves. She felt more comfortable here than she did in the village. When she returned home, the weight of her life would settle upon her once again. There would be unpaid rent, food stores that should be filled for winter, an anxious brother, and a future that needed sorting out. The other young women of Colbren were finding spouses, joining the cantref armies, or taking up a socially acceptable trade. When she tried to imagine doing the same, she could not. She was a half-wild creature that loved a graveyard, the first taste of misty night air, and the heft of a shovel.

She knew how things died.

And in her darkest moments, she feared she did not know how to live.

So she sat on the edge of the graveyard and watched as the sun vanished behind the trees. A silvery half-light fell across the fields, and Ryn's heartbeat quickened. It was not truly dark, but it was dark enough for magic.

Exhibit 2:  Student Assignment, Success Criteria, and Student Written Response

Students silently read the excerpt and then respond in writing to a prompt. The prompt and success criteria appear below.

Write a character analysis of the text's main character, using clues from the excerpt to infer information that is not directly stated in the text.

Success Criteria

In my written character analysis, I will:

  • Use textual clues to make at least three inferences about what Ryn is like.
  • Provide clues from the text that support each inference and explain how the clues support my inferences.

One student's response appears below.

    Ryn doesn't have many friends, because her contemporaries are all different from her. According to the text, they are getting married, joining the "cantref armies," or working at a "socially acceptable trade." But Ryn is different. She likes graveyards, and she doesn't really want to be like the others.

    Ryn does not have much money and I think her parents may not be alive. It seems like Ryn is in charge of paying the bills for the family and providing them with shelter and food, and she is a little worried about being able to do that. The text mentions her brother, and I know from what I read earlier that she is not married, so that's why I think this. She also worries about her future, because she doesn't see herself doing things that adhere to the cultural norm of her village.

    Ryn is brave. She doesn't mind eating out in the wild by herself among the graves at night. She doesn't really seem afraid of that or of death. Even though it says in the text that her "heartbeat quickened," she doesn't seem afraid. More like she is waiting for something to happen.

Exhibit 3:  Student-Teacher Discussion

After responding to the assignment, the student has a one-on-one conversation with the teacher about the student's ability to use textual evidence to make and explain inferences. A transcript of their conversation appears below.

Teacher:  I see you have made three inferences about Ryn in your character analysis. Tell me a little bit about your thought process.

Student:  Well, I read the excerpt a couple of times. Each time, I was looking for things that described what Ryn was like, and I sort of put them into the three categories I used in my three paragraphs.

Teacher:  Okay. Now let's talk about what you wrote. You said Ryn doesn't have many friends. Did the excerpt mention Ryn interacting with anybody, other than maybe her brother?

Student:  No. But she doesn't have anything in common with the other women from the village. And she seems like a bit of a loner.

Teacher:  The last thing you said—about Ryn seeming like a loner—I don't see that in your written character analysis.

Student:  Oh, right. That might have been good to include.

Teacher:  Yes. Why do you think Ryn likes graveyards? That seems a little unusual.

Student:  I'm not sure. I may have to read more to find out. Oh, wait! I wonder if "the heft of a shovel" is a clue. Maybe she likes to dig graves. I missed that detail!

Teacher:  Good thought! By the way, do you know what is meant by "cantref armies"?

Student:  No. This excerpt didn't really explain that. Maybe I should have just said "armies."

Teacher:  If you read further, I think you will find out. You have made some good inferences in your second paragraph and supported them well. Now, let's talk about the third paragraph. You said that Ryn was brave. That may be the case as you keep reading, but do you see anything in the excerpt that might point to Ryn not being quite so brave?

Student:  Hmm. Well, I guess when her heartbeat quickened, it may have indicated she was afraid, rather than brave. The text also says that she is afraid that she doesn't know how to live.

Teacher:  What do you think she means by that?

Student:  I'm really not sure.

Sample Responses and Rationales

Score Point 4

To help connect all students' prior knowledge and experience to this text, I would begin by having the students write an in-class journal entry to enhance an empathic connection to Ryn. After reading the excerpt from The Bone Houses, the students would describe a time they had felt worried about feeling different than other people. What made them feel that way? What strategy did they use to face it, or did they have a way to escape from it? I would ask volunteers to share their examples and then ask the class if there were any similarities between these real-world examples and Ryn's feelings and coping strategy. Ryn is experiencing both the stress of responsibilities and fears about being an outsider in her own community, themes likely to emerge from the journal writing.

While the student with whom the teacher is working in these exhibits has a basic understanding of how to make inferences, an area of their academic need is using textual evidence to support a claim about a character. The student's strongest paragraph correctly connects Ryn being "a little worried" to her seeming to be "in charge" at home, filling the role of a parent. However, the student must be prompted to get to the idea of Ryn being a "loner," and while it is superficially correct to connect being "brave" to not being afraid in graveyards, the student misses the deeper significance that Ryn "feared she did not know how to live." There are many details the student ignores that give more insight into Ryn, such as what she brought with her to the graveyard and the contrast between the images of night falling on the village and on the graveyard where she is a "half-wild creature" (e.g., "candles" vs "sun," "doors locked" vs "first taste of misty night").

The use of a graphic organizer would be one way to help the student make more direct connections between inferences and textual evidence. I would assign texts of similar difficulty to The Bone Houses for the student to read. The "Making Inferences" organizer, divided into two columns, would allow the student to work in both directions, listing details on one side of the organizer and drawing inferences from those details while also writing down inferences on the other side and then searching the texts for supporting evidence to back them up. If this tool had been used for the current text, the student may have listed "the heft of a shovel" and thought about what that detail implied or written down "cantref armies" and then realized the meaning was not clear. After characterizing Ryn as "brave," the student using a graphic organizer may have found contradictory details that exposed their description as too simple.

I would assess the student's progress through monitoring the completion of the graphic organizer work as the student progressed through the texts. Side-by-side discussions with the student would give me opportunities to question the student about the connections between the textual evidence and the inferences listed in the organizer. How does this detail lead to that inference? Are there overlooked details that would either strengthen the inference or call it into question? The aim of the questions would be to make the student explain how specific textual evidence can be used to support a deduction not explicitly stated. Through these questioning sessions with the student, I would gather notes that would indicate whether progress was being made. If over the course of reading similar texts the student showed improvement in this area, I would move the student on to more complex texts to build on and practice the skill of using textual details to support inferences.

Rationale for the Score of 4

The "4" response reflects a thorough understanding of the relevant content knowledge and skills. The response fully addresses all parts of the assignment, demonstrates an accurate, highly effective application of the relevant content knowledge and skills, and provides strong, relevant evidence, specific examples, and well-reasoned explanations.

Completion: The response addresses all parts of the assignment, and the response to each part is fully developed with evidence, examples, and explanations. A strategy to help the student connect prior knowledge and real experiences to the text is described in paragraph 1; an academic need is described in paragraph 2; a detailed instructional strategy, and the rationale for that strategy, is described in paragraph 3; a method of assessment is described and the use of the data from the assessment is explained in paragraph 4.

Application of Content: The response accurately and effectively applies concepts and terminology relevant to English language arts content germane to inference and textual evidence, as well as pedagogical strategies (e.g., journal writing, graphic organizers, questioning techniques). The response demonstrates an ability to analyze a literary text, frame questions that promote higher-order thinking, and design effective lessons aligned to the relevant standards in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for English Language Arts and Reading.

Support: The response provides strong, relevant evidence, specific examples, and well-reasoned explanations. In paragraph 1, the journal entry activity is grounded in specific questions that connect directly to the text. In paragraph 2, the assessment of the student's skill level is grounded in evidence from the exhibits, including direct quotations. In paragraph 3, the instructional strategy is described with specific details, including precise instructions and an explanation of how the strategy could have helped the student with the current excerpt. Paragraph 4 provides specific examples of the kinds of questions used to monitor progress and how notes would be used to decide next steps.

Score Point 2

Students can usually connect something they read to their own lives, and this story about Ryn would be no exception. Relating the topic of a story to prior experience can help students understand a character better and maybe sympathize with them (in this case, Ryn). I would ask students to think about a time they visited a graveyard and how that made them feel. Although they may not have had a shovel when they were there, they might have gotten that magical feeling that sometimes happens in cemeteries. Or they might have felt afraid of the haunted story type atmosphere. Students could share their experiences with the class or write a short story based on the experience.

One area of academic need this student has is knowing more vocabulary so they can use details better for inferences. For instance, the student clearly did not know what "cantref" means but used it anyway, which is not really appropriate, as the teacher said. Context clues sometimes aid with understanding. I would explain to the student the importance of knowing what words mean before using them for evidence. Other words and phrases the student may not know are "tallow" and "socially acceptable trade." This is limiting what the student can say about Ryn's character. The more words you know the better support you can give for inferences you make.

There are many ways to teach vocabulary. First, I would go over the entire excerpt with the class to make sure they understood all the vocabulary. For instance, I would ask, "What is a food store?" Then, I would have students keep a list of all words and phrases they did not know while reading other texts, looking up unknown words and writing down the definitions. Actually using newly learned words is the best way to retain the knowledge, so I would periodically have students return to their lists and create short narratives from them so that they had to use them in sentences.

One developmentally appropriate method of assessment for monitoring the student's progress toward increasing vocabulary would be exit tickets at the end of class readings of texts. I would be able to see from these short quizzes how many words or phrases the students know. If they performed poorly, I would know I needed to spend more time on expanding vocabulary and using context clues to understand specific details that can be used to make inferences.

Rationale for the Score of 2

The "2" response reflects a limited understanding of the relevant content knowledge and skills. The response addresses some parts of the assignment and demonstrates a partially accurate application of the relevant content knowledge and skills. The response provides limited evidence, and examples or explanations are only partially appropriate.

Completion: The response addresses most parts of the assignment, but it does so only partially. It describes one area of academic need ("increasing vocabulary"), but this need is tangential to the more relevant skills the student needs to develop. The description of an instructional strategy is limited in effectiveness and in relation to making inferences. The language of the excerpt is not difficult for this grade level—"cantref" is a specialized word, an exception in the passage. The description of the method of assessment and use of the data is limited. Even if increasing vocabulary were the primary academic need, quizzing of vocabulary comprehension with new texts is not an effective method of monitoring the retention of recently learned words.

Application of Content: The response demonstrates a partially accurate, partially effective application of the relevant content knowledge and skills. For example, while enhancing vocabulary development is an important skill recognized in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for English Language Arts and Reading, it is not the student's most relevant academic need within the context of drawing inferences. The instructional strategy and monitoring are limited to simply assessing students' knowledge of specific words rather than using the context of those words to make inferences.

Support: The response provides limited evidence and examples or explanations, when provided, may be only partially appropriate. Having students remember a time when they were in a graveyard does connect the text to prior knowledge, but there is no explanation of how this is relevant to what the character in the excerpt is feeling. Similarly, asking students to "create short narratives" from newly learned vocabulary does not explicitly support the learning objective of using textual evidence to make inferences.

Performance Characteristics

The rubric created to evaluate your response to the constructed-response question is based on the following criteria:

Completion The degree to which the candidate completes the assignment by responding to each specific task in the assignment.
Application of Content The degree to which the candidate applies the relevant knowledge and skills to the response accurately and effectively.
Support The degree to which the candidate supports the response with appropriate evidence, examples, and explanations based on the relevant content knowledge and skills.

Score Scale

The four points of the scoring scale correspond to varying degrees of performance.

Score Point Score Point Description
4 The "4" response reflects a thorough understanding of the relevant content knowledge and skills.
  • The response fully addresses all parts of the assignment.
  • The response demonstrates an accurate, highly effective application of the relevant content knowledge and skills.
  • The response provides strong, relevant evidence, specific examples, and well-reasoned explanations.
3 The "3" response reflects a general understanding of the relevant content knowledge and skills.
  • The response addresses most or all parts of the assignment.
  • The response demonstrates a generally accurate, effective application of the relevant content knowledge and skills.
  • The response provides sufficient evidence, some examples, and generally sound explanations.
2 The "2" response reflects a limited understanding of the relevant content knowledge and skills.
  • The response addresses at least some of the parts of the assignment.
  • The response demonstrates a partially accurate, partially effective application of the relevant content knowledge and skills.
  • The response provides limited evidence, and examples or explanations, when provided, may be only partially appropriate.
1 The "1" response reflects little or no understanding of the relevant content knowledge and skills.
  • The response addresses, few, if any, parts of the assignment.
  • The response demonstrates a largely inaccurate, ineffective application of the relevant content knowledge and skills.
  • The response provides little to no evidence, and if provided, examples or explanations are weak or inappropriate.
U The response is unscorable because it is unreadable, not written to the assigned topic, written in a language other than English, or does not contain a sufficient amount of original work to score.
B There is no response to the assignment.

Note: Your written response should be your original work, written in your own words and not copied or paraphrased from some other work.

Acknowledgments

From The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones, copyright 2019. Reprinted by permission of Little, Brown, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.