Grade 8

Explanatory

Writing Extended Response

Compose Full Texts

Memory Training

Conventions

Evidence/Elaboration

Organization/Purpose

There are several run-on sentences (the first sentence in paragraph 2 and the second sentence in the final paragraph), and there is a lack of parallel structure (e.g., “The brain is an amazing thing that we have and how it does everything for us….”). Other sentence structure problems do not constitute errors per se, considered instead to be style issues.

There are errors with frequently confused words (“Their” for &#8220;There&#8221;; “are” for &#8220;our&#8221;), and an error with the article “a” for &#8220;an&#8221; (“a average”).

Errors with missing commas, for both compound sentences and after introductory elements, are too numerous to list (As an example of both: “It also explains how we remember things for a short time and if we keep repeating a certin thing that [then] we will member it longer”). There are also errors with missing apostrophes in contractions (e.g., &#8220;cant,&#8221; &#8220;thats,&#8221; &#8220;dont&#8221;) and errors with quotation marks to identify source materials.

There are missing capital letters for source titles (“person+action+object=?”).
&nbsp;

Errors are too numerous to list. Although many of these could be typographical errors (still counted as errors), there are also many repeated errors that reflect a lack of command for frequently misspelled words and spelling patterns (e.g., “alot,” “retreive,” “certin”).

The details selected are mostly general and weakly integrated, simplifying (attributed) source materials to the point of being confusing at times (e.g., “bilingual people…have a bigger memory,” “you can lose memory by watching TV,” and “…it’ short term and long term working together and thats how you proces things you memorize”).

There are a few attempts at elaboration beyond summary/generalization (e.g., commentary: “thats alot of words to remember” and connection: “from memorizing poems and writings…”).

The language used is general and repetitive (“many things”; “alot of things”), and there is no evident awareness of style.

There is no clear introduction with the first sentence offering a weak controlling idea (“brain remembers things and forgets things too, but there are tricks…”) for the first paragraph.

The rest of the first paragraph vaguely describes the “tricks and tips.” Paragraph 2 summarizes source #3. The final paragraph describes the “amazing” brain and ends by summarizing and repeating the “many things about how the brain works” (paragraph 2) and “tips” (paragraph 1). Because the ideas are presented in a seemingly random fashion, the progression of ideas is weak, and there are no appropriate transitions (other than “also”).

Content Explorer

Sample Items Website

Tools for Teachers

Smarter Reporting

Remote Teaching and Learning

More Resources for Teachers

Privacy

Diversity, Inclusion & Equity

Web Accessibility Statement

Policy

Instagram

YouTube

Pinterest

Twitter

Facebook

Connect

An annotation is the educator’s explanation of how a portion of the student’s response relates to the rubric and contributes to that trait’s score. For example, the educator might explain how the response meets the expectations of a specific score point. An annotation can also describe aspects of a student response that relate to multiple score points on the rubric to demonstrate nuance when determining a score.

Annotation

One of three traits scored for the ELA performance task full write, this trait measures a student’s ability to demonstrate command of grade-level conventions of standard English: grammar usage (including sentence formation), capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.

This trait measures students’ ability to select and integrate details that support, explain, illustrate, or develop ideas. Students should elaborate these details—that is, explain and connect them, guided by the writing purpose and audience needs.
For informative/explanatory and opinion/argumentative writing purposes, these details come from source materials.
For narrative writing, this trait is called Development/Elaboration, and students are expected to integrate and develop grade-appropriate story elements such as descriptive details and dialogue. For these tasks, events and experiences are inspired by source materials.

This trait measures students’ ability to establish and sustain a focus for the writing. This focus should be consistent with the task’s designated purpose and the intended audience. Strong introductions and conclusions (or, for narrative writing, beginnings and endings) and transitions help to create coherence.

Performance tasks measure a student’s ability to demonstrate critical-thinking and problem-solving skills by challenging students to apply their knowledge and skills to complex, real-world problems. In the performance task, students are presented with a collection of questions and activities connected to a single theme or scenario. These activities ask students to demonstrate capacities such as depth of understanding, writing and research skills, and complex analysis, which cannot be adequately assessed with traditional assessment questions. Performance tasks are taken on a computer (but are not computer adaptive) and take students one to two class periods to complete.

Performance Task

The prompt is the text provided to the student that requests their response. It includes some contextual information, but also includes a specific task that students complete in their writing response.

Prompt

For a deeper dive into the content behind this student response, navigate to the Sample Items Website to access the writing prompt or visit the Content Explorer to learn more about this content area.

Prompt & Target

“Purpose” is the context for a piece of writing, or what the writer intends to accomplish. Students write texts with the following purposes:
<ul>
<li>Narrative (grades 3–8): tell a story</li>
<li>Informational (grades 3–5): present facts or data using source material</li>
<li>Explanatory (grades 6–11): explain a topic or concept by analyzing source materials</li>
<li>Opinion (grades 3–5): present and defend a position</li>
<li>Argumentative (grades 6–11): present an argument using research to form and support claims</li>
</ul>
Purposes have subtle differences depending on grade, and each writing purpose has its own scoring rubric.

Purpose

This text was written by a student in response to a Performance Task writing prompt.

Response

A rubric is a set framework for scorers to reference when determining the quality of student writing. Each trait has its own rubric, and every point value is defined in detail with examples of what to expect from student writing at each level.

Rubric

Donec sed odio dui. Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum. Nulla vitae elit libero, a pharetra augue. Nullam id dolor id nibh ultricies vehicula ut id elit. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

Sample Term One

Sample Term Two

Traits are different dimensions of a student response that educators evaluate when scoring. For example, an educator will assess grammar and spelling as part of the Conventions trait (maximum of two score points) but not take grammar or spelling into account when assessing the other traits. This approach ensures that scorers evaluate student writing from multiple angles.

Example for Grade 8: Explanatory – Memory Training - ID: 1014

More Resources for Teachers

Connect

Policy