<ul>
<li>All released anchors come from the pilot test, which did not specifically ask students to cite sources or to use multiple sources. Current Performance Tasks specifically tell students to use multiple sources and to attribute information to reference materials.</li>
<li>The sources on the pilot test differed from those on the practice test. The pilot test included a video. Information from the video was the basis for Source #1 on the practice test.</li>
</ul>

Grade 5

Opinion

Writing Extended Response

Compose Full Texts

Service Animals

Conventions

Evidence/Elaboration

Organization/Purpose

The first sentence is structurally incomplete (&#8220;I think that….because lets say if you have a snake as a seeing eye pet and you and the snake walk into a restaurant&#8221;).

Relative to the length of the response, there are many punctuation errors. There are missing commas including with compound independent clauses (&#8220;Now everyone leaves the restaurant and the restaurant might go…&#8221;), to set off phrases (&#8220;for instance&#8221;), and after introductory elements (&#8220;Even though another animal may be more fun I….&#8221;). There are errors with apostrophes to show contracted forms: &#8220;its&#8221;/&#8221;it’s&#8221; and &#8220;lets&#8221;/&#8221;let’s.&#8221;

There are no capitalization errors.

There is a missing preposition and an incorrect article in “All the sudden the monkey….” Toward the end of the first paragraph, &#8220;more easy&#8221; should be “easier.” There are errors with frequently confused words &#8220;its&#8221; instead of &#8220;it’s,&#8221; &#8220;lets&#8221; instead of &#8220;let’s,&#8221; and &#8220;then&#8221; instead of &#8220;than.&#8221;

There are few details from the available source materials. There are also some misinterpretations of source materials (e.g., snakes do not assist the blind).

The response incorporates information from more than one source, but the information is unattributed.

This response demonstrates some cursory use of elaborative techniques. For example, the writer uses hypothetical situations to show the potential effect of having a snake in a restaurant, and the possible destruction caused by a wild monkey – elaboration via cause and effect. While the elaboration is not strong, it shows an emerging understanding of the need to develop ideas. The response also draws a final generalization from the specific examples presented (safety for pet’s owner and other people), again showing an emerging understanding of an audience’s needs.

Vocabulary is overall adequate with some general vocabulary (&#8220;bunch of expensive things&#8221;) but also some more precise language such as &#8220;predictable&#8221; and &#8220;I would rather be safe then sorry&#8221; (a cliché that might be distracting with a higher grade level but acceptable at this grade level). However, given the brevity of the response, the overall use of language is more representative of a score point 2.

The response shows evidence of an attempt to establish style, but the style borders on being inappropriate for a formal writing occasion (&#8220;old lady,&#8221; &#8220;monkey goes mad for who knows what reason&#8221;).

The opinion is stated (&#8220;the new law is necessary&#8221;), but it lacks context because the response never explains what the actual law is. The subsequent response is narrowly focused on safety, and that focus is mostly maintained.

The response includes a few transitions (&#8220;Now,&#8221; &#8220;Or another example,&#8221; &#8220;Also,&#8221; &#8220;…for instance&#8221;).

The introduction is weak, failing to clarify what the law is and combining the weak opinion (&#8220;the new law is necessary&#8221;) with the first supporting reason. On the other hand, the conclusion is much better, going beyond repetition and acknowledging counterclaims (&#8220;another animal may be more fun&#8221;).

The progression of ideas is uneven. Overall, the details focus on safety concerns, providing two examples of scenarios that would cause problems, but then adding a brief and unexplained reference to disease. This reference causes confusion. Specifically, the final two sentences in the first paragraph (&#8220;A dog is…easier to handle. Also animals like that might spread disease&#8221;) are confusing because it’s not clear what animals are being accused of spreading disease; that first sentence refers to dogs, and if it’s the dog being accused of carrying disease, that commentary would not support the opinion.

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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

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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 5: Opinion – Service Animals - ID: 4066

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