<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

There are some sentence formation errors including a comma splice in the second paragraph (&#8220;They are obedient when trained well, if potty trained these animals won’t destroy&#8230;&#8221;) and a sentence fragment in the fourth paragraph (&#8220;Although, there are many solutions to this law.&#8221; The writer is trying to use the word “although” as a conjunctive adverb, similar to “however,” but “although” is a subordinate conjunction and cannot introduce an independent clause). Overall, however, the sentence formation is adequate.

The greatest numbers of errors for this response fall in the punctuation category. There are missing commas after introductory elements, which is a new-to-grade skill (e.g., &#8220;When thinking about this law you also&#8230;&#8221;; &#8220;&#8230;if potty trained these animals won’t destroy&#8230;&#8221;; &#8220;Furthermore&#8230;&#8221;; &#8220;In addition&#8230;&#8221;); missing commas in compound sentences (e.g., &#8220;Many people may disagree to the law but you have to&#8230;,&#8221; and &#8220;Dogs are wonderful creatures so you can’t really&#8230;&#8221;); an unnecessary comma with a compound element (final sentence in the response); and a missing apostrophe (&#8220;lets&#8221;). Additionally, the period is missing at the end of the student&#8217;s response.

There are no errors with capital letters.

There are a few errors with grammar usage including a subject/verb agreement error (&#8220;&#8230;the other guest in the area become&#8230;&#8221;), and several errors with frequently confused words (&#8220;your&#8221;/&#8221;you’re,&#8221; &#8220;their&#8221;/&#8221;there,&#8221; &#8220;to&#8221;/&#8221;too&#8221;).

There are relatively few errors with grade-appropriate spelling words (e.g., &#8220;detroy,&#8221; &#8220;digusted,&#8221; &#8220;delt&#8221;).

Evidence used throughout the response is well-integrated, using effective and purposeful scenarios as examples to illustrate and clarify ideas, crafting a convincing opinion article for the audience.

Although the response relies heavily on source #3 for support, other sources are also referenced although not attributed.

The support is based on accurate information from the text, and each text detail is developed using an effective elaborative technique. For example, in paragraph 3 the response shows the use of logical cause and effect that goes beyond summary (&#8220;[customers disgusted by an animal’s mess] might not decide to come back. This means that the business would lose money&#8221;). The writer then continues with a effective generalization/commentary based on the evidence (&#8220;It is important to think about the people around you and what they think&#8221;). Although not required at this grade level, the writer elaborates in paragraph 4 by addressing the opposing point of view (&#8220;You may think that the people with disabilities deserve to have any animal they like. Athough, there are many solutions to this law. You can have an additional service pet that is a dog&#8221;).

Precise language effectively paraphrases the source material throughout (&#8220;Although nimble, the monkey has a habit of changing moods fast and frequently&#8221;).

The style is overall effective. For example, the introduction appeals to the reader’s senses before providing a rhetorical question to set up the issue (&#8220;Pets are fun, loving, and especially playful. They lick you when your sad and play with you when you are cheerful. But did you ever think that your pets could help people with disabilities complete their daily routines?&#8221;). The skillful variation of sentence structures also enhances the argument (&#8220;Although nimble, the monkey has a habit of changing moods fast and frequently. In addition they can hurt a person. Birds are to noisy. But the dog is capable of being in public&#8221;).

The opinion is clear (&#8220;…people should not be allowed to bring their service pets into public places unless it is a dog&#8221;). The details support that opinion except for a minor drift in paragraph 3, which doesn’t interfere with the overall cohesion.

The response incorporates a variety of transition words (&#8220;Furthermore&#8221;) and phrases (&#8220;When thinking about this law&#8230;&#8221;). Between paragraphs, the writer utilizes transition statements to set up the next idea (&#8220;&#8230;unless it is a dog&#8230;there aren’t many known as man’s best friend&#8230;&#8221;; &#8220;But the dog is capable of being in public&#8230;you also have to think about&#8230;the place you bring your pet&#8221;).

The introduction sets up the context for the opinion expressed in the final line of the first paragraph. The sentence “We only know so much of the intelligence of animals and we can help uncover the mystery by training them to help people!” seems somewhat random; however, the statement &#8220;but you have to draw the line somewhere&#8221; turns the focus from the context and segues nicely into the opinion statement. The conclusion is weaker than the introduction, providing an adequate summary of the previously argued points.

The progression of ideas is somewhat uneven, with some repetition of ideas that interferes with cohesion. Specifically, paragraph 2 highlights the merits of the dog while contrasting the shortcomings of the monkey and the bird: &#8220;the monkey has a habit of changing moods&#8221;; &#8220;Birds are to[o] noisy.&#8221;
It then transitions the argument to business impacts. Paragraph 3 begins by addressing the problem of service animals’ messes, but then it drifts back to information about monkey misbehavior, ending with the random comment about pigs and toy stores.
Paragraph 4 has a somewhat unclear focus. It seems to be addressing the opposing point of view (an above-grade skill), but the attempt to advocate for switching to service dogs becomes confusing (&#8220;Athough, there are many solutions to this law. You can have an additional service pet that is a dog. Dogs are wonderful creatures so you can&#8217;t really make a mistake of switching to another animal or having two&#8221;).
Overall, however, given the complexity of the response, the progression of ideas is adequate.

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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: 4091

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