DR. DEBORAH WAHLSTROM DATADEB.WORDPRESS.COM PAGE 1
MEAP Reading Test Constructed Response Items Examples of Prompts and Scoring Guides The purpose of this document is to simply give you additional ideas about finding, creating, and using prompts and scoring guides that help you determine student achievement in the area of reading. The value in looking through this is to help us focus on one of the ways students are expected to show what they know. The good news is that the constructed response prompts ask the same types of questions you already ask in the classroom. Students just have to organize their thoughts and put their ideas into words Resources and Notes According to the staff at the Michigan Department of Education, there are four reading domain areas that are fair game for the MEAP reading test. These include Word Study, Narrative Text, Informational Text, and Comprehension. These domains are also fair game for the constructed response item in which students respond to a prompt. You may want to apply the prompt-like questions to the GLCEs in these domains. The MDE has provided three samples what the constructed response prompts look like using the story, Cinderella. The MDE provides a sample scoring guide for the prompt just to give you an idea of what constructed response scoring guides look like. In this document, I ve included samples for four passages: Cinderella, Follow That Horse, Protecting the Panda, and Sarah Bagley, Fighter for Rights. These four samples will give you a good overview of the nature of the constructed response prompts and scoring tools. The MDE has also provided examples of prompts that could accompany released test passages for 2005, 2006, and 2007. Copies of the passages should be available in each school. For example, you should have the passage entitled, Whales in your school. The document pictured above has three prompts that you can use with the Whales passage. DR. DEBORAH WAHLSTROM DATADEB.WORDPRESS.COM PAGE 2
Cinderella DR. DEBORAH WAHLSTROM DATADEB.WORDPRESS.COM PAGE 3
Cinderella Prompt #1 List three things that the fairy godmother gave Cinderella so that she could go to the ball. Scoring Guide 3 2 1 0 The student lists three things that the godmother gave to Cinderella. The student lists two things that the godmother gave to Cinderella. The student lists one thing that the godmother gave to Cinderella. The student does not list anything that the godmother gave to Cinderella. Prompt and scoring guide adapted from Michigan Department of Education. OEAA Update, May 2008. DR. DEBORAH WAHLSTROM DATADEB.WORDPRESS.COM PAGE 4
Cinderella Prompt #2 What was the Prince s problem? Explain what he did to solve the problem using two examples and/or details from the story. Scoring Guide 3 2 The student states the problem and provides two details/examples from the story. The student states the problem and provides one detail/example from the story. 1 The student states the problem. 0 The student fails to address the prompt. Prompt and scoring guide adapted from Michigan Department of Education. OEAA Update, May 2008. DR. DEBORAH WAHLSTROM DATADEB.WORDPRESS.COM PAGE 5
Cinderella Prompt #3 Cinderella has many strong characters. Choose one character from the story and describe that character s personality. Use at least two details from the story to support your description. Scoring Guide 3 2 1 The student describes the character s personality and uses two text-based details to support their description. The student describes the character s personality and uses one text-based detail to support their description. The student describes the character s personality but offers no text-based support for their description. 0 The response is totally incorrect. Prompt and scoring guide adapted from Michigan Department of Education. OEAA Update, May 2008. DR. DEBORAH WAHLSTROM DATADEB.WORDPRESS.COM PAGE 6
Follow That Horse Grade 3 DR. DEBORAH WAHLSTROM DATADEB.WORDPRESS.COM PAGE 7
Follow That Horse Grade 3 Prompt Explain how information in the article shows how Cuddles changed Dan s life. In your response, use information from the article that supports your explanation. Scoring Guide 3 2 1 0 The student describes three ways that Cuddles has changed Dan s life. The student uses information from the article to show these three ways. The student describes two ways that Cuddles has changed Dan s life and uses information from the article to show these two ways. The student describes one way that Cuddles has changed Dan s life and uses information from the article to show this way. The student does not show ways that Cuddles has changed Dan s life. Prompt and scoring guide adapted from Maryland Department of Education. Constructed Response Items, Reading, Grade 3. DR. DEBORAH WAHLSTROM DATADEB.WORDPRESS.COM PAGE 8
Prompt and scoring guide adapted from Maryland Department of Education. Constructed Response Items, Reading, Grade 3. DR. DEBORAH WAHLSTROM DATADEB.WORDPRESS.COM PAGE 9
Protecting the Panda Grade 3 DR. DEBORAH WAHLSTROM DATADEB.WORDPRESS.COM PAGE 10
Prompt The author says that giant pandas are "special creatures." Explain whether the word special is a good word to use to describe the giant panda. In your response, use information from the article that supports your answer. Protecting the Panda Grade 3 Scoring Guide 3 2 1 0 The student explains whether the word special is a good word to use to describe the giant panda and supports the answer with three details from the article. The student explains whether the word special is a good word to use to describe the giant panda and supports the answer with two details from the article. The student explains whether the word special is a good word to use to describe the giant panda and supports the answer with one detail from the article. The student does not explain why special is a good word to use or does not use information from the text to support his or her answer. Prompt and scoring guide adapted from Maryland Department of Education. Constructed Response Items, Reading, Grade 3. DR. DEBORAH WAHLSTROM DATADEB.WORDPRESS.COM PAGE 11
Prompt and scoring guide adapted from Maryland Department of Education. Constructed Response Items, Reading, Grade 3. DR. DEBORAH WAHLSTROM DATADEB.WORDPRESS.COM PAGE 12
Sarah Bagley Fighter for Rights Grade 6 DR. DEBORAH WAHLSTROM DATADEB.WORDPRESS.COM PAGE 13
Sarah Bagley, Fighter for Rights Grade 6 Prompt #1 List three ways that Sarah Bagley showed she was determined. Scoring Guide 3 2 1 0 The student listed three ways that Sarah Bagley showed she was determined and gave details or examples from the story to support this. The student listed two ways that Sarah Bagley Showed she was determined and gave details or examples from the story to support this. The student listed one way that Sarah Bagley showed she was determined and gave a detail or example from the story to support this. The student did not list any ways that Sarah Bagley showed she was determined or did not give details and examples to support the ways. Prompts adapted from Sample Reading Constructed Responses, MEAP Fall 2005 Released Texts, Michigan Department of Education. DR. DEBORAH WAHLSTROM DATADEB.WORDPRESS.COM PAGE 14
Sarah Bagley, Fighter for Rights Grade 6 Prompt #2 Describe three ways that Sarah Bagley acted like a leader. Scoring Guide 3 2 1 0 The student described three ways that Sarah Bagley acted like a leader and gave details or examples from the story to support this. The student described two ways that Sarah Bagley acted like a leader and gave details or examples from the story to support this. The student described one way that Sarah Bagley acted like a leader and gave a detail or example from the story to support this. The student did not respond correctly to the prompt. The student did not write a detail or example for each of the ways that Sarah Bagley acted like a leader. Prompts adapted from Sample Reading Constructed Responses, MEAP Fall 2005 Released Texts, Michigan Department of Education. DR. DEBORAH WAHLSTROM DATADEB.WORDPRESS.COM PAGE 15
Sarah Bagley, Fighter for Rights Grade 6 Prompt #3 Choose one word to describe Sarah Bagley. Give two details from the text to support that description. Scoring Guide 3 2 1 0 The student explained one word to describe Sarah Bagley and gave two details from the text to support that description. The student explained one word to describe Sarah Bagley and gave one detail from the text to support that description. The student explained one word to describe Sarah Bagley but didn t give any details or examples from the text to support the word. The student did not address the prompt. It is totally incorrect. Prompts adapted from Sample Reading Constructed Responses, MEAP Fall 2005 Released Texts, Michigan Department of Education. DR. DEBORAH WAHLSTROM DATADEB.WORDPRESS.COM PAGE 16
Sara Bagley, Fighter for Rights Sarah Bagley was one of the most important women reformers in early nineteenth-century America. Born in Canada, New Hampshire, her mother and father farmed, sold land, and owned a small mill, Bagley was working in the Lowell, Massachusetts, factories as a weaver. After working in the mills on and off for several years, Bagley realized that employment had very little bargaining power over their employers when it came to wages and working conditions. In December 1844, Bagley and five other women formed the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association. It was organized in an attempt to improve health conditions in the mills and lobby for a ten-hour workday. Bagley became president of the association and saw it grow to nearly six hundred members. During this time, Bagley also wrote for and briefly edited the Voice of Industry newspaper, which favored the shortened workday. And, at a time when-women rarely spoke at public gatherings, Bagley became famous for her speeches. In 1845, Bagley led the association to petition the Massachusetts legislature in demanding a ten-hour workday. The legislature agreed to have a committee hold hearings, becoming one of the first state governments in U.S. history to investigate the conditions of labor in factories. Bagley and others testified on the long hours and unhealthy working conditions in the mills. The committee, chaired by Lowell representative William Schouler, decided that the legislature did not have the legal authority to determine hours of work. Furious, the workers helped defeat Schouler in the next election. Along with other labor groups in the state, Bagley and the association continued to push for shorter working hours. Ten thousand people from all over Massachusetts, including more than two thousand from Lowell, signed another petition to try once again to persuade the legislature to take action. Hearings were held a second time, and again the legislature refused to challenge the mills. Then, in 1847, Lowell textile companies voluntarily shortened their workdays by thirty minutes. In the fall of 1846, John Allen, editor of the Voice of Industry, told Bagley that she could no longer write for the newspaper. She was told that she was too controversial and that writing was not dignified for a woman to do. Discouraged and angry, she looked for another job. The telegraph business was new, and an office had just been opened in Lowell. Bagley was hired as the first female telegrapher in the United States. Early in 1847, Bagley contracted to run a telegraph office in Springfield, Massachusetts. When she learned that she was earning three-quarters of the salary of the man she had replaced, Bagley formed an even stronger commitment to equality and women's rights. In 1848, Bagley returned to Lowell to work in a mill again. She also traveled and wrote about health care, working conditions, prison reform, and women's rights. While visiting Philadelphia in 1849, Bagley probably met and then soon married dames Durno, a doctor who used herbs for medicinal purposes to care for his patients. Bagley became an herbal doctor as well. In 1851, the couple was in Albany, New York, where their doctors' fees showed Bagley's sympathy for working people: "... to the rich, one dollar -- to the poor, gratis [free]. Bagley died sometime after 1883. She had lived long enough to see the ten-hour workday law enacted in Massachusetts as well as in several other states. Lobby means to try to influence the thinking of public officials for or against proposed legislation. DR. DEBORAH WAHLSTROM DATADEB.WORDPRESS.COM PAGE 17