HSPA Example - www.ramsey.k12.nj.us.

WHAT WILL THE HSPA LOOK LIKE?
The rest of this booklet will give you an idea of what the HSPA materials are like.
Language Arts Literacy
New Jersey’s Core Curriculum Content Standards identify five categories of Language Arts
Literacy: speaking, listening, writing, reading, and viewing. These five activities are essential
aspects of our everyday lives and critical to what we think, learn, communicate, and create.
The HSPA provides a variety of writing and reading activities and texts that will allow you to
demonstrate your skills and knowledge in using language arts literacy. The assessment presents
two types of reading passages, narrative and persuasive texts, that are followed by a set of 10
multiple-choice and two open-ended questions for each passage. You will be required to read
two narrative passages and two persuasive passages. The HSPA also provides two different types
of writing prompts and a student text that you will revise and edit. For the two writing tasks, you
will be provided with blank pages for prewriting in either your test booklet (for the picture
prompt) or in a separate writing task folder (for the persuasive prompt). Use this space to plan
your ideas. Then use the lined pages in your answer folder for your written draft. In addition, you
will receive a copy of the Writer’s Checklist/Revising-Editing Guide for each writing activity.
This checklist and guide list important points for you to remember as you write, critically read,
and revise your writing. As you complete these different sections of the HSPA, you will be
demonstrating your skills in using language for thinking, learning, and communicating.
The HSPA language arts literacy activities are sequenced to give you varying experiences in
using language for different kinds of tasks, just as you do in your everyday life. As preparation
for taking the HSPA language arts literacy assessment, read through the sample test materials in
this booklet to familiarize yourself with the sequence and content of each test section. Also
acquaint yourself with the type of scoring procedure and criteria that will be used to assess your
demonstrated skills. This preview will help you understand what each task involves and how
your work will be evaluated. Copies of the rubrics that will be used to score your writing are
included on pages 14–16 of this booklet.
Following are sample materials illustrating the content of the HSPA language arts literacy
assessment. The reading passages are only excerpts from stories and articles that were chosen to
illustrate the HSPA texts. Complete versions of these texts are printed in the Directory of Test
Specifications and Sample Items for the Elementary School Proficiency Assessment (ESPA),
Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment (GEPA), and High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA)
in Language Arts Literacy. That document is available in your school district.
This booklet includes an example of each writing activity and both types of questions for each
reading passage. As you read through the following pages, notice that the scoring procedure for
each open-ended item or activity is identified to help you understand how your work will be
assessed.
4
One writing task begins with a picture that serves as a prompt for a story. The setting and
characters, when applicable, portrayed in the picture suggest an event or relationship that you are
invited to develop and describe through a story. In this activity you may speculate about what
has happened, what is happening, or what will happen at some other time. Use your imagination
to create a good story that is detailed and vivid. The answer folder will provide two lined pages
for the first draft of your writing.
oçÄÉêí=iÉïáëLoçÄÉêí=iÉïáë=mÜçíçÖê~éÜóLkÉï=vçêâI=kKvK
Writing Task A
An ancient proverb says, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Regardless of the artist’s original intent,
what we see in the picture can be very different from what others see. What story does this picture tell
you? Use your imagination and experience to speculate about what is happening. Then write your story.
SCORING PROCEDURE: Registered Holistic Scoring Rubric - Page 14
11LGT-001-W01
5
A second writing activity will introduce a controversial issue that you will address in a
persuasive letter or essay. This writing prompt is contained in a separate Persuasive Writing Task
Folder rather than in the test booklet. Following is an example of a writing prompt that focuses
on a controversial issue.
WRITING SITUATION
In recent years, business representatives have expressed concern about the skills of
students entering the workforce. Responding to these concerns, state legislators have enacted
a law that establishes high educational standards for all students. Now the state legislature is
considering enacting a law that would prohibit students from participating in any after-school
activity after 6 pm. They believe this law would ensure that students have adequate time to
study and complete daily homework assignments. However, many people believe this law would
be unfair, and the proposed legislation has become a controversial issue in communities across
the state.
Your social studies teacher has asked students to write an essay explaining their
opinions of this controversial issue. What is your point of view? How would this legislation affect
you and other students in your school?
DIRECTIONS for WRITING TASK
Write an essay either supporting or opposing the proposed legislation to prohibit
students from participating in any after-school activity after 6 pm. Use facts, examples, and
other evidence to support your point of view.
The answer folder will provide four lined pages for this writing task. In addition, you will have
blank pages in the Persuasive Writing Task Folder to use for planning your writing. The planning
space is for your benefit because it gives you a place to brainstorm and organize your ideas
before you begin writing. Readers who score your writing will consider the organization and
elaboration of key ideas and details as well as grammar and sentence structure. Only your writing
in your answer folder will be scored.
SCORING PROCEDURE: Registered Holistic Scoring Rubric - Page 14
6
The third writing activity focuses on a student’s essay that needs revising and editing. The essay
will present a variety of problems in organization, elaboration of details, sentence structure,
usage, word choice, punctuation, and spelling. In this activity, you will decide what to change to
improve the essay. Since there is not one right way to complete this task, your revisions may be
quite different from the revisions your classmates make. To begin, read through the essay first to
acquaint yourself with the writer’s ideas.
The student’s essay will be printed in your answer folder to allow you to make changes directly
on the text. The test materials will include a Revising/Editing Guide to help you focus on the
kinds of writing problems you may encounter. The guide also illustrates four editing marks,
which are simple ways to show your revisions. If you have learned other editing marks, such as
which means “start a new paragraph,” you may use them too.
The answer folder also provides two lined pages for you to use if you want to reorganize the
entire essay or if you decide to add new text. Those pages are there to make it easy for you to
complete the task, but you are not required to copy the essay onto those pages.
This task provides you with an opportunity to show what you know about revising and editing.
What is most important is that your revisions develop the student’s ideas and improve the clarity
of the text. It is also important that your changes are clear and neat to help readers understand
what revisions you are making.
SCORING PROCEDURE: Revising/Editing Scoring Guide - Page 15
NOTE: REVISE/EDIT WILL NOT BE PART OF THE OPERATIONAL HSPA IN MARCH
2003. HOWEVER, IT WILL BE FIELD TESTED.
7
8
The HSPA also presents a narrative reading passage, followed by10 multiple-choice and two
open-ended questions that relate to the text. The answer folder will provide a lined page for
responses to each open-ended question.
1. The purpose of memories in this story is
to
A.
B.
C.
D.
2. The experience with the telescope has a
profound effect on the boy and Old Man
Corey.
describe true love.
reveal missed opportunities.
tell an engaging story.
find a telescope.
•
•
What does each character see, and what
is his response to what he sees in the
telescope?
How will the experience with the
telescope change each of them?
Use information from the story to
support your response.
SCORING PROCEDURE: Open-Ended Scoring Rubric - Page 16
12
You will also read a persuasive passage and then answer 10 multiple-choice and two open-ended
questions that relate to and extend your understanding of the text. The answer folder will provide
a lined page for each open-ended question.
1. Which of the following would the author
most likely support?
2. A student in your high school has taken
a position that s/he is willing to work in
order to own a car. Based on the article,
what arguments could be made to justify
such a position?
A. expenditures for new texts rather
than a driver’s education course
B. jobs for students as long as they
don’t require cars
C. financial rewards for earning good
grades
D. fewer intra- and extracurricular
activities
•
•
Clearly state your point of view.
Provide at least two supporting details
that would explain your opposition to
the author’s point of view.
Use information from the article to
support your response.
SCORING PROCEDURE: Open-Ended Scoring Rubric - Page 16
13
NEW JERSEY REGISTERED HOLISTIC SCORING RUBRIC
(for GEPA and HSPA only)
In scoring, consider the
grid of written language
Inadequate
Command
Limited
Command
Partial
Command
Adequate
Command
Strong
Command
Superior
Command
Score
1
2
3
4
5
6
Content
and
Organization
Usage
14
Sentence
Construction
Mechanics
• May lack opening
and/or closing
•
May lack opening
and/or closing
•
May lack opening
and/or closing
•
Generally has opening
and/or closing
• Opening and closing
•
Opening and closing
• Minimal response to
topic; uncertain focus
•
•
Attempts to focus
May drift or shift
focus
•
Usually has single
focus
•
Single focus
• Single focus
• Sense of unity and
coherence
• Key ideas developed
•
•
•
Single, direct focus
Unified and coherent
Well-developed
• No planning evident;
disorganized
•
•
Attempts organization
Few, if any,
transitions between
ideas
•
•
Ideas loosely
connected
Transitions evident
•
Details lack
elaboration, i.e.,
highlight paper
Numerous errors
•
•
• Logical progression of
ideas
• Moderately fluent
• Attempt compositional
risks
• Details appropriate
and varied
•
• Details random,
inappropriate, or barely
apparent
• No apparent control
• Severe/numerous
errors
Some lapses or flaws
in organization
May lack some
transitions between
ideas
Repetitious details
Several unelaborated
details
Errors/patterns of
errors may be evident
Logical progression of
ideas
Fluent, cohesive
Compositional risks
successful
Details effective, vivid,
explicit, and/or pertinent
• Assortment of
incomplete and/or
incorrect sentences
•
Excessive
monotony/same
structure
Numerous errors
Numerous serious
errors
•
•
•
• Errors so sever they
detract from meaning
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Uneven development
of details
•
Some errors that do
not interfere with
meaning
• Few errors
•
Very few, if any, errors
Little variety in syntax
Some errors
•
•
Some variety
Generally correct
•
•
Precision and/or
sophistication
Very few, if any, errors
Patterns of errors
evident
•
No consistent pattern
of errors
Some errors that do
not interfere with
meaning
• Variety in syntax
appropriate and
effective
• Few errors
• Few errors
•
Very few, if any, errors
•
NR = No Response
Student wrote too little to allow a
reliable judgment of his/ her writing.
OT = Off Topic/ Off Task
Student did not write on the assigned
topic/ task, or the student attempted
to copy the prompt.
NE = Not English
Student wrote in a language other
than English.
WF = Wrong Format
Student refused to write on the topic,
or the writing task folder was blank.
NON- SCORABLE
RESPONSES
Note: All unscorable responses, (NSRs), with the exception of
NR, must be coded by the Scoring Director.
•
•
Content/ Organization
Usage
• Communicates intended
message to intended
audience
• Relates to topic
• Opening and closing
• Focused
• Logical progression of
ideas
• Transitions
• Appropriate details and
information
• Tense formation
• Subject- verb
agreement
• Pronouns usage/
agreement
• Word choice/ meaning
• Proper Modifiers
•
Sentence Construction
• Variety of type,
structure, and length
• Correct construction
Mechanics
• Spelling
• Capitalization
• Punctuation
«=kÉï=gÉêëÉó=aÉé~êíãÉåí=çÑ=bÇìÅ~íáçå
REVISING/ EDITING SCORING GUIDE
Score Point Scale
0
1
2
3
4
no attention to opening or
closing; no focus; no
organization of ideas
minimal attention to
opening or closing; some
details but no
elaboration; no
transitions; unable to
focus
limited attention to
opening and/ or closing;
progression of ideas but
flawed or uneven; may
attempt to use transitions
general attention to
opening and closing;
sense of focus; some use
of transitions, but uneven
development may be
overlooked
consistent attention to
opening and closing;
single, distinct focus;
organization and
elaboration of ideas;
logical and cohesive use
of transitions
incomplete/ incorrect
sentences
some sentence
construction but marked
by monotony and/ or
awkward syntax; no
sense of rhetorical modes
some control of syntax;
simple sentence
structure, but little or no
variety
control of syntax;
eliminates excessive
monotony; varied
sentence structure
syntactic and rhetorical
sophistication;
subordination and
coordination; avoids
wordiness
numerous and/ or serious
errors ignored; inability
to apply rules
some errors corrected but
generally inconsistent
application of rules
inconsistent in correcting
errors; knowledge of
rules but inability to
utilize them effectively
or consistently
errors corrected, but
some may be overlooked;
general knowledge and
application of rules
knowledge and
application of rules,
leaving few, if any, errors
Mechanics
• spelling
• punctuation
• capitalization
numerous and serious
errors are ignored;
inability to apply rules
inability to apply rules;
errors, but inconsistently
corrected; may create
some errors where none
existed
knowledge of rules, but
some inconsistency in
application; patterns of
errors remain
errors, though some may
be overlooked;
knowledge and
application of rules
errors, leaving few, if
any; knowledge and
application of rules
Word choice
no attention to word
choice
limited word choice
relies on familiar
vocabulary
varied vocabulary with
some use of rich words
consistent use of rich
words and images to
develop topic
Content/ Organization
• central focus
• relevant supporting
details
• use of transitions and
other devices to
ensure cohesiveness
15
Sentence Construction
• subordination/
coordination
• sentence fragments
and run- on
sentences
• sentence combining
• additional words to
complete meaning
Usage
• verbs (tense/
agreement)
• pronouns (number/
agreement)
• parallel structure
• correct modifiers
«=kÉï=gÉêëÉó=aÉé~êíãÉåí=çÑ=bÇìÅ~íáçå
READING OPEN- ENDED SCORING RUBRIC
Sample Task: The author takes a strong position on voting rights for young people. Use information from the text to support your
response to the following.
*Requirements: • Explain the author’s position on voting.
• Explain how adopting such a position would affect young people like you.
Points
Criteria
16
4
A 4-point response clearly demonstrates understanding of the task, completes all requirements, and provides an
insightful explanation/ opinion that links to or extends aspects of the text.
3
A 3-point response demonstrates an understanding of the task, completes all requirements, and provides some
explanation/ opinion using situations or ideas from the text as support.
2
A 2-point response may address all of the requirements, but demonstrates a partial understanding of the task, and
uses text incorrectly or with limited success resulting in an inconsistent or flawed explanation.
1
A 1-point response demonstrates minimal understanding of the task, does not complete the requirements, and
provides only a vague reference to or no use of the text.
0
A 0-point response is irrelevant or off- topic.
«=kÉï=gÉêëÉó=aÉé~êíãÉåí=çÑ=bÇìÅ~íáçå
*Requirements for these items will vary according to the task.