Correlation of The EMC Masterpiece Series, Literature and the Language Arts, Grade 7, 2001 copyright to the Seventh Grade Ohio Reading and Writing Proficiency Tests EMCParadigm Publishing 875 Montreal Way St. Paul, Minnesota 55102 800-328-1452 phone 800-328-4564 fax 1
Competencies for Writing 1. Develop a clear, focused main idea or ideas related to the prompt. This competency assesses the student s ability to develop a clearly identifiable main idea or ideas in response to a prompt. The paper must be clearly related to the prompt that is, the main ideas(s) should represent a specific response to the essential direction or question contained in the prompt. Whether the main idea(s) is stated or implied, it should unify the paper and provide a consistent focus. Each part of the paper should explain the main idea(s). (This competency is included in the Content subscale.) Correlation: pg. 76-82 pg. 676-681 pg. 146-152 pg. 874-889 pg. 230-234 pg. 316-321 pg. 395-398 pg. 455-465 pg. 522-527 pg. 602-607 2. Demonstrate completeness. This competency assesses the student s ability to develop a writing piece with enough elaboration to give an overall impression of completeness. The paper should provide sufficient information relevant to the prompt to give a sense that the topic has been fully developed. The topic should be thoroughly explored and essential aspects of the subject should be included. (This competency is included in the Content subscale.) pg. 25 pg. 858-862 pg. 125 pg. 874-889 pg. 137 pg. 479 pg. 506 pg. 514 pg. 759-764 pg. 817-823 2
Competencies for Writing 3. Include supporting details appropriate to the audience, purpose, and topic. This competency assesses the student s ability to provide ample evidence in support of a main idea. The paper should contain relevant, precise and significant supporting details, which may include examples, reasons, facts, definitions, events, descriptions, actions, and dialogue. In addition, supporting details should be appropriate to the intended audience, purpose, and mode. (This competency is included in the Content subscale.) pg. 77 pg. 875 pg. 148 pg. 232 pg. 317 pg. 396 pg. 456 pg. 602 pg. 677 pg. 761 4. Follow purposeful organization. This competency assesses the student s ability to organize and structure a writing piece, maintaining a natural flow of ideas in response to the prompt. The paper should demonstrate the writer s intentional control over the presentation and development of the topic. This control should also be reflected in the manner in which the paper begins and ends that is, the paper should start and conclude in a clear and satisfying way. (This competency is included in the Content subscale.) pg. 77 pg. 874-889 pg. 79 pg. 317 pg. 318 pg. 339 pg. 603 pg. 677 pg. 678 pg. 761 3
Competencies for Writing 5. Make connections among ideas, paragraphs, and sentences. This competency assesses the student s ability to connect ideas through logical sequencing and use of transitions. The paper should respond to the prompt with a cohesive and coherent progression of ideas. In addition, the paper should demonstrate effective use of transitions among sentences and paragraphs, leading from one ideas to the next. (This competency is included in the Content subscale.) pg. 79 pg. 318 pg. 396 pg. 460 pg. 604 pg. 882-885 6. Use a variety of words appropriate to the audience, purpose, and topic. This competency assesses the student s ability to use language in natural, fresh, and vivid ways in response to a writing prompt. The paper should contain precise and varied words that lend clarity and interest and help establish an appropriate tone. The writing should demonstrate an effective use of language that gives the paper an identifiable personal style and voice appropriate to the audience, purpose, and topic. (This competency is included in the Content subscale.) pg. 83 pg. 824 pg. 153 pg. 863 pg. 235 pg. 322 pg. 399 pg. 466 pg. 528 pg. 608 pg. 682 pg. 765 4
Competencies for Writing 7. Use a variety of sentence structures and/or phrases appropriate to the audience, purpose, and topic. This competency assesses the student s ability to vary sentence structures and phrases, as appropriate, throughout a piece of writing. The paper should contain fluent sentence structures that may include but are not limited to subordination and coordination, parallel structures, suitable modifiers, and purposeful fragments in a variety of effective ways to maintain lively, interesting prose. (This competency is included in the Content subscale.) pg. 26 pg. 890-908 pg. 42 pg. 126 pg. 149 pg. 174 pg. 208 pg. 228 pg. 232 pg. 293 8. Exhibit standard conventions competently (mechanics, usage, grammar, and spelling). This competency assesses the student s ability to employ mechanics, usage, grammar, and spelling in a manner that does not interfere with understanding. Successful writing exhibits sufficient control of grammar (conventional language structures, including modification and agreement), usage (conventional forms of words and phrases), diction (word choice), and syntax (word order). (This competency is included in the Content subscale.) 9. Be legible. This competency assesses the ability of the student to write or print legibly enough so that the other competencies can be evaluated. Papers that are legible can be scored based on the six-point rubric adopted for the high school qualifying exam. (This competency is included in the Content subscale.) pg. 59 pg. 112 pg. 138 pg. 196 pg. 261 pg. 275 pg. 340 pg. 384 pg. 892-913 N/A 5
1. Utilize multi-step directions to accomplish a task. The reading selections that provide the basis for test questions for this competency may be fiction or nonfiction. Selections contain a clear and logical order of steps or events. Students may be asked to determine the correct result when the steps are followed accurately. Other questions may ask students to determine the effect on the final result if directions were incorrectly or incompletely followed. Item formats: MC, SA). pg. 843 pg. 848 pg. 858-862 pg. 928 pg. 939-940 pg. 942 2. Examine uses and purposes of propaganda. The texts used for this competency are nonfiction and contain one or more clearly identifiable propaganda messages. The kinds of propaganda that students may be expected to know include bandwagon, testimonial, transfer, glittering generality, emotional words, repetition, and bait and switch. Test questions may ask students to identify a statement containing propaganda, but students will not be asked to identify the particular propaganda technique employed. The focus of test questions in this competency is on detecting when and why propaganda is being used. Questions may require students to cite information from the text to support their conclusions. (Item formats: MC, SA, ER). pg. 925-928 pg. 931-933 6
3. Recognize an author s purpose and attitude (bias/slant). Reading selections used for this competency may be fiction or nonfiction, and they exemplify an identifiable purpose, bias, or slant that is not directly stated. Test questions may require students to infer the author s bias, slant, or attitude toward a passage or topic. Students may be asked to determine the author s purpose for writing the selection, and multiple-choice response options will not simply include such phrases as to persuade, to entertain, to inform, and to instruct. Questions may require students to cite information from the text to support their conclusions. (Item formats: MC, SA, ER). pg. 206 pg. 292 pg. 870 pg. 925 pg. 932-933 4. Support an interpretation by locating specific information. Reading selections used as the basis for this competency are fiction or nonfiction passages that may support more than one interpretation. Students are given an interpretation and asked to locate or describe details from the text that support it. Given a different interpretation of the same passage, students are asked to identify important details from the text that support it. (Item formats: MC, SA, ER). pg. 47 pg. 172 pg. 58 pg. 194 pg. 93 pg. 102 pg. 111 pg. 124 pg. 136 pg. 143 7
5. Use context to determine the meaning of words. The words and phrases assessed for this competency may be drawn from either fiction or nonfiction texts. The tested words are unfamiliar to most tenth-grade students, and the reading selections contain sufficient context to allow students to infer the meaning of given words. Students may also be asked to locate words in the text that help determine the meaning of unfamiliar words. Some test questions may ask students to determine the meaning of a complete sentence from the passage. (Item formats: MC, SA). pg. 52 pg. 871 pg. 97 pg. 119 pg. 163 pg. 213 pg. 372 pg. 475 pg. 546 pg. 869 6. Differentiate between fact and opinion. Nonfiction selections used as the basis for this competency contain statements that are clearly justifiable as facts or opinions. Questions may ask students to determine whether indicated statements are fact or opinion. Other questions may ask students to identify or explain why statements are either fact or opinion. (Item formats: MC, SA). 7. Draw inferences. The reading selections used to assess this competency are fiction or nonfiction and include information and ideas from which clear inferences may be drawn. Students may be asked to identify or expression writing a logical inference from the text. Students also may be asked to use information from the text to support their inferences. (Item formats: MC, SA). pg. 925 pg. 478 pg. 574 pg. 497 pg. 594 pg. 505 pg. 617 pg. 520 pg. 538 pg. 552 pg. 566 8
8. Make predictions. The texts used for this competency are fiction or nonfiction and contain sufficient information to enable students to make logical predictions or determine probable outcomes. Students may be asked to identify or explain in writing a logical prediction or outcome. Students also may be asked to use information to predict the author s probable viewpoint regarding another passage or another specific topic. Given an improbable prediction, students may be asked to modify it to reflect the text. (Item formats: MC, SA). pg. 392 pg. 795 pg. 421 pg. 633 pg. 642 pg. 649 pg. 653 pg. 656 pg. 734 pg. 777 9. Recognize the effect of common literary devices (i.e., simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole). Reading selections used to assess this competency are fiction or nonfiction texts. Although many literary devices are taught to students, the graduation exam will assess the following four devices: simile, metaphor, personification, or hyperbole. Test questions may ask students to determine the effect of one or more of these literary devices or to identify or discuss reasons for the author s use of them. Questions require students to go beyond merely identifying a specific literary device. (Item formats: MC, SA). pg. 105 pg. 111 pg. 143 pg. 612 pg. 619 pg. 664 pg. 687 pg. 757 pg. 780 pg. 789 9
10. Locate a stated or implied main idea and differentiate between details that support it and those that do not. Reading selections used for this competency are fiction or nonfiction texts that include implicit or explicit main ideas and supporting details. Students may be asked to select the main idea of a paragraph or an entire passage. Questions may ask students to determine which detail(s) support a given main idea. In addition, students may be asked to identify the question that best reveals comprehension of the main idea of the passage. (Item formats: MC, SA, ER). pg. 47 pg. 617 pg. 624 pg. 633 pg. 637 pg. 649 pg. 659 pg. 663 pg. 667 pg. 673 11. Analyze the effect of literary elements (i.e., setting, character, plot, and theme). Reading selections used to assess this competency are fiction or nonfiction and contain one or more of the following literary elements: plot (e.g., problem, resolution, conflict, foreshadowing, flashback), characterization, setting, or theme. Students may be asked to identify or analyze one or more of these elements. Questions may ask students to relate elements to each other (e.g., plot and characterization or setting and theme). Questions may require students to use information from the text to support their conclusions. (Item formats: MC, SA, ER). pg. 27 pg. 41 pg. 49 pg. 58 pg. 89 pg. 93 pg. 195 pg. 532 pg. 533 pg. 541 10
12. Evaluate the effectiveness of resource material for a specified audience/purpose. Resource materials used to assess this competency include excerpts from textbooks, library reference materials, technological resources (web pages), and other sources appropriate for tenthgrade students. Items may ask students to identify or explain why one reference source is more appropriate than another. Items may ask students to analyze potential uses of resource material, or to identify or explain the effectiveness of given resource materials. (Item formats: MC, SA, ER). pg. 25 pg. 42 pg. 48 pg. 74 pg. 144 pg. 356 pg. 596 pg. 843 pg. 869-870 pg. 929-933 11