w&m Ex LIBRIS UNI VERSITATI S ALBERT/ENSIS Information Bulletin Grade 3 E nglish Language Arts 1994-96 This document was written primarily for: Students ✓ Teachers / Administrators / Parents General Audience Others / S uperintendents This bulletin contains general information about the Achievement Testing Program and information specific to the Grade 3 E nglish Language Arts Achievement Test. Additional copies of the bulletin may be made as needed. DISTRIBUTION: Superintendents of Schools • S chool Principals and Teachers • T he Alberta Teachers’ Association • A lberta School Boards Association • O fficials of Alberta Education • General Public upon Request October 1994 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF ALBERT/ Contents Page General Information 1 Administering the Assessment 1 Schedule 1 Students in French Language Programs 1 Reporting the Results 2 Broadened Assessment Initiatives 2 Description of the Language Arts Assessment Standards 2 Purpose of Assessment Standards 2 Acceptable Standard 3 Standard of Excellence 3 Grade 3 L anguage Arts Assessment 4 Part A: Writing 4 Part A: Blueprint 5 Marking 6 Confirming Standards 6 Sample Writing Assignment 6 Scoring Guide 9 Part B: Reading 14 Development 14 Reading Blueprint for Sample Questions 15 Sample Questions 16 Key and Descriptors for Sample Questions 22 Reading Blueprint: Grade 3 L anguage Arts Achievement Test 23 Performance-Based Component 24 Learning Contexts Survey 24 Suggestions for Students 24 Credit 26 26 Alberta Education Contact Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/informationbull1994albe_6 General Information To minimize any risks to security, we recommend that all students complete the test on the same day. Students who are The Achievement Testing Program provides absent when the tests are administered and teachers, parents, students, school who return to school by the end of the administrators, Alberta Education, and the school year must write the tests upon their public with information about what students return. By scheduling the tests early in the know and can do in relation to provincial administration period, schools can ensure standards. Group results are reported at that most, if not all, absentees are tested. The school, district, and provincial levels to principal is responsible for ensuring the improve learning opportunities for students. security of the tests. The assessments are administered in two Beginning in 1995, the tests that will be subject areas at Grade 3 — language arts and administered each year are: mathematics — and in four subject areas at grades 6 a nd 9 — language arts, mathematics, Grade 3 social studies, and science. English Language Arts {Part A: Writing and Part B: Reading ) The assessments are based on provincial Mathematics (English and French forms) standards, which reflect important learnings in the subject areas listed above. Classroom Grade 6 teachers from across the province are English Language Arts {Part A: Writing extensively involved in developing and field and Part B: Reading ) testing the assessment instruments. Mathematics (English and French forms) Social Studies (English and French forms) Science (English and French forms) Administering the Assessment Fran£ais 6e Annee {Partie A: Production Information about the nature of the ecrite and Partie B: Lecture) provincial assessments as well as their Grade 9 administration to special-needs students can English Language Arts {Part A: Writing be found in the General Information and Part B: Reading ) Bulletin, Achievement Testing Program, Mathematics (English and French forms) which has been mailed to all superintendents Social Studies (English and French forms) and principals. Science (English and French forms) Frangais 9e Annee {Partie A: Production Schedule ecrite and Partie B: Lecture ) The written-response component of English Students in French Language Programs and French Language Arts must be administered during the first week of June. Beginning in June 1995, all students in The machine-scorable component of all achievement tests must be administered Francophone and French Immersion programs must write the French form of the during the last two weeks of June. Specific achievement tests. Alberta Education will information regarding scheduling is send enrollment forms to schools by provided in the current General Information Bulletin. February requesting an indication of how many English or French tests are required. These forms must be returned through jurisdiction offices by mid-March. 1 Reporting the Results 1997 ‘problem-solving and decision- making activities in social studies Each school jurisdiction will receive a 1998 ‘performance tasks in science district report and school reports for their Grade 9 students’ achievement, as well as guidelines for interpreting these results in relation to 1995 ‘problem-solving and decision- provincial standards. making activities in social studies 1996 ‘problem-solving activities in mathematics To facilitate reflection on school programs, we expect that results will be shared with all 1997 ‘performance tasks in science school staffs (not just teachers of grades 3, 1998 ‘performance tasks in language arts 6, and 9), as well as with parents and the community. Description of the Language Individual student profiles will be sent to the Arts Assessment Standards school that the student will attend in September. We also expect that these reports will be shared with parents. The provincial standards are the basis upon which we assess how well students are doing Provincial results will be made public in in reading and writing by the end of Grade September. A d etailed Achievement Testing 3. These standards reflect the essential Program Provincial Report is p ublished learnings that all Alberta students are annually. expected to achieve. Provincial standards are useful, therefore, for assessing Grade 3 Broadened Assessment Initiatives students in all types of school programs — public, private, and home education. The Student Evaluation Branch has developed additional instruments to collect a broader base of information about what Purpose of A ssessment Standards students know and can do than achievement tests themselves can provide. These These statements describe what is expected instruments will be administered to a of Grade 3 s tudents who are meeting the provincial sample of students in all subjects acceptable standard or the standard of on a r otating basis: excellence on independent work at the end of the Grade 3 L anguage Arts program. Grade 3 These statements represent the standards against which student achievement will be 1995 ‘“whole book” performance-based assessment in language arts measured. By comparing actual results to 1996 •problem-solving activities in expected provincial standards, decisions can mathematics be made about whether achievement is in 1997 ‘“whole book” performance-based fact “good enough.” assessment in language arts 1998 •problem-solving activities in mathematics Grade 6 1995 •problem-solving activities in mathematics 1 996 ‘“whole book” performance-based assessment in language arts 2 Acceptable Standard classrooms. They are expected to be able to use the features of narrative/poetic and Writing informational text to aid understanding. They should be able to use their own prior Students who meet the acceptable standard experiences, knowledge of language, as well for writing in Grade 3 L anguage Arts are as context clues in order to make meaning expected to be able to retell a series of from text. They are expected to be able to connected personal experiences as a recognize explicit relationships between narrative and to tell stories from their own events and characters in a story. To meet perspective. They should be able to use the acceptable standard , students are narrative formats on their own. They are expected to explore print and non-print able to use a w riting style that generally sources to extend knowledge, retell key holds the reader’ s i nterest. details or important ideas, and draw conclusions. Students meeting the acceptable standard are expected to use relevant but general Standard of Excellence details and/or ideas in their writing. They Writing are expected to focus the writing on the important ideas related to a t opic and to arrange those ideas in a d iscernible order. Students who meet the standard of They are expected to provide a b eginning excellence for writing in Grade 3 L anguage and an ending that are connected to the ideas Arts are expected to comfortably retell a presented in the piece. They are also series of connected experiences as a expected to be able to compose stories narrative and to tell stories from their own following a b asic story structure. perspective or from another young child’ s perspective. The expectation is that they are The expectation is that students meeting the able to experiment with a v ariety of acceptable standard experiment with words narrative formats. They are expected to and sentence structures to express their ideas express a unique experience and their own and experiences. They are expected to use personality through their choice of topic, words and expressions that are clear, characters, actions, and specific language, although general. using a style which captivates and holds the reader’ s i nterest. Students who meet the acceptable standard for writing in Grade 3 L anguage Arts are To meet the standard of excellence , s tudents expected to use complete sentences, with are expected to use specific details and/or correct capitalization and end punctuation, ideas that are appropriate for achieving the most of the time. They are expected to be purpose of the writing. They are expected to able to spell many familiar words correctly focus the writing on the important ideas and unfamiliar words phonetically. related to a t opic, and arrange them in a logical sequence without gaps in the Reading presentation of information. They are expected to begin their writing in an Students who meet the acceptable standard interesting manner and to draw it to a for reading in Grade 3 L anguage Arts are conclusion that is related to the focus of the expected to read and understand a v ariety of piece. They should be able to compose types of fiction and non-fiction materials stories that incorporate setting, problem, and that are commonly found in Grade 3 external responses of the main characters 3 Grade 3 L anguage Arts and resolution. They are also able to experiment with dialogue in their writing. Assessment The expectation is that students meeting the The Grade 3 L anguage Arts Assessment standard of excellence experiment with consists of four components: words and sentence structures to express ideas and experiences. They are expected to show control and variation in the use of • Part A: Writing consists of one writing assignment to be given during a p eriod sentence structure and to choose specific words to create desired effects. totalling approximately 70 minutes, preferably the 20-minute period directly Students who meet the standard of preceding recess and the 50-minute period excellence for writing in Grade 3 L anguage directly following recess. Included in the total period is time for discussion, Arts are expected to correctly use capital letters, periods, and question and planning, drafting, and revising. exclamation marks. They are expected to be able to produce correct spellings for • Part B: Reading , t o be administered frequently used words and apply their during a 6 0-minute period, consists of 40 knowledge of common spelling patterns multiple-choice questions based on correctly when spelling unfamiliar words. reading selections from fiction, non- fiction, poetry, and visual media. The Reading booklet for Part B: Reading contains both the reading selections and the questions. Answers are to be recorded in the test Students who meet the standard of booklet. excellence for reading in Grade 3 L anguage Arts are expected to read and clearly Additional time of approximately 30 understand an increasing variety of genres, including those that are not the usual story minutes may be provided for students to complete each part. form. They are expected to be able to use their understanding of the organizational structure and presentation of narrative/poetic Students may NOT use a d ictionary when and informational text to assist them as completing either Part A o r Part B. readers. They should be able to draw on prior experiences, knowledge of language, • Performance-Based Component will be and context clues in order to make meaning completed by a p rovincial sample of Grade 3 s tudents (to be administered in 1995). from text. They are expected to be able to understand explicit as well as implicit relationships between events and characters • Learning Contexts Survey will be in a story. To meet the standard of completed by a p rovincial sample of Grade 3 t eachers and students (to be administered excellence , s tudents are expected to explore in 1995). print and non-print sources to extend knowledge, and to synthesize information and draw conclusions or make judgements. Part A: Writing For Part A: Writing , students will be given a writing prompt and a p icture and will be allowed to choose the format that will best fit their approach to the prompt (narrative, letter, diary /journal entries, etc.). The 4