Students taking the ESPA will read and respond to three text types: narrative, everyday, and informational. Students taking the GEPA and HSPA will read and respond to a variety of text types: narrative, persuasive, and informational/everyday. In each text type, multiple-choice and open-ended questions will assess literal and inferential thinking. Questions will be based on those skills that critical readers use to understand, analyze, and assess texts.

Students will be assessed on their ability to interpret and critique/analyze the content, meaning, and organization of texts. In the final section of the test. Extending Understanding of the Text, students will complete a writing project in which they apply and extend what they have read as they make decisions, solve problems, and create original works.

Students will:

• recognize a theme or central idea.
• recognize details that develop or support the main idea.
• extrapolate information and/or follow directions.
• paraphrase, retell, or interpret words, phrases, or sentences from the text.
• recognize the organizational structure of the text.
• recognize a purpose for reading.
• make tentative predictions of meaning.
• make judgments, form opinions, and draw conclusions from the text.
• interpret textual conventions and literary elements.

Notes:

1. In addition to the four text types mentioned above, students will listen to and read poetry related to topics introduced in other sections of the assessment unit.
2. Item types will not be bound to specific text types but will apply across all genres, e.g., literary devices, as appropriate.