OSAT Reading Selected Response
A fourth-grade teacher is assessing Emily's reading comprehension by having her
silently read a narrative passage and then answer some questions about the text.
Printed below is an excerpt from the story.
Won't Mamma be surprised! Allie smiled to herself as she walked lazily along holding
the bouquet of wildflowers she had gathered down by the creek. She imagined the table
as Mamma would see it this evening. Mamma would be tired after traveling in the
wagon all day. She would feel dusty and parched. Even so, she would be thinking about
preparing dinner for everyone. And then she'd open the door and smell the meal Allie
had cooked. She would see the table laid with her fine linen tablecloth, freshly washed
by Allie and bleached in the sun. The tablecloth would surely be dry by now, Allie
thought. After she put the flowers in Mamma's favorite blue pitcher, she would bring it in
from the line, being careful to keep it f - answerSample Strong Response to the
Constructed-Response Assignment
One reading comprehension need Emily demonstrates is a lack of inferential
comprehension skills. Emily does not correctly interpret the clues in the passage, which
makes it difficult for her to make accurate inferences about the text.
An example of Emily's difficulty is that she doesn't recognize that Allie is only imagining
what will happen that evening. This leads her to make the incorrect inferences that
Mamma was already at home, everyone had already eaten, and that Allie was not at
home with everyone else because she was out picking flowers. Emily also fails to
recognize the clues about the impending storm, which leads her to believe that Allie has
decided to run home because she is worried about being late. When the teacher asks
Emily what Allie is thinking about when she is running, she fails to answer the question.
She only replies that there is dust all around and that her skirt is flashing back and forth
in front of her.
The first instructional strategy I would use to improve Emily's comprehension would be
to help her look for clues in the text that help distinguish between present events and
those that may happen in the future. Using a photocopy of the text, I'd first help her
identify and underline all the verbs that are used without auxiliaries (e.g. smiled, walked,
imagined, felt, looked). I'd explain that those verbs were talking about events that were
currently happening. Then I'd have her double underline all the constructions that use
the helping verb "would" (e.g. would see, would be tired, would feel, would be thinking).
I'd point out that in this text this construction is used to imagine events that might
happen later that evening.
The second instructional strategy I would use with Emily would be to help her use other
clues in the story
Rationale for the Sample Strong Response - answerPlease note that the response is
evaluated based upon the four performance characteristics of Purpose, Subject Matter
Knowledge, Support, and Rationale. Please also note how the score point descriptions
A fourth-grade teacher is assessing Emily's reading comprehension by having her
silently read a narrative passage and then answer some questions about the text.
Printed below is an excerpt from the story.
Won't Mamma be surprised! Allie smiled to herself as she walked lazily along holding
the bouquet of wildflowers she had gathered down by the creek. She imagined the table
as Mamma would see it this evening. Mamma would be tired after traveling in the
wagon all day. She would feel dusty and parched. Even so, she would be thinking about
preparing dinner for everyone. And then she'd open the door and smell the meal Allie
had cooked. She would see the table laid with her fine linen tablecloth, freshly washed
by Allie and bleached in the sun. The tablecloth would surely be dry by now, Allie
thought. After she put the flowers in Mamma's favorite blue pitcher, she would bring it in
from the line, being careful to keep it f - answerSample Strong Response to the
Constructed-Response Assignment
One reading comprehension need Emily demonstrates is a lack of inferential
comprehension skills. Emily does not correctly interpret the clues in the passage, which
makes it difficult for her to make accurate inferences about the text.
An example of Emily's difficulty is that she doesn't recognize that Allie is only imagining
what will happen that evening. This leads her to make the incorrect inferences that
Mamma was already at home, everyone had already eaten, and that Allie was not at
home with everyone else because she was out picking flowers. Emily also fails to
recognize the clues about the impending storm, which leads her to believe that Allie has
decided to run home because she is worried about being late. When the teacher asks
Emily what Allie is thinking about when she is running, she fails to answer the question.
She only replies that there is dust all around and that her skirt is flashing back and forth
in front of her.
The first instructional strategy I would use to improve Emily's comprehension would be
to help her look for clues in the text that help distinguish between present events and
those that may happen in the future. Using a photocopy of the text, I'd first help her
identify and underline all the verbs that are used without auxiliaries (e.g. smiled, walked,
imagined, felt, looked). I'd explain that those verbs were talking about events that were
currently happening. Then I'd have her double underline all the constructions that use
the helping verb "would" (e.g. would see, would be tired, would feel, would be thinking).
I'd point out that in this text this construction is used to imagine events that might
happen later that evening.
The second instructional strategy I would use with Emily would be to help her use other
clues in the story
Rationale for the Sample Strong Response - answerPlease note that the response is
evaluated based upon the four performance characteristics of Purpose, Subject Matter
Knowledge, Support, and Rationale. Please also note how the score point descriptions
