What’s all of the “fuss” about the ARMT + Reading ?

1. What’s all of the “fuss” about the ARMT+ Reading ?

2. Objectives • To provide an overview of ARMT+ Reading, including item difficulty, new item formats, and sample test questions. • To suggest strategies to improve reading comprehension instruction across the curriculum.

3. Mission: Career/College Ready Graduates

4. Believe….. What every man needs, regardless of his job or the kind of work he is doing, is a vision of what his place is and may be. He needs an objective and a purpose. He needs a feeling and a belief that he has some worthwhile thing to do. What this is no one can tell him. It must be his own creation. Its success will be measured by the nature of his vision, what he has done to equip himself, and how well he has performed along the line of its development. -Joseph Morrell Dodge

5. Blueprints ARMT Content Standards The Reading section of the ARMT is aligned to the 2007 English Language Arts Course of Study.

6. Blueprints ARMT Types of Reading Assessed Literary/recreational stories and poetry Textual/informational subject texts Functional manuals, brochures, etc.

7. BlueprintsARMT+ SAME

8. Item TypesARMT Multiple Choice Questions • Stand-alone questions • Passage-based questions • Key words underlined (Grade 3) • Key words italicized (Grades 4-8)

9. Item TypesARMT Open-ended Questions

10. Item TypeARMT+ SAME

11. Scoring Guidelines ARMT Multiple Choice Questions Valued at one point each

12. Scoring GuidelinesARMT Open-ended Responses • Open-ended Responses • Valued at 3 points each • Score point 3- demonstrates a thorough understanding • Score point 2- demonstrates a general understanding • Score point 1- demonstrates a limited understanding • Score point 0- no attempt to address the prompt

13. Scoring GuidelinesARMT • Open-ended Responses must… • Address the question by including details and examples from the passage for support. • Be legible. • Stay within the confines of the box.

14. Scoring GuidelinesARMTOpen-ended Responses • Scanned to the computer • Sent to scorer • A trained professional • 4 Yr. degree • Intensive project specific training • Pass a test, qualifies • Uses anchor papers for each score point • Scores one subject

15. Scoring GuidelinesARMT+ SAME

16. Cut ScoresARMT Levels Reading Mathematics Grade

17. Cut ScoresARMT+ SAME

18. Item Format

19. Item FormatARMT+ • Passages may be 1-2 pages in length. • All multiple choice questions have four choices. • All open-ended response questions have consistent wording.

20. RIGOR

21. What is Rigor? • “Challenging all students with high expectations”(Gates Foundation Web site) • Active, deep, and engaging learning (Small Schools Project) • “Academic rigor is based on expectations established for students and staff that ensure that students demonstrate a thorough, in-depth mastery of challenging and complex curricular concepts. In every subject, at every grade level, instruction must include commitment to a knowledge core and the application of that knowledge core to solve complex real-world problems.” (North Carolina State Board of Education, 2005) (Edmunds 2006)

22. Rigor Evaluation Creating Synthesis Evaluating Analysis Analyzing Application Applying Comprehension Understanding Knowledge Remembering

23. Rigor • Increased vocabulary • Use of words such as mainly, mostlikely, probably, and best • Answer choices ( words, examples, or excerpts from passages and poems) • Comparisons (poem/poem, poem /passage, passage/passage, or chart [table, graph, etc.]/passage) • Previously used formats in upper grades may appear in lower grades.

24. Rigor Open-ended Responses • Thorough • Specific • Multiple examples and support (list, portions of a conversation, line(s) from a poem(s), etc.) • All steps provided within a sequence of steps or events • General • Basic • Few examples and limited support (2 of 4 ideas listed, a word from a line in a poem, etc.) • Some steps provided within a sequence of steps or events • Limited • Vague or incomplete • One incomplete part of a two part question (compare, but does not contrast; a cause with no effect) • Random step(s) provided within a sequence of steps or events • Glimmer • No attempt to address the prompt

25. Provide Opportunities to Write Everyday is a great day for a writing experience. • Various audiences • Multiple purposes • All modes • Different forms/types • Multiple topics

26. Types of Writing • Freewriting • Journals • Notetaking • Questions • Explanations • Summaries • Definitions • Memos • Letters • Reviews • Editorials • Books • Stories • Poems • Reports/ Research papers • Essays • Plays

27. Global SkillsNon-exhaustive List • Drawing conclusions • Sequence of events/information • Making inferences • Fiction/nonfiction • Fact/opinion • Previewing/predicting • Following directions • Vocabulary

28. Grade 3 • Spelling possessives • Dictionary use • Vocabulary (Standards 2-4) • Literary elements and devices- identify characters and similes • Text features • Genres- stories, trade books, and poems

29. Grade 3Text Features Why does the author use bold print? A. To make the dates easier to read B. To describe the food C. To get the attention of the reader D. To give the history of the fair

30. Grade 3ARMTSample An apple is a A. vegetable. B. meat. C. fruit. D. dairy product.

31. Grade 3ARMT+ Sample The words brick and yard are put together to make a word that means A. An area where bricks play. B. A piece of material used for sewing. C. An area where bricks are made. D. One who enjoys bricks.

32. Grade 4 • Vocabulary- Standards 2 and 3 • Comparing and Contrasting • Genres- novels, short stories, poetry, and trade books • Literary elements and devices- identify characters, similes, main idea, and author’s purpose • Using text features- titles, headings, glossary, boldface, index, table of contents, and tables • Use of bias/recognizing persuasive techniques • Notetaking

33. Grade 4ARMTSample

34. Grade 4ARMTSample

35. Grade 4 ARMT+ Sample + Compare and contrast the Sun and the Moon. Use specific details from the story to support your answer. Write your answer in the answer document.

36. Grade 4 ACTIVITY

37. Grade 5 • Vocabulary- Standards 1, 2, and 4 • Literary elements and devices- Recognize setting, character traits, stated purpose, metaphors, personification, and implied purpose(identify) • Tables and charts • Reference materials

38. Grade 5 ARMT+ Sample Dreams Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken winged bird That cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams For when dreams go Life is a barren field Frozen with snow. Langston Hughes

39. Grade 5 ARMT+ Samples Which line from the poem is an example of a metaphor? A. “Hold fast to dreams” B. “Life is a broken winged bird” C. “For when dreams go” D. “Frozen with snow.” What is the effect of the author’s use of images? Use details from the poem to support your answer. Write your answer in the answer document.

40. Grade 5ARMT+ Sample Which sentence shows possession? A. Johnny can’t reach the box on the top shelf. B. Jafaar’s books are in the brown backpack. C. Kenyatta didn’t call me last night. D. I’ve always combed my hair to one side.

41. Grade 6 • Vocabulary-Standards 1 and 3 • Interpreting character’s behavior • Literary elements and devices- Interpret implied main idea, conflict, personification, and climax(identify) • Complex predictions • Cause-effect relationships

42. Grade 6ARMTSample

43. Grade 6 ARMT+ Sample + Which of the following reveals the climax of the story? A. “As the two friends headed for the trees on the far side of the field, they heard Butch barking.” B. “He agreed that the wing was broken.” C. “The bird hopped slowly to the opening and then suddenly flew out.” D. “… I don’t want to let it go too soon and have it not able to live on its own.”

44. Grade 6 ARMT+ Samples Sample stems: Who is the intended audience for the passage? How does the author organize the passage? +

45. Grade 6 ARMT+ Sample Identify the climax. Explain how the story’s events lead to this climax. Use details from the story to support your answer. Write your answer in the answer document. +

46. Grade 7 • Vocabulary- Standards 1 and 4 • Literary elements and devices- main idea and supporting details, climax, point of view, imagery, mood(determine), and flashback(recognize) • Genres and subgenres- Distinguish among poetry, short stories, novels, plays, biographies, autobiographies, folktales, myths, parables, fables, and science fiction

47. Grade 7“The Road Not Taken” Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair,And having perhaps the better claimBecause it was grassy and wanted wear,Though as for that the passing thereHad worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I marked the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to wayI doubted if I should ever come back.I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference. Robert Frost

48. Grade 7ARMT+ Sample Which statement is most likely true about the author? • The author likes to travel. • The author enjoys futuristic stories. • The author examines his choices before making decisions. • The author cannot read a map. The mood of “The Road Not Taken” can be best described as A. somber B. cautious C. inviting D. impolite

49. Grade 8 • Literary elements and devices- Evaluate the impact of setting, mood, and characterization on theme- components of plot • Poetry- ballads, lyric poems, epics, haiku, and limericks- rhythm and rhyme scheme (identify) • Confirming author’s credentials

50. Grade 8ARMT+ Sample What can the reader infer about Moss’s dedication to African elephant research? Use details from the passage to support your answer. Write your answer in the answer document.