The School Principal – Challenges of Writing High-Performance CBT Extended-Responses

With the advent of NYS computer-based testing (CBT), the challenges of addressing a writing prompt for an extended-response task is formidable. Yet, high performance (i.e., level 3 and 4) with this task is within the reach of all students.

Reading an Extended-Response Prompt (e.g., NYS Grade 5 2022 Testing)

How do the authors of “Excerpt from Dogs Helping Dogs” and “Excerpt from Woof! Rrrread to Me, Please?” support the idea that the dogs in each article want to help? How do the authors of both articles support the idea that the dogs are providing helpful services? Use details from both articles to support your response.

In your response, be sure to:

• explain how the authors of both articles support the idea that the dogs in each article want to help
• describe how the authors of both articles support the idea that the dogs are providing helpful services
• use details from both articles to support your response

The prompt is clearly requesting the student to explain how both authors support the idea dogs want to help; and it asks to describe how this is being done. Note; the explanation and description require detail support from both articles. In addition, the scoring rubric expects the following: content and analysis, command of evidence, coherence, organization, style, and control of conventions. Also, an introduction and conclusion are required.

Structuring an Extended-Response Task, Based on its Prompt for Comparing Paired Passages

Any serious writing task demands some planning and structure. This is particularly true of prompts that are driven by HOW. For this task, paragraphing is essential to hold the piece together and support coherence and organization. With paragraphing it is simpler to address each bullet in the prompt. In fact, paragraphing supports how both authors’ idea that dogs want to help is best explained with each author’s approach in its own paragraph. The same is true with bullet two. In separate paragraphs describe how each author supports the idea that dogs are providing helpful services.

The need to provide details in addressing each prompt is further supported by the power of paragraphing. In this situation students may copy and past detail support or paraphrase. In doing so, detail support should be precise and only include what is absolutely necessary.

The Best Way to Get to Carnegie Hall in Writing

Practice! Practice! Practice! Teachers need to find, create, or seek help to provide the best venue for students to work on extended response items with paired passages. EdVistas could be helpful in this regard because it offers CBT practice capability in its DataMate assessment solution.

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It’s simply the best way to improve student scores by practicing for the New York State 3-8 Exams in a Nextera^TM-like CBT setting.

• Practice with authentic tools and model how the platform works with constructed/extended response items!
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• Quickly and easily create mini-quizzes on the specific target standards your teachers can address during this year’s test prep efforts!