GUIDE TO STUDENT RESPONSES - Community Colleges … · GUIDE TO STUDENT RESPONSES ... Prompts and rubrics within the digital system are subject to change due to technical or ... check

GUIDE TO STUDENT RESPONSESVersion 4.0.7, last updated 11/17/2015

Thank you for choosing Essential Education! We are here to provide you with the training and support you need to maximize your students’ learning and results. This reference guide is provided to Essential Education customers for use during your organization’s contractual licensing period. You can use this guide to help you understand, evaluate, or score student responses using GED®, HiSET®, or TASC Academy.

Distribution of prompts to students for instructional purposes may reduce the accuracy of your students’ practice test results. Distribution to other parties in print, digital, or any derivative formats is strictly prohibited. Prompts and rubrics within the digital system are subject to change due to technical or content updates. Use of this guide indicates your agreement with these terms and conditions.

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Let Essential Education score the essays for you! Only $6 per seat annually! Online users only. Call 1-800-931-8069 or email [email protected]. Need additional training or technical support? Please contact [email protected].

1. Resources …………………………………………………………………………………………… 22. GED® Reasoning through Language Arts (RLA) Extended Response ……………………… 23. GED® Social Studies Extended Response ………………………………………………………… 54. GED® Science Short Answer ………………………………………………………………………… 85. HiSET® Language Arts Writing–Part 2, Essay …………………………………………………… 106. TASC Language Arts Writing–Part 2, Essay …………………………………………………… 137. How do students review your feedback? ………………………………………………………… 16

GED® is a registered trademark of the American Council on Education (ACE) and administered exclusively by GED® Testing Service LLC under license. HiSET® is the registered trademark of Educational Testing Service.

TASC is the registered trademark of CTB/Data Recognition Corporation. This guide is not endorsed or approved by ACE, GED® Testing Service, Educational Testing Service, CTB, or Data Recognition Company.


1. RESOURCES

Total scores provided to students on GED®, HiSET®, and TASC Academy are designed to follow and predict official scoring on the high school equivalency tests. However, the accuracy of student response scores is dependent on the grader’s knowledge and training. Test providers also offer some free resources to assist teachers in preparation.

• GED Academy™ responses are designed to predict the scoring provided on the official GED® Test. For free official guides from GED® Testing Service about evaluating constructed responses in Reasoning through Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies, please see http://gedtestingservice.com/educators/constructedresponse

• HiSET® Academy responses are designed to predict the scoring provided on the official HiSET® Test. For free sample items from Educational Testing Service, including writing, please see http://hiset.ets.org/s/pdf/sample_items.pdf

• TASC Academy responses are designed to predict the scoring provided on the official TASC® Test. For free writing sample items from CTB/McGraw Hill LLC, including a sample essay prompt, please see http://ctbassessments.com/pdfs/TASC_Test_Practice_Items_Writing.pdf

2. GED® REASONING THROUGH LANGUAGE ARTS (RLA) EXTENDED RESPONSE

DIMENSION 1: Introductory StatementChoose appropriate responses by checking the boxes next to the feedback. NOTE: If the response is blank or too short, check one of these boxes shown below. Next, scroll to the bottom of the rubric and click “Save.”


DIMENSION 2, 4 AND 6: The Essential Education rubric scores with the same overall point system as the GED® Testing Service. Use the dropdown menus to select the score for each dimension. There are three dimensions. Test takers can earn a maximum of two points per dimension:

1. Creation of Arguments and Use of Evidence2. Development of Ideas and Organizational Structure3. Clarity and Command of Standard English Conventions

“What is too short?” GED® Testing Service is looking for 300-500 words for the Reasoning through Language Arts Extended Response to sufficiently judge a test taker’s writing abilities. It is possible to have a succinct, complete response that is shorter than 300 words, but that is very rare among high school level writers.

DIMENSION 3, 5 AND 7: SPECIFIC UNGRADED FEEDBACK In addition to the score per dimension, the GED Academy rubric offers ungraded feedback that is used to create a student’s individual learning plan or review plan. Students can review your feedback to improve their writing.

First, select “Excellent,” “Acceptable” or “Unacceptable” from the dropdown menu.


Based on your selection of “Excellent,” “Acceptable” or “Unacceptable,” a series of checkboxes will appear. Check the box(es) next to the feedback you would like to provide your students. It is optional to check feedback. We recommend checking one box for each part, though you can choose to check no boxes or more than one. You will see:

Your students will see:

If no feedback is selected, the student will see “N/A” next to that part:

If desired, teachers can answer these ungraded feedback questions first to determine which score to give a student for each dimension. If the student consistently scores “Excellent” in all parts, then give 2 points for that dimension. If the student consistently scores “Acceptable,” then give 1 point. If the student scores “Unacceptable,” then give 0 points.

The exception to this rule is in Creation of Arguments and Use of Evidence.

Under Dimension 3: Creation of Arguments and Use of Evidence, the student must score “Acceptable” for “Part 2: Is your claim connected to the prompt?” If the student does not respond to the prompt, he or she should score a 0 overall in Creation of Arguments and Use of Evidence regardless of the quality of the argument and evidence.


There are two “Acceptable” options:

“What is an adequate response to the prompt?” The prompts always ask the student to “Write a response analyzing the arguments in the passage(s) and determining which argument is stronger.” Even if a student has a clear central idea and cites evidence from the passage, it does not count if that main idea does not claim which argument is stronger by evaluating the arguments in the passage(s). NOTE: Personal opinion essays, emotional persuasive essays, and a summary of the passages without analysis do not respond to the prompt.

3. GED® SOCIAL STUDIES EXTENDED RESPONSE


“What is too short?” GED® Testing Service is looking for 200-400 words for the Social Studies Extended Response to sufficiently judge a test taker’s writing abilities. It is possible to have a succinct, complete response that is shorter than 200 words, but that is very rare among high school level writers.


DIMENSION 2, 4 AND 6: The Essential Education rubric scores with the same point system as the GED® Testing Service. Use the dropdown menus to select the score for each dimension. There are three dimensions. Test takers can earn the following points per dimension:

1. Creation of Arguments and Use of Evidence (0, 1, or 2 points)2. Development of Ideas and Organizational Structure (0 or 1 point)3. Clarity and Command of Standard English Conventions (0 or 1 point)

DIMENSION 3, 5, 7 AND 8: In addition to the score per dimension, the GED Academy rubric offers ungraded feedback that is used to create a student’s individual learning plan or review plan.

First, select “Acceptable,” “Unacceptable” or “Excellent” (if available) from the dropdown menu.


Based on your selection of “Excellent,” “Acceptable” or “Unacceptable,” a series of checkboxes will appear. Check the box(es) next to the feedback you would like to provide your students. It is optional to check feedback. We recommend checking one box for each part, though you can choose to check no boxes or more than one. You will see:

Students can review your feedback to improve their writing. If none is selected, the student will not see any feedback under that part. Your students will see:

If you do not select feedback, your student will see “N/A” for that part:

If desired, teachers can answer all ungraded feedback first to determine which score to give a student for each dimension. Scoring for the dimensions “Development of Ideas and Organizational Structure” and “Clarity and Command of Standard English Conventions” are similar. If the student consistently scores “Acceptable,” then give 1 point. If the student scores “Unacceptable,” then give 0 points.

Scoring for the dimension “Creation of Arguments and Use of Evidence” is different than the other two dimensions. A summary, editorial, or persuasive essay will receive 0 points for not responding to the prompt.


To score “Acceptable” (1 point), the student must:

• Make a claim that identifies an enduring issue in both passages.• Use evidence from both passages to indicate the connection to the enduring issue.

To score “Excellent” (2 points), the student must do the above, plus include relevant outside information such as the historical context of the speakers, or other times in history when the enduring issue has been addressed.

“What is an enduring issue?” Students must identify a social issue that has been addressed many times throughout history, and that is addressed in both the quote and passage. Enduring issues include individual rights, separation of powers, and other major themes in civics and government. There can be many right answers about which enduring issue connects the two readings.

4. GED® SCIENCE SHORT ANSWER

The GED Academy Science Short Answer questions also follow the same scoring system as GED® Testing Service, where each question can earn a maximum of 3 points. Also, Essential Education has created a proprietary rubric that allows the teacher to generate a learning plan or review for the student based on performance.

The Science Short Answer is graded differently than an Extended Response. Each type of science question has its own rubric, but students are not graded on their organization, spelling, grammar, or usage. Science prompts may require responding to text, diagrams, charts or graphs. There are two types of short answer prompts:

• Design an experiment to test a hypothesis.• Explain how the evidence in a passage supports a given conclusion.


To grade the Short Answer, check a box for feedback under each part. This feedback will be used to create the student’s learning plan or review plan. You will see:

Students can also review your feedback to improve their science responses. Your student will see:

It is optional to check feedback. If none is selected, the student will see no feedback under that part.

We recommend checking one box for each part, though you can choose to check no boxes or more than one.

After selecting a response for each part, select an overall score from the dropdown menu. Though each rubric will have its own scoring system, in general you can assume the following points:

0 Blank or does not answer the prompt.

1 Minimal or poorly formulated response.

2 Logical response.

3 Well-formulated, complete response.


It is common for students to leave the response blank. If this is the case, select the following options:

DIMENSION 1: EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNPart 1: Controlled Experimental Design

Click “Save.”

5. HISET® LANGUAGE ARTS, WRITING-PART 2 ESSAY


“What is too short?” It is possible to have a succinct, complete response that is shorter than 200 words, but that is very rare among high school level writers.


Holistic ScoringThe HiSET® Academy rubric uses the same holistic grading point system as Educational Testing Service (ETS®). After grading all subsections, use the dropdown menu to select the holistic score. Test takers must earn a minimum of two points to pass the test, and can earn up to six points.

Dimensions & PartsIn addition to the overall holistic score, the HiSET® Academy proprietary rubric offers unscored feedback that is used to create a student’s individual learning plan or review plan. The rubric is designed for teachers to answer the parts first to determine which holistic score to give a student.

Check the box(es) next to the feedback you would like to provide your students. Students can review your feedback to improve their writing. You will see:

Your students will see:

You can leave a part or dimension of feedback blank, which indicates to the system that the student has not mastered those skills. This is usually due to having a very short essay. If no feedback is checked, the student will see not see any feedback under that part:


If the student has a large number of parts with no feedback or very low feedback, give 1 point overall.We recommend checking one box for each part, though you can choose to check more than one. If the student consistently performs “Excellent” in all parts, then give 6 points overall. If the student consistently scores “Acceptable,” then give 2 points or higher.

The range of feedback options can help you decipher which holistic score is most appropriate:

• Show Proficient Skill: This is an excellent score for the essay. (6)• Shows Competent Skill: This is a good score for the essay. (5)• Shows Adequate Skill: This is a passing score for the essay. (4)• Shows Limited Skill: This is a passing score for the essay. (3)• Shows Weak Skill: This is the minimum score to pass the HiSET® writing test if you do well

enough on the rest of the test. (2)• Shows Little or No Skill: You must score a 2 or higher to pass the HiSET® Test. (1)

Total scores provided to students on HiSET® Academy responses are designed to predict the scoring provided on the official HiSET® Test. However, accuracy of scores is dependent on the grader’s knowledge and training. For free sample items from Educational Testing Service, including writing, please see http://hiset.ets.org/s/pdf/sample_items.pdf


6. TASC LANGUAGE ARTS, WRITING-PART 2 ESSAY

Choose appropriate responses by checking the boxes next to the feedback. NOTE: If the response is blank or too short, scroll down to Dimension 7: TASC Holistic Score and the response shown below. Next, click “Save.”

Holistic ScoringThe TASC Academy rubric scores with same the holistic grading point system as CTB/McGraw Hill LLC. After grading all subsections, use the dropdown menu to select the holistic score. Test takers must earn a minimum of two points to pass the test, and can earn up to four points.


Dimensions & PartsIn addition to the overall holistic score, the TASC Academy proprietary rubric offers unscored feedback that is used to create a student’s individual learning plan or review plan. The rubric is designed for teachers to answer the parts first to determine which holistic score to give a student.

Check the box(es) next to the feedback you would like to provide your students. Students can review your feedback to improve their writing. The teacher will mark:

The student will see:

There are six dimensions graded on the TASC Academy rubric, some with multiple parts:1. States Argument2. Does your essay support your argument?3. Organization of Ideas4. Addresses Opposing Claims5. Language Facility6. Writing Conventions


You can leave a part or dimension of feedback blank, which indicates to the system that the student has not mastered those skills, and the student will be assigned lessons or units to improve those skills. Leaving feedback blank is usually due to having a blank or short response instead of a complete essay. If no feedback is checked, the student will see not see any feedback under that part:

We recommend checking one box for each part, though you can choose to check more than one. A complete and well developed essay (4 points) will score excellent on all parts. An oversimplified essay (2) will contain enough content to receive feedback on all parts, even if the student is not yet proficient.

If the student has a large number of parts with no feedback or very low feedback, give 1 point overall.

“What is too short?” It is possible to have a succinct, complete response that is shorter than 200 words, but that is very rare among high school level writers.

The range of feedback options can help you decipher which score is most appropriate:

• The response is a well developed essay that develops and supports an argument. (4)• The response is a complete essay that develops and supports an argument. (3)• The response is an incomplete or oversimplified essay that develops and supports an

argument. (2)• The response provides evidence of an attempt to write an essay that offers an argument. (1)• The response is completely irrelevant or incorrect, or there is no response. (0)

Total scores provided to students on TASC Academy are designed to predict the scoring provided on the official TASC® Test. However, accuracy of scores is dependent on the grader’s knowledge and training. For free writing sample items from CTB/McGraw Hill LLC, including a sample essay prompt, please see http://ctbassessments.com/pdfs/TASC_Test_Practice_Items_Writing.pdf


7. HOW DO STUDENTS REVIEW YOUR FEEDBACK?

Students can access and review your feedback from the Student HomeRoom.

First, click “Details” under “Practice Test” in the Progress Box.This example is from GED Academy. The button is in the same location in HiSET® Academy and TASC Academy.

Next, click “Details” next to the test containing the essay. This example is from TASC Academy. The button is in the same location in HiSET® Academy and GED Academy.

For GED Science and GED Social Studies, the student will have to click on the question number for the short answer or extended response to review your feedback.

Once students select the correct test or test question, they will be able to review your feedback, the original prompt, and their written responses.


Let Essential Education score the essays for you! Only $6 per seat annually! Online users only. Call 1-800-931-8069 or email [email protected]. Need additional training or technical support? Please contact [email protected].

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GUIDE TO STUDENT RESPONSES - Community Colleges … · GUIDE TO STUDENT RESPONSES ... Prompts and rubrics within the digital system are subject to change due to technical or ... check