School Improvement in Maryland

Sample Item
Selected Response Item for Grade 7

Standard 2.0 Comprehension of Informational Text

Topic A. Comprehension of Informational Text

Indicator 1. Apply comprehension skills by selecting, reading, and interpreting a variety of print and non-print informational texts, including electronic media

Objective a. Read, use, and identify the characteristics of primary and secondary sources of academic information such as textbooks, trade books, reference and research materials, periodicals, editorials, speeches, interviews, articles, non-print materials, and online materials, other appropriate content-specific texts

Assessment limit: Grade-appropriate primary and secondary texts

Which sentence from "Bard of Avon" is least helpful in identifying this article as nonfiction?

  1. Soon other playhouses were built, first the Curtain, then the Rose, and the Swan.
  2. Plays were only done in daylight and in nice weather, as there were no lights or heat.
  3. William Shakespeare went to London just at the time when modern theater was taking shape.
  4. In 1576, when Sheakespeare was still a schoolboy, an actor named James Burbage put up a building near London designed solely for the performance of plays.

Correct Answer
B. Plays were only done in daylight and in nice weather, as there were no lights or heat.
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