School Improvement in Maryland

Public Release Item: Public Release items have appeared on HSA forms and then are released for public viewing and use. Releasing items is one step to ensuring that schools, districts, and other stakeholders understand how the core learning goals are assessed on the HSA.

Goal 1 Reading, Reviewing and Responding to Texts

Expectation 1.1 The student will use effective strategies before, during, and after reading, viewing, and listening to self-selected and assigned materials.

Indicator 1.1.4 The student will apply reading strategies when comparing, making connections, and drawing conclusions about non-print text.

Assessment Limits:

  • Recognizing the implications of non-print text such as photographs, posters, art reproductions, cartoons, and stills from film or stage productions
  • Identifying an appropriate purpose for viewing non-print text
  • Confirming the usefulness or purpose for viewing a non-print text
  • Evaluating non-print text as it relates to a print text
  • Focusing on similarities and/or differences in purpose and effect across texts
  • Summarizing, comparing, drawing conclusions about, and synthesizing significant ideas between print and non-print text

Brief Constructed Response (BCR) Item - Released in 2005

Carefully examine the details of the photograph below.

Write a response that explains whether the photograph communicates ideas that are similar to the ideas found in the essay "In the Country of Grasses." In your response, support your conclusion with appropriate details from both the essay and the photograph.

Use the space below for planning your response. Then write your response in the answer box.

/share/clg/xml/public_release/english/2005_114_eng40.xml

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Selected Response Item - Released in 2007

Read the essay “Rough Road Ahead: Do Not Exceed Posted Speed Limit.” Then answer Numbers 14 through 19.

Read the essay “Rough Road Ahead: Do Not Exceed Posted Speed Limit.” Then answer the following:

Carefully examine the details of the photograph below.

Which of these sentences from the essay would NOT be an appropriate caption for the photograph?

  1. I rode into the morning with strong legs and a smile on my face.
  2. The cool pines and rushing rivers of Yosemite had my name written all over them.
  3. There was no one in sight, not a building, car, or structure of any kind.
  4. With what I believed was my last burst of energy, I maneuvered down the hill.
/share/clg/xml/public_release/english/2007_114_eng14.xml

Correct Answer:
B

Brief Constructed Response (BCR) Item - Released in 2007

Read the essay “A Sea Worry.” Then answer the following:

Carefully examine the details of the two photographs below.

Write a response that explains which photograph better communicates ideas similar to the ideas expressed in the essay “A Sea Worry.” In your response, support your conclusion with appropriate details from both the essay and photograph you choose.

Use the space on page ___ of your Answer Book for planning your response. Then write your response on the lines on page ___.

/share/clg/xml/public_release/english/2007_114_eng43.xml

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Brief Constructed Response (BCR) Item - Released in 2006

Read the essay “Ghost Crab.” Then answer the following.

Carefully examine the details of the two photographs below.

Write a response that explains which photograph more effectively clarifies the images and ideas expressed in the essay “Ghost Crab.” In your response, support your conclusion with appropriate details from both the essay and the photograph you choose.

Use the space on page __ of your Answer Book for planning your response. Then write your response on the lines on page __.

/share/clg/xml/public_release/english/2006_114_eng43.xml

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