Study Guide
Middle School Education: Language Arts
Test Design and Framework
The test design below describes general assessment information. The framework that follows is a detailed outline that explains the knowledge and skills that this test measures.
Test Design
| Format | Computer-based test (CBT) and online-proctored test |
|---|---|
| Number of Questions | 100 multiple-choice questions |
| Time* | 2 hours |
| Passing Score | 220 |
Test Framework
| Content Domain | Range of Competencies | Approximate Percentage of Test Score | |
|---|---|---|---|
| I. | Reading Literature and Informational Texts | 0001–0003 | 35% |
| II. | Writing and Researching | 0004–0007 | 35% |
| III. | Speaking and Listening | 0008–0009 | 20% |
| IV. | Language and Conventions | 0010 | 10% |
Domain I–Reading Literature and Informational Texts
Competency 0001–Understand fundamentals of reading comprehension.
For example:
- Demonstrate knowledge of phonics, syllabication patterns, English morphology (e.g., word roots, Greek and Latin affixes) and their role in word analysis and decoding.
- Demonstrate knowledge of key indicators of reading fluency, factors that can disrupt fluency, the role of fluency in reading comprehension, and strategies for promoting fluency.
- Demonstrate knowledge of factors that influence reading comprehension and research-based reading strategies to use for a particular text and purpose.
- Apply knowledge of a range of strategies for determining the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases (e.g., using context clues, identifying patterns of word changes, consulting reference materials).
Competency 0002–Demonstrate the ability to comprehend, interpret, and analyze literature.
For example:
- Demonstrate knowledge of the characteristics, elements, and features of a broad range of U.S. and world literature, including literature written for adolescents and young adults, that represents a wide spectrum of cultural and historical traditions, genres, and experiences.
- Use textual evidence to support analysis of the explicit meaning of a literary text and to draw inferences from a literary text.
- Determine the themes or central ideas of a literary text.
- Determine the literal, figurative, and connotative meanings of words and phrases in a literary text.
- Analyze the impact of an author's specific word choices on meaning and tone in a literary text.
- Analyze the impact of an author's choices concerning how to develop and relate elements such as setting, plot, and character in a literary text to create specific effects such as suspense or tension.
- Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work of literature from outside the United States.
- Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, and character types from myths and traditional stories.
Competency 0003–Demonstrate the ability to comprehend, interpret, and analyze informational and persuasive texts.
For example:
- Demonstrate knowledge of the characteristics, elements, and features of various forms of informational and persuasive texts from a range of cultures and periods, including literary nonfiction, memoirs, essays, biographies, and editorials.
- Use textual evidence to support analysis of the explicit meaning of an informational or persuasive text and to draw inferences from a text.
- Determine the central ideas of an informational or persuasive text.
- Recognize an accurate, objective summary of an informational text.
- Determine an author's point of view or purpose in an informational or persuasive text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.
- Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a persuasive text, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient.
- Analyze how multiple authors writing about the same topic shape their presentation of key information by emphasizing different evidence or advancing different interpretations of facts.
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in an informational or persuasive text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings, and analyze the impact of an author's word choices on meaning and tone in a text.
- Analyze seminal U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (e.g., Washington's Farewell Address, the Gettysburg Address, Roosevelt's Four Freedoms speech, King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail"), including how they address related themes and concepts.
Domain II–Writing and Researching
Competency 0004–Understand strategies and techniques for writing arguments.
For example:
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to introduce a precise claim, establishing the significance of the claim and distinguishing the claim from alternate or opposing claims.
- Apply knowledge of how to develop claims and counterclaims fairly, supplying evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience's knowledge level and concerns.
- Apply knowledge of how to use words, phrases, and clauses to link the major sections of an argument, create cohesion, and clarify the relationship between reasons and evidence, and between claims and counterclaims.
- Apply knowledge of how to establish and maintain a formal style while observing appropriate norms and conventions.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to compose a conclusion that follows from and supports an argument.
- Apply knowledge of how to develop and strengthen an argument as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments.
Competency 0005–Understand strategies and techniques for writing informative and explanatory texts.
For example:
- Apply knowledge of how to compose a strong thesis statement, introduce a topic, and organize complex ideas, concepts, and information to make important connections and distinctions.
- Apply knowledge of how to develop a topic with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts; extended definitions; concrete details; quotations; or other information or examples.
- Apply knowledge of how to use appropriate and varied transitions to link major sections of an informative or explanatory text, create cohesion, and clarify relationships between complex ideas and concepts.
- Apply knowledge of how to use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to convey accurate information about a complex topic.
- Apply knowledge of how to establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while observing the norms and conventions of a particular academic discipline.
- Apply knowledge of how to develop and strengthen informative or explanatory writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new information.
Competency 0006–Understand strategies and techniques for writing narratives.
For example:
- Apply knowledge of how to engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or observation; establishing one or more points of view; and introducing a narrator and characters.
- Apply knowledge of how to use narrative techniques such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines to develop experiences, events, and characters.
- Apply knowledge of how to use a variety of techniques for sequencing events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole.
- Apply knowledge of how to use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of experiences, events, setting, and characters.
- Apply knowledge of how to compose a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of a narrative.
- Apply knowledge of how to develop and strengthen narrative writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.
Competency 0007–Understand methods of researching to build and present knowledge.
For example:
- Demonstrate knowledge of methods of selecting and refining a topic for research, generating a research question, and narrowing or broadening inquiry as appropriate.
- Demonstrate knowledge of methods of gathering information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively, and assessing the reliability and usefulness of each source.
- Apply knowledge of methods of integrating information and ideas from sources into a written text selectively and quoting and paraphrasing sources appropriately.
- Apply knowledge of methods for citing and acknowledging sources of information appropriately in a text.
Domain III–Speaking and Listening
Competency 0008–Understand strategies for speaking and listening and for engaging in collaborative discussions.
For example:
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to initiate and participate in a range of collaborative discussions in which diverse participants express ideas clearly and persuasively and build on one another's ideas.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to work with others to establish guidelines for collegial discussions and decision making, set clear goals and deadlines, and establish individual roles as needed.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to pose and respond to questions that relate a discussion to broader themes or ideas.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to clarify, verify, and challenge ideas and conclusions presented during a discussion.
- Apply knowledge of how to evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.
- Apply knowledge of how to evaluate the credibility and accuracy of multiple sources of information presented in diverse media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally).
Competency 0009–Understand strategies and techniques for presenting knowledge and ideas.
For example:
- Apply knowledge of how to organize and present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically in a way that supports listener comprehension and analysis and is appropriate to purpose, audience, and task.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to make strategic use of digital media in presentations to enhance an audience's understanding of research findings, reasoning, and evidence, as well as to add interest.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks.
Domain IV–Language and Conventions
Competency 0010–Understand language in context and conventions of English.
For example:
- Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence, paragraph, or text; a word's position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
- Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases by identifying patterns of word changes that indicate different meanings or parts of speech.
- Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings by interpreting figures of speech in context and analyzing their role in a text, as well as by analyzing nuances in the meaning of words with similar denotations.
- Apply knowledge of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases at the college- and career-readiness level.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to gather vocabulary knowledge when determining that a word or phrase is important to comprehension or expression.
- Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage, including how to use various types of phrases (e.g., noun, verb, adjectival, adverbial, participial, prepositional) and clauses (e.g., independent, dependent; noun, relative, adverbial) to convey specific meanings and add variety to writing and presentations.
- Demonstrate command of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.