®
The 2014 GED Social Studies Test
Extended Response Resource Guide
for Adult Educators:
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
September 2015
®
GED is a registered trademark of the American Council on Education. Used under license.
The 2014 GED® Social Studies Test
Extended Response Resource Guide for Adult Educators
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
Overview and Introduction to Tonkin Gulf Resolution Resource Materials ......................................................... 3
Tonking Gulf Resolution Stimulus Materials.................................................................................................... ...4
Tonkin Gulf Resolution Prompt .......................................................................................................................... 5
Social Studies Extended Response Answer Guidelines..................................................................................... 6
Social Studies ER Rubric – Trait 1 ..................................................................................................................... 7
Social Studies ER Rubric – Trait 2 ..................................................................................................................... 9
Social Studies ER Rubric – Trait 3 ................................................................................................................... 10
Trait 1 Guidelines for Score Point 0 ................................................................................................................. 12
Sample Tonkin Gulf Resolution Extended Responses with Annotations .......................................................... 13
Automated Scoring of Constructed Response Items on the 2014 GED® Test .................................................. 31
2014 GED® Social Studies Test: Extended Response Resource Guide for Adult Educators – Tonkin Gulf Resolution
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Overview and Introduction to Tonkin Gulf Resolution Resource Materials
This guide has been assembled by the GED Testing Service in order to help adult educators increase their
understanding of and skill in scoring the Extended Response (ER) questions on the 2014 GED ® Social Studies
test. Using these resources will help you identify the various qualities and attributes of ER responses at the full
range of score points for each of the three traits on the rubric which, in turn, will help you to focus your writing
instruction for adult learners who will be taking the 2104 GED® test. Using these materials will also help you in
scoring responses that adult learners provide you as part of their preparation for the test in taking the GED
Ready® practice test. The GED Ready® practice test is accompanied by a tool (Educator Scoring Tool) that
can help you score test-taker responses. This guide, as a supplement to that tool, is intended to increase your
facility with and accuracy in scoring ER items for the Social Studies test.*
The materials in this guide invovle a publicly-released ER item that formerly appeared on the operational GED®
Social Studies test, based on an excerpt and a letter dealing with the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. The responses in
this guide are actual writing samples written by adult test-takers in response to the stimulus material and
prompt on the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. All of the characteristics of the responses, including spelling,
paragraphing, and spacing, have been left exactly as originally written and submitted by the test-takers. They
also appear here exactly as they appeared to the educator Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) who determined the
range of responses for each score point and to the expert human scorers who provided the final certified
scores for the responses. The explanations (called “annotations”) as to why each student response received its
score are presented to enhance your understanding and were also written by SMEs..
An ER test item on the GED® Social Studies module is one that requires test-takers to compose a piece of
writing in response to two source texts. The first text is a quotation or brief excerpt that captures the essence of
an “enduring issue” (explained in more detail, below) in American civics and government. The second text is a
passage that takes a stand on the enduring issue as it relates to an actual 20th century event. (Events more
recent than the 20th century do not appear on the GED® test to limit the chance that a test-taker might have
some type of personal interaction with the event at hand and therefore have an unfair advantage over other
test-takers.)
Test-takers are required to develop an argument about how the ideas in the two sources are related,
incorporating evidence from both texts to support their claims. In order obtain the highest number of score
points on the item, test-takers should also incorporate their own knowledge of the enduring issue (beyond what
is presented in the texts) and of the circumstances surrounding the event.
An enduring issue is an important topic or problem in American democracy that is the subject of on-going
discussion or debate. An enduring issue is something that the American people continue to wrestle with as
new situations arise. More than one interpretation of the enduring issue at play could be correct as long as it
can be supported with evidence from both the quotation and the longer passage provided to the test-taker.
Often one or two enduring issues jump out most clearly and are easiest to support with textual evidence but
that does not mean that the more “obvious” issues are the only correct ones.
The enduring issues addressed in the Social Studies portion of the GED® test come from the social studies
domain of civics and government, and most issues will fall into the following four categories:
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Citizens’ rights in conflict with some other societal interest
Separation of powers
Checks and balances
States’ rights versus federal power
* Note: The ER scoring tool is meant to be used as a guide to scoring, but once you become more familiar with the dimensions and sub-dimensions,
you will be able to score writing samples holistically, without fully following the tool. There is no expectation that you will use the tool for EVERY
response that you score, and the materials in this guide should help you begin to gain the skills at evaluation of writing that you will need to effectively
score extended responses first with the tool and later, without relying on it.
2014 GED® Social Studies Test: Extended Response Resource Guide for Adult Educators – Tonkin Gulf Resolution
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Tonkin Gulf Resolution Stimulus Materials
Excerpt
“In order to lay a due foundation for that separate and distinct exercise of the different powers of government,
which to a certain extent, is admitted on all hands to be essential to the preservation of liberty, it is evident that
each department should have a will of its own…”
-- James Madison, Federalist 51, 1789
Letter
The Honorable Wayne Morse
313 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
August 12, 1964
Dear Senator Morse:
As a citizen of Oregon I am proud that you are one of the only two U.S senators who voted against the Tonkin
Gulf Resolution last week. As a citizen of the United States, I am deeply concerned about the passage of this
resolution.
As were many Americans, I was outraged when President Johnson announced earlier this month that two U.S.
ships in the Gulf of Tonkin had been attacked by the North Vietnamese. When he said that he had dispatched
U.S. planes against the attackers and asked Congress to pass a resolution to support his actions, it seemed to
me to be a reasonable response.
However, after listening to your reasons for voting against the resolution, I am convinced that Congress has
made a grievous error. The following words from the resolution will actually permit the president to wage war:
“Congress approves and supports the determination of the President, as Commander in Chief, to take all
necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further
aggression.”
The Founders gave the fearsome power to declare war directly to the representatives of the American people
and separated it from the powers of the president as Commander in Chief for good reason. And yet, without
declaring war, Congress has given the president the authority to take “all necessary measures” in Vietnam,
including sending our young men into battle.
I know, Senator Morse, that you take your oath to support and defend the Constitution very seriously. For the
good of our nation, I urge you to lead the move to repeal this resolution with all possible haste.
Sincerely yours,
Ralph H. Roberts
2014 GED® Social Studies Test: Extended Response Resource Guide for Adult Educators – Tonkin Gulf Resolution
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Tonkin Gulf Resolution Prompt
In your response, develop an argument about how the author’s position in his letter reflects the
enduring issue expressed in the excerpt from Federalist 51. Incorporate relevant and specific evidence
from the excerpt, the letter, and your own knowledge of the enduring issue and the circumstances
surrounding the Tonkin Gulf Resolution to support your analysis.
This task should take no more than 25 minutes to complete. Your response should contain 3 – 5
paragraphs of 3 – 7 sentences each, about 200 – 400 words.
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Social Studies Extended Response Answer Guidelines
The guidelines below are presented to test-takers as a tool within the testing environment in order to remind
them the kinds of elements and attributes of argumentation, organization, language usage, etc., to be
incorporated into their responses to the ER prompt.
Extended Response Answer Guidelines for Social Studies
Please use the guidelines below as you answer the Extended Response question on the Social
Studies test. Following these guidelines as closely as possible will ensure that you provide the
best response.
1. Please note that this task must be completed in no more than 25 minutes. However, don’t rush
through your response. Be sure to read through the passage(s) and the prompt. Then think about the
message you want to convey in your response. Be sure to plan your response before you begin
writing. Draft your response and revise it as needed.
2. Fully answering a Social Studies ER prompt often requires 3 to 5 paragraphs of 3 to 7
sentences each – that can quickly add up to 200 to 400 words of writing! A response that is
significantly shorter could put you in danger of scoring a 0 just for not showing enough of your
writing skills.
3. As you read the quotation and the passage, think carefully about the enduring issue
expressed in the quotation given. An enduring issue reflects the founding principles of the
United States and is an important idea that people often grapple with as new situations arise.
4. When you write your essay, be sure to
•
develop an argument about how the ideas expressed by the author of the
passage are related to the excerpt or quotation that is presented first
•
support your explanation with multiple pieces of evidence, using ideas from both
the quotation or excerpt and the passage
•
incorporate your own knowledge of the topic’s background and historical context
into your response
•
answer the prompt directly by staying focused on the passage and the
quotation or excerpt throughout your response
•
build your main points thoroughly
•
put your main points in logical order and tie your details to your main points
•
organize your response carefully and consider your audience, message, and
purpose
•
use transitional words and phrases to connect sentences, paragraphs, and ideas
•
choose words carefully to express your ideas clearly
•
vary your sentence structure to enhance the flow and clarity of your response
•
reread and revise your response to correct any errors in grammar, usage, or
punctuation
2014 GED® Social Studies Test: Extended Response Resource Guide for Adult Educators – Tonkin Gulf Resolution
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Social Studies ER Rubric – Trait 1
The Social Studies Extended Response Rubric for Trait 1 appears below:
Score
Description
Trait 1: Creation of Arguments and Use of Evidence A
2
▪ generates a text-based argument that demonstrates a clear understanding of
the relationships among ideas, events, and figures as presented in the source
text(s) and the historical contexts from which they are drawn B
▪ cites relevant and specific evidence from primary and secondary source text(s)
that adequately supports an argument C
▪ is well-connected to both the prompt and the source text(s) D
1
▪ generates an argument that demonstrates an understanding of the relationships
among ideas, events, and figures as presented in the source text(s)
▪ cites some evidence from primary and secondary source texts in support of an
argument (may include a mix of relevant and irrelevant textual references)
▪ is connected to both the prompt and the source text(s)
0
▪ may attempt to create an argument but demonstrates minimal or no
understanding of the ideas, events and figures presented in the source texts or
the contexts from which these texts are drawn
▪ cites minimal or no evidence from the primary and secondary source texts; may
or may not demonstrate an attempt to create an argument.
▪ lacks connection either to the prompt or the source text(s)
Non-scorable Responses (Score of 0/Condition Codes)
▪ Response exclusively contains text copied from source text(s) or prompt
▪ Response demonstrates that the that test-taker has read neither the prompt nor the source
text(s)
▪ Response is incomprehensible
▪ Response is not in English
▪ Response has not been attempted (blank)
Note: The annotations to the rubric, A through D, appear on the next page of this guide.
2014 GED® Social Studies Test: Extended Response Resource Guide for Adult Educators – Tonkin Gulf Resolution
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A



B

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C
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D



For Trait 1, test-taker responses are scored according to the criteria outlined in three
bullets, each of which represents a distinct dimension or quality of writing that
contributes to the creation of arguments and use of evidence.
Each score point describes the same three dimensions, but at varying levels of mastery.
Responses may exhibit qualities indicative of more than one score point. For instance, a
response may contain a logical text-based argument (a 2-point response), but the
evidence cited may include both relevant and irrelevant references (a 1-point response).
When a response shows mixed evidence of proficiency level with regard to the three
dimensions of Trait 1, it will receive a score that reflects a balanced consideration of each
quality, with no one dimension weighted more than the others.
The first dimension relates to writing a rhetorical argument about the connection between
the two source texts.
Responses that score highly will bring the test-taker’s own content knowledge of the
enduring issue referenced in the quotation and/or the event and context referenced in the
passage to bear on his or her stance.
Responses that receive a lower score may rely on summarizing the source texts,
discussing the test-taker’s own experiences with the topic, or addressing whether or not
the test-taker agrees with the positions taken in the texts.
The second dimension focuses on using information from source text(s) to support the
test-taker’s claims or assertions.
Higher scoring responses cite multiple pieces of text-based evidence in support of the
writer’s assertions. Higher scoring responses will incorporate evidence more effectively
and feature arguments more closely focused on the source texts.
At lower score points, the prevalence of summary and evidence drawn from a test-taker’s
personal experience may be more pronounced.
The third dimension focuses on the degree to which the response reflects the task given
in the prompt and integrates information from the source text into it.
While responses that argue the test-taker’s opinion are acceptable, test-takers who focus
more specifically on the task outlined in the prompt and establish an argument based on
a close reading of the source text will be more likely to score higher on this dimension.
Higher scoring responses will link both texts to the development of an argument about
how the position taken by the author of the passage reflects the enduring issue presented
in the quotation.
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Social Studies ER Rubric – Trait 2
The Social Studies Extended Response Rubric for Trait 2 appears below:
Score
Description
Trait 2: Development of Ideas and Organizational Structure E
1
▪ Contains a sensible progression of ideas with understandable connections
between details and main ideas F
▪ Contains ideas that are developed and generally logical; multiple ideas are
elaborated upon G
▪ Demonstrates appropriate awareness of the task H
0
▪ Contains an unclear or no apparent progression of ideas
▪ Contains ideas that are insufficiently developed or illogical; just one idea is
elaborated upon
▪ Demonstrates no awareness of the task
Non-scorable Responses (Score of 0/Condition Codes)
▪ Response exclusively contains text copied from source text(s) or prompt
▪ Response demonstrates that the that test-taker has read neither the prompt nor the source
text(s)
▪ Response is incomprehensible
▪ Response is not in English
▪ Response has not been attempted (blank)
E
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F
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G
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H
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The three bullets, or dimensions, in Trait 2 must be considered together to determine the
score of any individual response.
No one dimension is weighted more than any other.
Each score point describes the same dimensions, but at varying levels of mastery.
The first dimension focuses on how well the response is organized and how effectively the
response builds from one idea to the next.
Though paragraphs may lend structure to many responses, it is possible for a wellorganized, logical, non-paragraphed response to receive a high score.
However, responses that contain circular, list-like, or scattered organizational structure, as
well as those that do not fully integrate effective transitions between ideas, often indicate a
lower score point.
High-scoring responses maintain coherence and a sense of progression that aid in
conveying the writer’s central thesis.
The second dimension relates to the depth and breadth of explanation exhibited in the
response.
While support for ideas should come from the source texts (like Trait 1), fully developed
ideas often contain multiple extensions that build upon assertions.
High-scoring papers will tend to contain multiple ideas that are fully elaborated upon and
help articulate a central thesis.
Responses that develop ideas insufficiently, unevenly, or illogically fall into a lower score
range with regard to this dimension.
The third dimension is associated with how well the response demonstrates an
understanding of audience and purpose.
Higher scoring responses will establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while
attending to the norms and conventions of argumentative writing.
2014 GED® Social Studies Test: Extended Response Resource Guide for Adult Educators – Tonkin Gulf Resolution
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Social Studies ER Rubric – Trait 3
The Social Studies Extended Response Rubric for Trait 3 appears below:
Score
Description
Trait 3: Clarity and Command of Standard English Conventions J
1
▪ demonstrates adequate applications of conventions with specific regard to the
following skills: K frequently confused words and homonyms, including contractions
1) subject-verb agreement
2) pronoun usage, including pronoun antecedent agreement, unclear pronoun
references, and pronoun case
3) placement of modifiers and correct word order
4) capitalization (e.g., proper nouns, titles, and beginnings of sentences)
5) use of apostrophes with possessive nouns
6) use of punctuation (e.g., commas in a series or in appositives and other nonessential elements, end marks, and appropriate punctuation for clause
separation)
▪ demonstrates largely correct sentence structure with variance from sentence to
sentence; is generally fluent and clear with specific regard to the following skills: L
1) correct subordination, coordination and parallelism
2) avoidance of wordiness and awkward sentence structures
3) usage of transitional words, conjunctive adverbs and other words that support
logic and clarity
4) avoidance of run-on sentences, fused sentences, or sentence fragments
5) standard usage at a level of formality appropriate for on-demand, draft writing.
0
▪ may contain some errors in mechanics and conventions, but they do not interfere
with understanding* M
▪ demonstrates minimal control of basic conventions with specific regard to skills 1 – 7
as listed in the first bullet under Trait 3, Score Point 1 above
▪ demonstrates consistently flawed sentence structure; minimal or no variance such
that meaning may be obscured; demonstrates minimal control over skills 1-5 as listed
in the second bullet under Trait 3, Score Point 1 above
▪ contains severe and frequent errors in mechanics and conventions that interfere with
comprehension
OR
▪ response is insufficient to demonstrate level of mastery over conventions and
usage
*Because test-takers will be given only 25 minutes to complete Extended Response tasks, there is no
expectation that a response should be completely free of conventions or usage errors to receive a score
of 1.
Non-scorable Responses (Score of 0/Condition Codes)
▪ Response exclusively contains text copied from source text(s) or prompt
▪ Response demonstrates that the that test-taker has read neither the prompt nor the source text(s)
▪ Response is incomprehensible
▪ Response is not in English
▪ Response has not been attempted (blank)
Note: The annotations to the rubric, J through M appear on the next page of this guide. (Note that the
letter “I”[EYE] was skipped in coding the annotations to avoid confusion with the number “1”.)
2014 GED® Social Studies Test: Extended Response Resource Guide for Adult Educators – Tonkin Gulf Resolution
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J
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
K
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L

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
M


As in the previous two traits, each of the three dimensions of Trait 3 must be weighed
together to determine the score.
Each score point describes the same dimensions, but at differing levels of mastery.
The first dimension focuses on how well the response adheres to specific conventions of
standard English for on-demand draft writing.
Responses will be scored on demonstrated mastery over the particular language skills
listed in this dimension. Though there are many other conventions that come into play in
a test-taker’s writing, these essential skills are the ones on which responses will be
scored.
Further, the longer the response, the greater tolerance for errors. For example, 10 errors
in a 10-line response would likely receive a lower score than a response that contains 20
errors but fills 40 or 50 lines.
This dimension relates to sentence structure and variety.
As in the first dimension described above, scoring will focus only on these skills essential
to the development of sentence structure.
Repetitive, choppy, rambling, and/or awkward sentence constructions indicate responses
at the lower score point.
This dimension pertains to overall fluency with conventions and mechanics.
In order to receive a score of 1, test-takers must sustain their writing long enough to
demonstrate their level of proficiency with all the skills listed in the two previous
dimensions. Then, responses are evaluated for level of grammatical and syntactical
fluency appropriate for on-demand, draft writing.
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Trait 1 Guidelines for Score Point 0
Trait 1 of the Social Studies Extended Response Rubric focuses on whether the test-taker can compose an
effective argument and use text-based evidence to support his or her argument. Because this complex set
of skills is new to the GED® test, the following guidance is provided to help educators understand more
clearly what a score point of 0 on Trait 1 means, based on the rubric.
Responses receiving a score of 0 are not blank, off-topic, or otherwise unscorable (when test-takers submit
responses that fall into one of the categories listed below the rubric trait above, their score reports will
reflect the category into which their response fell). Rather, the score point of 0 reflects that though the testtaker has attempted a response (i.e., the response shows evidence that the test-takers has, indeed, read
either the passage or its accompanying prompt or both), the response does not provide adequate
observable evidence of the skills described in the rubric. General guidelines to help you learn when to
assign the score point of 0 on Trait 1 are provided below.
Overall, responses that score 0s show a great deal of variety. Remember:
▪ In order to score higher than a 0, the response must do more than merely pulling quotations directly
from the stimulus material. That is, to fulfill the rubric requirement of citing evidence, the evidence
cited must support the overall message the test-taker is attempting to convey, and must be
analyzed in some way.
▪ Responses at all score points may (or may not) explicitly state an opinion. However, in order to
score higher than a 0, responses must analyze the issue at hand or the quality of the argumentation
through which both sides of the issue are presented and the connection between the ideas in the
stimulus source texts.
▪ Some responses may be composed primarily of simple summary of the passage. Summary alone,
with no commentary upon the text, are insufficient to receive a score higher than 0.
▪ While scoring, try to avoid skimming for key words or excerpts from the passage. How well the testtaker uses excerpts from the passage to support his or her overall argument is just as important as
whether the response includes specific citations from the written source at all. Sometimes it is
tempting to reward a response that includes information or interesting anecdotes from the testtaker’s own experience. However, this task requires test-takers to engage with the text provided
and to demonstrate their level of skill with creating a text-based argument. Therefore, while
references to personal experience do not “count against” the test-taker, they must be considered
“white noise” and should generally be ignored.
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Sample Tonkin Gulf Resolution Extended Responses with Annotations
Response 1:
Mr Roberts strikes me as a reasonable and informed constituent. It isn't often that someone
takes the time to write their Senator.
He states that "The Founders gave the fearsome power to declare war directly to the
representatives of the American people and separated it from the powers of the president as
commander-in-chief for good reason".
James Madison states that "these separation of powers is essential to the preservation of
liberty"
This seems to the opening salvo of where we are today. Back in the first gulf war, then Pres
Bush, took advantage of the wording stated here, where "Congress has given the president the
authority to take "all necessary measures" to "send our young men into battle".
I remember at the time, that there was quite a debate going on in congress at the time.
Then as now, many people diverged in their opinions.
Though when compared with the foundations that were laid down by Madison, we've certainly
gone off track.
2014 GED® Social Studies Test: Extended Response Resource Guide for Adult Educators – Tonkin Gulf Resolution
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Annotation for Response 1, Trait 1: Score Point 0
 The response fails to create a text-based argument that is well connected to the prompt.
 Because there is no attempt to explicitly address the historical event described in the letter to Sen.
Morse —the Tonkin Gulf Resolution — the writer demonstrates minimal understanding of the ideas,
events, and figures presented in the source texts.
 Although the response cites some passages from the source texts ("He states that ... ""James Madison
states that ... ""then Pres Bush, took advantage of the wording stated here, where 'Congress has given
the president the authority... "'), these excerpts are not used as evidence supporting an identifiable
central argument.
 The writer does identify the enduring issue, but the response fails to draw an adequate connection to
the historical event in the letter, instead making a reference to the first Gulf War.
 Overall, the response does not generate an argument, demonstrates minimal understanding of the
relevant ideas and events, and lacks connection to the prompt and the source texts.
 Therefore, the response receives a score of 0 for Trait 1.
Annotation for Response 1, Trait 2: Score Point 0
 The response, which begins and ends with off-topic observations unrelated to the prompt, does not
sufficiently develop the writer’s ideas.
 While the second two paragraphs suggest that the writer understands the connection between the
source texts, these paragraphs consist merely of re-statements of the texts’ main ideas, without any
elaboration from the writer.
 Because there is no discernable central thesis, the response has no structure upon which to build a
logical progression of ideas.
 Therefore, the response earns a score of 0 for Trait 2.
Annotation for Response 1, Trait 3: Score Point 0
 The response consists mainly of one-sentence paragraphs that are inadequate to demonstrate the
writer’s level of proficiency with standard English usage and conventions.
 There are numerous errors in punctuation (“…then Pres Bush, took advantage of”) and capitalization
(“congress,” “commander-in-chief”), and examples of redundancy that create awkward sentences (“…at
the time, that there was quite a debate going on in congress at the time”). The errors occasionally
interfere with comprehension.
 Overall, minus what is quoted directly from the source texts, the writing is not sustained long enough to
show fluency with conventions and mechanics.
 Therefore, the response earns a score of 0 for Trait 3.
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Response 2:
ln the excerpt from Federalist 51 it states that each department of government should have
separate and distinct powers. In the letter to Senator Morse the US citizen is upset that
Congress has made the decision to give all the power to the President to make any decision
about weather to engage in war or not. This goes against the excerpt from the Federalist 51
which again clearly states that different areas of government should be separated so that not
one persons opinion is pushed onto the rest of the American people.
Annotation for Response 2, Trait 1: Score Point 0
 The response makes an attempt to create an argument ("This goes against the excerpt from the
Federalist 51 which again clearly states that different areas of government should be separated…”). But
because the response only minimally addresses the historical event ("In the letter to Senator Morse the
US citizen is upset that Congress has made the decision to give all the power to the President …"), it is
not developed enough to demonstrate sufficient understanding of the ideas, events and figures
presented in the source texts.
 Furthermore, the attempted argument is little more than a bare assertion, and the writer cites minimal
evidence to support it.
 While the writer identifies the enduring issue (separation of powers) and notes the connection between
the prompt and source texts, the weaknesses in creating an argument and supporting it with textual
evidence earn this response a score of 0 for Trait 1.
Annotation for Response 2, Trait 2: Score Point 0
 There is no attempt to elaborate upon multiple ideas, nor is there evidence of connections between
details from the source texts and main ideas in the response.
 While the writer appears to have understood that the purpose of the task is to produce formal,
objective, argumentative writing, the response is too brief (three sentences) to demonstrate this
awareness adequately.
 Overall, the response is not adequately developed, earning it a score of 0 for Trait 2.
Annotation for Response 2, Trait 3: Score Point 0
 The response is not long enough to demonstrate the writer’s level of proficiency with the conventions
and usage of standard English.
 In its three sentences, the response contains awkward wording (“In the excerpt from Federalist 51 it
states”), homonym confusion (“weather” instead of “whether”), and a possessive noun apostrophe error
(“one persons opinion”).
 Because the writing is not sustained, the response is insufficient to demonstrate mastery, earning it a
score of 0 for Trait 3.
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Response 3:
The attack on the ships were an act of aggression and with planes sent to intercede settled the
situation for the most part. Permission granted to do this would have been adequate.
From the wording in the resolution, I get the impression that Congress has just allowed the
President to do as he pleases as far military aggression is concerned. In doing this, where
would it stop? Will congress now have the power to stop the Commander-in-Chief should he
get to aggressive?
Our Constition states that Congress has to approve a declaration of war. It sounds like it has.
Worded as such, we can become over involved in something we don't need to be.
Or is it just stating that the President has the choice to retailiate if our country is attacked. Then
again, is that speaking of an attack on American soil or in foreign land?
The resolution is to vague to completely understand all the implications of the present or the
future that something like this can do.
It doesn't seem that each department has a will of their own, they are working hand in hand to
increase our involvement in an unpopular and unnecessary conflict in another country, that
country's situation being similiar to our own Civil War.
It is my belief that the whole resolution should be repealed and rewritten with more specific
guidelines.
If that can't be done, perhaps the Judical Branch should be taking a look at. Let the judges on
the bench express thier opinion on the matter to see if it is actually constitional and in the
guidelines that Mr. Madison and other founding fathers had intended.
2014 GED® Social Studies Test: Extended Response Resource Guide for Adult Educators – Tonkin Gulf Resolution
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Annotation for Response 3, Trait 1: Score Point 0
 Although the writer makes an attempt to generate an argument (“In doing this, where would it stop? Will
congress now have the power to stop the Commander-in-Chief should he get to aggressive?”), the
response does not directly cite the source texts or explicitly identify the enduring issue.
 There is limited evidence that the writer has understood the prompt or the relationship between the
ideas and events presented in the source texts.
 The response consists primarily of the writer’s opinions about the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (“It is my
belief that the whole resolution should be repealed and rewritten with more specific guidelines”),
suggesting that the writer understands the issues at some level but has not effectively used evidence
from the source texts and personal experience to support a text-based argument on the topic.
 Therefore the response earns a score of 0 for Trait 1.
Annotation for Response 3, Trait 2: Score Point 0
 The ideas in the response primarily address one topic (“the wording in the resolution”), and are
presented in a somewhat rambling fashion rather than in a logical, organized progression.
 The brief paragraphs do not effectively build upon each other, and the ideas are insufficiently
developed (“The resolution is to vague to completely understand all the implications of the present or
the future that something like this can do”).
 Although the first-person voice is acceptable in on-demand task writing, the tone of this response veers
towards the informal occasionally (“I get the impression that…”), suggesting an inadequate
understanding of audience and purpose.
 Therefore the response earns a score of 0 for Trait 2.
Annotation for Response 3, Trait 3: Score Point 0
 The response demonstrates minimal control of basic conventions of standard English.
There are errors in comma use that interfere with understanding (The attack on the ships were an act of
aggression[,] and with planes sent to intercede…”), homonym confusion (“to” used instead of “too”),
and problems with subject-verb agreement (“…that each department has a will of their own”).
 The writer also demonstrates minimal control of sentence structure, including run-on sentences (“It
doesn’t seem that each department has a will of their own, they are working hand in hand…”), and
awkward sentences (“Worded as such, we can become over involved in something we don’t need to
be”).
 Overall, errors in conventions are frequent and interfere with comprehension.
 The response does not achieve a level of proficiency appropriate for on-demand task writing, and
therefore earns a score of 0 for Trait 3.
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Response 4:
The Unites States government was built on the basis of the separation of powers. This means
that the three branches of government (the Judicial, Legislative, and Executive branches) all
have separate tasks and jurisdictions, as well as having the power to keep in check the power of
their counterparts. The quote from James Madison embodies this belief. The values expressed
in the quote also present themselves within the letter to Senator Morse.
Madison, one of the United States' Founding Fathers, strongly advocated the separation of
powers within goverment. He believed that "each department should have a will of its own",
meaning the ability to have a certain area of power, and the ability to check other departments'
power. Without the separation of powers, Madison saw, a true democracy was impossible.
This view shows strongly in the letter to Senator Morse. Ralph Roberts, author of the letter,
stated, "without declaring war, Congress has given the president the authority to take "all
necessary measures in Vietnam, including sending our young men into battle." The power to
declare war, as dictated by the Constitution, is a right deserved specifically for Congress. The
president can request that Congress declares war, but he cannot do it himself. In this letter,
Roberts is outraged, because he believes that the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution blurred the lines
between Congress actually declaring war, and the president doing warlike things without having
war declared. This letter reinforces the important thesis stated in the quote: that Congress alone
should have the ability and the power to declare war.
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Annotation for Response 4, Trait 1: Score Point 1
 The response generates an argument that demonstrates an understanding of the ideas, events, and
figures presented in the source texts ("The values expressed in the quote also present themselves
within the letter to Senator Morse"). This argument is carried through and built upon in the remainder of
the response ("This view shows strongly in the letter to Senator Morse." "This letter reinforces the
important thesis stated in the quote: that Congress alone should have the ability and the power to
declare war").
 The writer cites evidence from both source texts that adequately supports the argument ("[Madison]
believed that 'each department should have a will of its own"' "In this letter, Roberts is outraged,
because he believes that the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution blurred the lines between Congress ... ").
 The writer clearly identifies the enduring issue ("The United States government was built on the basis of
the separation of powers") and addresses the connection between the source texts by applying the
enduring issue (separation of powers) to the historical event (the Tonkin Gulf Resolution). Thus, the
response establishes a connection to the prompt and source texts.
 The response does not include historical information other than that provided in the source texts,
however, which would be required for a score of 2.
 Because the response generates an argument that demonstrates understanding, supports the
argument with textual evidence, and establishes a connection to prompt and source texts, it earns a
score of 1 for Trait 1.
Annotation for Response 4, Trait 2: Score Point 1
 Beginning with its clear thesis statement in the first sentence that demonstrates the writer’s
understanding of the task.
 The response is well organized, effectively conveying a logical progression of ideas throughout.
 The first paragraph clearly defines the enduring issue of separation of powers as articulated in both
source texts.
 The following two paragraphs elaborate on this connection and include details from both texts to
support the writer’s argument.
 The objective tone and formal style of the response further demonstrate the writer’s understanding of
the audience and purpose of the task.
 Therefore, the response earns a score of 1 for Trait 2.
Annotation for Response 4, Trait 3: Score Point 1
 Throughout the response, the writer demonstrates a mastery of the conventions and mechanics of
standard English usage. There are few if any errors in grammar, punctuation, or syntax.
 The writer has avoided wordiness and awkwardness while also varying sentence types. There are no
run-on sentences or sentence fragments, and transitional words are used effectively (“This means
that…”).
 Overall, the response demonstrates fluency at a level appropriate for on-demand task writing, and
therefore earns a score of 1 for Trait 3.
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Response 5:
ln Federalist 51, it is stated that each branch of the government needs to have its own will and
be free from the influence of the other branches. The author states that Congress has given
some of its power to the president. As a result, the president now has a level of authority that
was once held only by the legislative branch of the government. This can be taken to mean that
the president now has more power than the other two branches when it comes to excecuting
laws and orders to govern the people in response to the Vietnam crisis. The division of power
between three branches of government was meant to hold a system of checks and balances in
order to prevent one person or group of people from holding too much power over the country,
its laws, and its people. By giving suplimentary power to the president, there is a chance that
the intended balance has been disrupted, and one branch now holds more power than the
others. This could be seen as having the possibility to jeprodize the freedom of the American
people, as one person may now take any action they choose and have little force able to
oppose them. This is especially troubling when it comes to war, as it can mean that the one with
power can now force citizans to fight, and possibly die, for a cause they may or may not
support. If the president can force citizans to fight for his own cause, how is this any different
from being under the rule of a dictator or monarch? The system of power seperated into three
independent branches was intentionally designed to prevent one person or group of people from
having complete and absolute power over the country and its citizans. By shifting the balance of
power, Congress has jeprodized the nation and its people. As a result, we may well be on our
way to returning to the days of kings.
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Annotation for Response 5, Trait 1: Score Point 1
 The response generates an argument that demonstrates an understanding of the relationships among
the ideas presented in the source texts ("In Federalist 51, it is stated that each branch of the
government needs to have its own will and be free from the influence of the other branches. The author
states that Congress has given some of its power to the president…in response to Vietnam”). The
writer builds upon this argument throughout the remainder of the response.
 The writer cites some evidence from the source texts, although is somewhat vague in attribution,
referring to “the author” without making clear that he or she means the letter-writer.
 By focusing on the enduring issue of separation of powers, the response is connected to the prompt
and the source texts.
 The response includes no historical information other than that given in the source texts, however, and
is, therefore, ineligible for a score of 2.
 Because the response generates an argument that demonstrates understanding, cites some evidence
in support of that argument, and establishes a connection to the prompt and source texts, it earns a
score of 1 for Trait 1.
Annotation for Response 5, Trait 2: Score Point 1
 The response begins with the salient issue from each source text, followed by the writer’s argument:
“This can be taken to mean that the president now has more power than the other two branches when it
comes to executing laws and orders to govern the people in response to Vietnam.”
 Although the response is presented as only one paragraph, the progression of ideas is generally well
organized, leading logically to the writer’s conclusion that “by shifting the balance of power, Congress
has jeprodized the nation and its people.”
 The response includes multiple ideas based on the enduring issue of the separation of powers.
 The response also demonstrates that the writer understands that the purpose of the task is to produce
formal, objective argumentative writing.
 Therefore the response earns a score of 1 for Trait 2.
Annotation for Response 5, Trait 3: Score Point 1
 For the most part, the writer demonstrates adequate mastery over the conventions and usage of
standard English. The response contains a variety of sentence types and is generally free of errors in
pronoun usage, subject-verb agreement, punctuation, and homonym confusion.
 There are no comma splices or sentence fragments, and the writer has avoided wordiness and
awkwardness.
 The writer has effectively used transitional phrases to link ideas (“As a result…” “This can be taken to
mean…” “This could be seen as…”).
 Overall, the response reflects a level of fluency appropriate for on-demand task writing, and therefore
earns a score of 1 for Trait 3.
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Response 6:
Citizen Ralph Roberts wrote this letter to his state congressman to exhort him to work to repeal
the Gulf of Tonkin resolution in 1964, the onset of the Vietnam War.
The resolution allowed President Lyndon Johnson unlimited power as Commander-in Chief to
use the military in any way he wanted to to defend from and prevent further "aggression" after
two U.S. ships were attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of Vietnam.
The question here is whether "military actions to repel and prevent armed attack" are an act of
war or an act of defense. The reality was that the effort was a full out war effort on the grounds
of another country, not just defending other ships or american interests in the immediate area of
the attack.
The balance of powers allowed by the Constitution of The United States allows war to be
declared only by an Act of Congress. This would mean, in theory, that an act of war was the will
of all American Cititens represented by their elected legislative officials and that no one person,
including the President of the United States, could make war by their own decision.
The United States military had actually been involved in the country of Vietnam for several
years, however these were covert actions related to the infiltration of the Chinese Communist
military supporting an overthrow of the government with the intent of installing an extended
communistic rule lead by Chinese in the area. When the U.S. war ships were in the Gulf of
Tonkin they were there in support of troups already on ground in Vietnam. Of course, the
Commander-n Chief, President Johnson, knew about the military operatons taking place
Congress and thereby the citizens of the United States were not fully informed of the military
action until much later.
By passing resolution and granting the president the power to act and without setting limits
within the act it seems that, in fact, the president acted lawfully. However the scale of the
response was an agressive act of war on the part of the United States against the Vietnamese
people as a whole and specifically against the large faction of communist sympathizers known
as the VietCong.
At a point where the U.S. military involvement began large troop counts and much hardware the
Congress should have to recinded the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution to take the power of the action
back into the hands of the legislative branch so the will of the citizens could lead the decision to
fight a full war or to maintain a defensive posture. This truned out to be a very unpopular war in
large part because the citizens of the United States never felt that their concerns and oppositon
was heard.
This should never have happened or at least never escalated in the way it did with only the
President making the final decisions military actions in another country. The Congress seems
to have reacted in an emotional way to the attack on the U.S. ships.
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Annotation for Response 6, Trait 1: Score Point 1
 In a long and impassioned discussion of the U.S. military action in Vietnam, the writer demonstrates an
understanding of the historical context of the events and of the “balance of power allowed by the
Constitution,” which is the enduring issue addressed in the source texts.
 However, the response lacks any reference to the excerpt from the Federalist Papers, thus failing to
explicitly connect the two texts.
 The writer does cite several details from the Roberts letter, but does not link these either to Madison’s
words or to the prompt. For these reasons, the response does not achieve the highest score point for
this trait.
 However, because the writer has included extensive information drawn from his or her own knowledge
and has generated and supported an argument that demonstrates an understanding of the events and
the enduring issue, the response earns a score of 1 for Trait 1.
Annotation for Response 6, Trait 2: Score Point 1
 Although the response does not directly address the prompt, nevertheless it demonstrates an
awareness of the purpose of the task (formal, objective, argumentative writing) and does so in a
generally well-organized fashion.
 The third paragraph provides a statement of the writer’s argument (“The reality was that the effort was a
full out war effort on the grounds of another country, not just defending other ships or american
interests…”).
 From there, the writer provides background on the balance of powers and historical perspective on
American involvement in Vietnam (“The United States military had actually been involved in the country
of Vietnam for several years, however these were covert actions…”).
 The response contains multiple ideas that are laid out logically.
 Overall, the response contains enough clear progression and elaboration of ideas to receive a score
point 1 for Trait 2.
Annotation for Response 6, Trait 3: Score Point 1
 The response contains errors in capitalization (“…of The United States,” “american interests”), several
wordy and/or awkward sentences (“By passing resolution and granting the president the power to act
and without setting limits within the act it seems that, in fact, the president acted lawfully”), and some
punctuation issues (“The United States military had actually been involved in the country of Vietnam for
several years, however these were covert actions…”).
 These problems, however, do not interfere with understanding, and for the most part the writer
demonstrates a clear command of the conventions of standard English.
 The writer employs transitions effectively (“This would mean, in theory…”) and maintains an appropriate
tone for on-demand draft writing.
 Therefore the response earns a score of 1 for Trait 3.
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Response 7:
One of the most ethical processes in the American government is that it seperates certain
powers from the president as Commander-in-Chief and the American people.
In the case of the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, the president asked Congress to support his actions
of dispatching U.S. planes against the attackers of the two U.S. ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. This
sounded, at the time, like a necessary measure to combat those that harmed our ships. The
actual resolution wording went farther than that by permitting the president to wage war on
those who harmed us by stating: "Congress approves and supports the determination of the
President, as Commander-in-Chief, to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack
against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression."
Our founding fathers fortunately had the forethought to seperate our government into different
powers "to be essential to the preservation of liberty, it is evident that each department should
have a will of its own ...". In a sense, a system of checks and balances was put in place so that
no one branch of government could over rule another and that the American people would
always have a say in matters of war.
It is imperative that we keep the power to declare war directly to the representatives of the
American people and keep it seperate from the powers of the Commander-in-Chief. It is the
sons and daughters of the American people that are called to serve in times of war. It is the
blood of our children that will be spilled in a foreign land to protect our country's interests. That
being said, it is the American people who should decide if an act of war is to be declared and if
the sacrifices it entails are worth the long lasting outcome of such an act.
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Annotation for Response 7, Trait 1: Score Point 1
 The writer has generated a text-based argument that demonstrates some understanding of the source
texts and the relationship between ideas and events that they suggest.
 This argument is somewhat vaguely stated in the first sentence, in which “the American people”
appears to be a reference to Congress (as representatives of the people).
 In paragraph 3, the writer identifies the enduring issue (“Our founding fathers fortunately had the
forethought to seperate our government into different powers”) and cites the James Madison text in
support of that statement. In its discussion of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the response also includes
citations from the second source text, although it is not directly identified as the letter to Senator Morse.
 To achieve a higher score point, the response would need to include more specific connections
between the source texts and the addition of information beyond what is given.
 However, the response contains an argument that connects to the prompt and is supported by citations
from the source texts, thereby earning a score of 1 for Trait 1.
Annotation for Response 7, Trait 2: Score Point 1
 The response demonstrates a coherent and logical progression of ideas, beginning with a general
thesis statement in the first sentence and proceeding to the specific case of the Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution.
 The issue of the separation of powers as it relates to the declaration of war is further developed in the
final two paragraphs (“It is imperative that we keep the power to declare war directly to the
representatives of the American people”).
 While the response may lack some breadth, nevertheless it makes understandable connections
between details (the wording of the resolution) and main ideas (the separation of powers).
The final sentences, describing the “sacrifices [war] entails” expand upon the argument by providing a
cogent reason that “the American people…should decide if an act of war is to be declared.”
 The response earns a score of 1 for Trait 2.
Annotation for Response 7, Trait 3: Score Point 1
 The response demonstrates proficient applications of conventions of standard English, including correct
use of punctuation to mark quotations from source texts, the use of commas around introductory and
interrupting clauses, pronoun usage, capitalization, and subject-verb agreement. There are no
confused homonyms or unclear pronoun references.
 The writer also uses largely correct sentence structure, and includes variance in structure from
sentence to sentence to achieve interest.
 Overall the response shows a level of mastery of usage that is appropriate for on-demand task writing,
and therefore earns a score of 1 for Trait 3.
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Response 8:
The intent of the Founding Fathers when drafting the Constitution was to make three seperate,
but equal branches. Each branch was given the powers to check and balance the others in
some way. Congress was given the power to make laws as they more directly represent the
people. The Executive Branch, or the President, was given the power to execute the laws. The
Sumpreme Court, or Judicial Branch, was given the power to determine the constitutionality of
laws passed by Congress and enforced by the President. By establishing a government like
this, "it [was] evident that each department should have a will of it's own" so as to prevent
influence of one branch over the other, and excessive power in any one branch.
Ralph Roberts argues that Congress passing this resolution is against the wishes of the
Founders to some extent. The Tonkin Gulf Resolution of 1964 was a resolution gave the
President the power to wage war. The Constitution states that the power to declare war rest
solely with Congress, those who more directly represent the sates. Roberts uses this knowledge
to help strengthen his argument, by saying that this resolution clearly violates the Constitution,
which in turn would violate the Founder's intents.
Giving the President the power to wage war would imply that each branch is not acting of it's
own will for one branch would have excessive power-the President- as well as influence over
the other. If the President were given the power to wage war, but not declare war Congress
would have no choice but to declare war whenever the president saw it fit. How can one really
support and allow the President to "take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack
against the forces of the United States and to prevent further agresssion" and not formally
declare war in the same moment. You cannot allow someone all the resources alloted in a war,
but not call it a war. For as the saying goes, if it looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, it's a
duck."
It is for this reason that it is no stretch to say that Robert's argument reflects that of James
Madison, in Federalist 51 of 1788, when he said " in order to lay a due foundation for that
seperate and distinct exercise of the different powers of government...it is evident that each
department should have a will of its own." In other words, no one branch should have too much
power or influence over the other.
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Annotation for Response 8, Trait 1: Score Point 1
 In the final paragraph of the response, the writer clearly states a text-based argument that connects the
two source texts and identifies the enduring issue: “It is for this reason that it is no stretch to say that
Robert’s argument reflects that of James Madison, in Federalist 51…. In other words, no one branch
should have too much power….”
 The response leading up to this point cites relevant examples from both texts, focusing on Ralph
Roberts’ letter about the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in the second and third paragraphs and on Madison
in the first and fourth.
 Although the writer clearly understands the relationship between the texts and the historical context of
the structure of the federal government (described in the first paragraph), the response does not
provide enough additional information beyond what is given to achieve a score point of 2.
 However, because the response is well connected to the prompt and the source texts, and because the
writer has generated a clear argument and supported it with citations from the texts, the response earns
a score of 1 for Trait 1.
Annotation for Response 8, Trait 2: Score Point 1
 The response effectively presents the writer’s ideas in a logically organized way.
 Beginning with a summary of the separation of powers in the three branches of the federal government,
the writer then moves on to discuss the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution as it pertains to this issue (“Ralph
Roberts argues that Congress passing this resolution is against the wishes of the Founders”). The
writer then elaborates on the idea that the passage of the resolution meant giving the president
excessive power, implying “that each branch is not acting of it’s own will.”
 Although lacking some breadth, the response nevertheless contains a well-developed progression of
ideas that maintain coherence.
 Additionally, the writer shows awareness of the purpose of the task: formal, objective, argumentative
writing.
 Therefore the response earns a score of 1 for Trait 2.
Annotation for Response 8, Trait 3: Score Point 1
 Despite some minor errors in punctuation, overall the response demonstrates adequate applications of
conventions, including correct use of punctuation to mark quotations from source texts, capitalization,
and subject-verb agreement. There are several errors in the use of apostrophes with possessive nouns
(“a will of it’s own”), as well as problems with comma usage (“If the President were given the power to
wage war, but not declare war[,] Congress….”).
 The writer demonstrates control of sentence structure, using a variety of sentence types and for the
most part avoiding wordiness or awkwardness.
 Given the length of the response and evidence of adequate command of conventions of standard
English usage, the errors do not interfere with understanding.
 Therefore the response earns a score of 1 for Trait 3.
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Response 9:
Mr Roberts has correctly recognised the "seperate and distinct" powers of the government put
forth in Federalist 51 By approving the Gulf of Tonkin resolution congress has abdicated it's
responsibility to approve or disapprove a declaration of war. This also reflects on Federalist 51
that each department have a "will of it's own". Congress essentially passed their responsibility
for the power to declare war to the Executive branch. While Mr Roberts admits that he was
outraged by the incident, the Resolution seems to constitutional powers from the legislative
departments to the executive department. This resolution lives on in spirit today, leaving the
president free to respond to any "incident"The as he sees fit and to seek congressional approval
later. The founders clearly wanted Congress to make this determination.
Annotation for Response 9, Trait 1: Score Point 1
 Although very brief, the response demonstrates that the writer has a clear understanding of the
relationship between the source texts, and has also identified the enduring issue they address. This is
summarized in the first sentence: “Mr Roberts has correctly recognised the ‘seperate and distinct’
powers of the government put forth in Federalist 51.” The response cites some evidence from the texts
(“By approving the Gulf of Tonkin resolution…”,“Mr Roberts admits that…”), but does not elaborate
beyond the basic information provided.
 The writer’s argument that “Congress essentially passed their responsibility for the power to declare
war to the Executive branch” is not supported with the additional historical context or evidence required
for a score point of 2.
 However, the response contains a text-based argument that demonstrates an understanding of the
issues and includes some evidence to support that argument, therefore earning a score of 1 for Trait 1.
Annotation for Response 9, Trait 2: Score Point 0
 While the writer does make some logical connections between the source texts and between the details
and main idea, the response is too brief to sufficiently elaborate upon these connections.
 Only one idea (that of Congress abdicating its responsibility) is addressed, and it is only minimally
developed.
 To earn a score point of 1, a response requires multiple extensions of the writer’s argument. The
response contains essentially the beginning of a sensible progression of ideas, but lacks depth and
breadth, therefore earning a score of 0 for Trait 2.
Annotation for Response 9, Trait 3: Score Point 1
 The response contains several instances of incorrect apostrophe use with a possessive pronoun
(“abdicated it’s responsibility,”), as well as errors and inconsistency in capitalization (“congress”),
comma usage (“By approving the Gulf of Tonkin resolution[,] congress…”), and pronoun-antecedent
agreement (“Congress…passed their responsibility”).
 These and other problems in the response, such as an extra word in one sentence and a missing word
in another, do not significantly interfere with comprehension, however, and overall the response
demonstrates an adequate level of mastery of the basic conventions of standard English.
 Therefore the response earns a score of 1 for Trait 3.
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Response 10:
This letter written to Senator Wayne Morse by Ralph H. Roberts in regards to his vote with the
minority of the Congress against the Tonkin Gulf Resolution reflects the issue of the separation
of federal powers outlined in the excerpt from James Madison's "Federalist 51." In the excerpt,
Madison states that each department of the government should have a "will of its own," because
it is necessary for the "preservation of liberty." The letter was written during the time just before
the outbreak of what is now known as the Vietnam War. The Tonkin Gulf Resolution was
passed by Congress in August of 1964 when President Johnson asked for it to justify his
unconstitutional act of war against the offenders. The power to declare war lies not solely with
the President, but with the Congress.
Roberts, in writing his letter to one of the Senators who voted against the passing of the
resolution, perhaps unknowingly sided with James Madison's view on the separation of powers
in the government. When the U.S. Constitution was written, America was in the process of
completely relinquishing the hold on the country by who they viewed as a dictator. The
American people did not want to go from one absolute ruler to another, so the Continental
Congress wrote a system of checks and balances into the Constitution, in order to ensure that
no one man or woman would control the nation. This relates to the Tonkin Gulf Resolution in
that President Johnson had no right to take military action before an approval of a declaration of
war against North Vietnam. The only reason this was able to be overlooked was that America
was deep in the Red Scare, and anything at the time that was used to prevent the spread of
Communism would be supported by the people.
With Senator Wayne Morse's disapproval of the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, he showed that he
would support the Constitution as it was written. Roberts admires his ability to "take [his] oath to
support and defend the Constitution very seriously." It can be shown through his admiration of
Senator Morse's decision that Roberts is also one who believes that no single person should be
in charge of the nation, and that the Constitution applys to every U.S. Citizen, no matter what
position of power he or she is in.
The separation of powers in the United States Government is very important to the nation's
central values. President Johnson's actions in 1964 were unconstitutional, but the attitude of
many people during that time allowed it to be justified to them. There were few people who
would stand up and say that the Constitution should be upheld no matter the situation, and
Senator Wayne Morse was one of them. Ralph H. Roberts was one citizen who admired this,
and, if he were alive at the time, James Madison would undoubtedly admire it as well.
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Annotation for Response 10, Trait 1: Score Point 2
 From its opening sentence, the response generates an argument that demonstrates a clear
understanding of the ideas, events, and figures presented in the source texts ("This letter written to
Senator Wayne Morse by Ralph H. Roberts in regards to his vote with the minority of the Congress
against the Tonkin Gulf Resolution reflects the issue of the separation of federal powers outlined in the
excerpt from James Madison's 'Federalist 51"').
 The writer builds upon this throughout the remainder of the response ("Roberts, in writing his letter,
perhaps unknowingly sided with James Madison's view on the separation of powers in the
government." "The separation of powers in the United States Government is very important to the
nation's central values").
 The response contains many citations of relevant and specific evidence from the source texts that
support the writer’s argument ("In the excerpt, Madison states that... ""The Tonkin Gulf Resolution was
passed by Congress in 1964 when President Johnson asked for it to justify his unconstitutional act of
war....").
 The response includes historical information not provided in the source texts that is relevant to the
enduring issue of separation of powers ("When the U.S. Constitution was written … [t]he American
people did not want to go from one absolute ruler to another, so the Continental Congress wrote a
system of checks and balances into the Constitution... ""The only reason this was able to be overlooked
was that America was deep in the Red Scare... "). These references demonstrate an understanding of
the historical context. Although the writer mistakenly refers to the Red Scare instead of the Cold War in
referring to America’s struggle with communism, the misstep is a minor one given the amount of time
test-takers have to generate their responses.
 Because the response generates an argument, supports it with relevant and specific evidence,
establishes a strong connection to the prompt and the source texts, and integrates the writer's own
knowledge of historical context, the response receives a score of 2 for Trait 1.
Annotation for Response 10, Trait 2: Score Point 1
 The response contains four tightly written paragraphs that demonstrate the writer’s ability to organize
multiple ideas into a logical progression that effectively builds his or her argument. The first paragraph
connects the two source texts and makes the writer’s position on the issue clear (“…to justify his
unconstitutional act of war”).
 The next paragraphs further develop this connection and integrate other information (the Constitutional
Congress, the Red Scare) that provides additional historical context for understanding the issues
around the Tonkin Gulf Resolution and the separation of powers.
 In the last sentence, the writer again provides a connection between the source texts that serves as a
conclusion.
 Because the writer has articulated a central thesis and fully elaborated on it while maintaining a formal
style, the response earns a score of 1 for Trait 2.
Annotation for Response 10, Trait 3: Score Point 1
 The response contains few if any errors in pronoun use, capitalization, use of apostrophes with
possessive nouns, punctuation, or subject-verb agreement.
 The writer has used a variety of sentence types, with no examples of sentence fragments or run-on
sentences. The writer has avoided wordy and awkward sentences, instead employing skill at creating
sentences that clearly express his or her ideas while maintaining reader interest.
 Overall, the writer demonstrates proficiency in the conventions and usage of standard English that are
at or above a level appropriate for on-demand task writing.
 Therefore the response earns a score of 1 for Trait 3.
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Automated Scoring of Constructed Response Items on the 2014 GED® Test
The 2014 GED® test contains four Constructed Response (CR) items:
 one 45-minute Extended Response (ER) item on the Reasoning Through Language Arts (RLA) module,
 one 25-minute Extended Response (ER) item on the Social Studies module, and
 two 10-minute Short Answer (SA) items on the Science module.
The ER item in RLA is in its own separately-timed section of the test at the end of the first half of the RLA
module (prior to a 10-minute break) and the ER item in Social Studies is in its own separately-timed section of
the Social Studies module that appears as the last item on that test. The Science Short Answer items are
distributed within the 90-minute Science module and are not timed separately—test-takers use their timemanagement skills to monitor their use of time on those items and are given guidelines as to approximately
how much writing is expected in those responses (the test-taker is instructed to take up to about 10 minutes to
read the question, and formulate, write, and edit their answer).
It was a critical goal of GED Testing Service to incorporate CR items into the design of the 2014 GED® test
because these types of items are a key method of assessing a test-taker's higher order thinking skills as well
as their skills in expressing themselves clearly in their own words. In order to ensure that the results of testing
are available to test-takers in the quickest timeframe possible (because adults usually do not have the luxury of
waiting days or weeks for their test results to be finalized), the GED Testing Service scores CR items using an
automated scoring engine, that replicates the scoring process conducted by human scorers. Automated
scoring is supplemented by human scorers for quality assurance purposes, described in more detail below.
The description that follows applies equally to all CR items, whether ER or SA.
During the item development process, experts in automated scoring are involved from the outset.. This
collaborative consultation and review helps to ensure that the test items are written in such a way to best
ensure that student writing samples in response to the items have a high likelihood of being able to be reliably
scored by the automated engine.
Once items have been written, reviewed by both scoring and content experts, and finalized, they are fieldtested. At the conclusion of field testing, the written responses to the CR items are examined and a sample of
test-taker responses selected for each of the items. Teams of content experts review the responses in a
process known as "rangefinding." The purpose of rangefinding is to determine range and variety of responses
that fulfill each score point as defined on the rubric that is very carefully constructed and designed to guide the
overall evaluation of responses. This standard best-practice procedure for scoring of constructed response
items results in the selection of exemplar responses at each score point. These responses are used to build
 anchor sets—human scorers’ official guide that is used in evaluating test-taker responses),
 practice sets (sets of responses used in training human scorers), and
 qualification sets (sets of responses human scorers must score in agreement with rangefinding scores
in order to qualify for appropriately and reliably score constructed responses).
When these materials have been compiled and when scorer training is complete, all of the test-taker
responses from the field test are scored by humans, using the “double read with resolution” approach. Use of
this scoring approach means that each and every response is read and scored independently by no fewer than
two individuals. If the scores applied by the two different scorers are in exact agreement, the score for that
response is final. If the two scores differ by only a single point, they are averaged and rounded up, effectively
resulting in acceptance of the higher score point. If the scores differ by more than one point (“non-adjacent
scores”), the response is read by a scoring leader (an expert scorer) who determines the correct score for that
response in a process called “resolution.” Because the ER items are scored across three key traits, each of
which contains multiple dimensions that are weighed together in a compensatory fashion, each ER response is
actually read by no fewer than six people. That is, each scorer is trained to score only one rubric trait, and two
scorers trained on each of the three traits read each response. Therefore, it is possible for a single ER
response to be read by up to 9 people, if the first two scores on all three traits are non-adjacent. This process
ensures that the human scoring process produces the highest quality results and data.
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When the scoring of all of the responses generated through field-testing is complete, a team of content
experts, psychometricians and automated scoring experts reviews the range of scores for each constructed
response item. At that time, some items are rejected because they do not meet the minimum criteria for
inclusion on any operational GED® test or GED Ready® Official Practice Test. Items that survive this process
then are used to train the automated scoring engine. Several hundred scored responses for each item are fed
into the automated scoring engine. Then, several hundred more scored responses are used to test the
reliability of scores generated by the automated engine. The engine evaluates each response on over 100
different dimensions in relation to the score that that response was given. Through this training and testing
procedure, the automated engine "learns" how to score the items and is then able to replicate the scoring that
was done by humans. Once this process is complete, data from the replication process is reviewed, and
occasionally, if the scoring is determined to be insufficiently reliable to be used on an operational GED ® test
during this data review, some items may be allocated for use on the GED Ready® only since the CR items on
the practice test are always scored by humans.
Only constructed response items that successfully survive the entirety of this process are placed on
operational GED® test forms. Test-takers will respond to the constructed response items on the GED® test and
their responses are fed into the automated engine for scoring immediately upon completion of each individual
content area test. Of course, there may be a slight delay in submission of responses for scoring in certain
testing situations, such as with tests administered within the corrections system, in which the testing center
only uploads responses periodically for scoring. In these situations, additional steps need to be taken to
upload the raw testing data (e.g., the test-takers’ responses themselves) via a secure Internet connection.
Based on the experience of GED Testing Service with automated scoring during the field testing,
standardization, and operational testing to date, the vast majority of test-taker responses (approximately 95%)
are reliably scored by the automated scoring engine—in a process that is completed in nanoseconds.
However, as with any process that involves the variability present in people’s writing, there will be responses
that the automated scoring engine will recognize as not fitting any type of response that was previously seen in
the training of the engine. For example, an extremely short response that uses a great deal of advanced
vocabulary might be unusual and therefore would be automatically flagged by the automated scoring engine as
an “outlier” in need of human intervention for scoring. These “outlier” responses are securely routed
electronically to a network of human scorers who have been trained to score the item using the anchor items
and training sets created during the rangefinding process, as well as the scoring rubric that is used to provide
overall guidance to the scoring process. These human scorers score the test-taker response using the "double
read with resolution" framework that was also used to score the field test responses. As an additional note, the
automated scoring engine is used only for English responses. Spanish responses are always scored by
humans.
Although the human scoring process is efficient, it does require additional time. The GED Testing Service has
committed to returning test results and a score report to test-takers within 3 hours of the completion of each
test. Of course, the vast majority of results would actually be ready immediately because of advantage of the
speed of the automated scoring, but, in order to manage test-taker expectations and avoid situations in which
one test-taker at a site receives a score immediately while another test-taker does not, a 3-hour delay has
been built into the process of delivering test scores.
Additional quality control procedures have also been built into the automated scoring system to ensure that
test-takers receive reliable and valid scores from this process.
First, when the test was initially launched in 2014, the program implemented a process known as the “Initial
Analysis Period” (IAP). The purpose of the IAP was to provide final validation of the automated scoring engine
and its performance with the adult population of GED® test-takers. During the IAP, all CR responses were
scored both by the automated scoring engine and by human scorers (using the “double-read with resolution”
model as appropriate). This ensured that all test-takers were being evaluated fairly and that the automated
scoring engine was operating properly.
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Second, an audit procedure is conducted on a periodic on-going basis, in which a percentage of all test-taker
responses scored by the automated engine will be reviewed by human scorers. This audit is in addition to the
scoring of "outliers" described above and helps to ensure the ongoing accuracy of the system.
Because of the extreme care that GED Testing Service has taken with implementation of the automated
scoring engine, in combination with human scoring and audit procedures, we are highly confident that our
approach produces high quality results with reliable and valid test scores for our test-takers. Due to ongoing
involvement of human scorers in the scoring process (through the IAP, evaluation of outlier responses, and the
audit procedure), the database of known response types will grow over time. This expanded response base
will be used to periodically retrain the automated scoring engine to further improve its performance.
Finally, another key benefit of using the automated scoring engine technology is that it allows GED Testing
Service to integrate specific feedback on test-takers’ performance on the extended response and short answer
items right into the standard score report—a useful new feature that has never been possible in the past with
the paper-based scoring system. This valuable process is part of GED Testing Service’s effort to create a more
learner-based testing system that helps guide test-takers to continuously improve their performance.
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