PSSA ELA Item Type Training
Text-Dependent Analysis
.
Bucks County Intermediate Unit
November 19, 2014
Development of TDAs
Jeri Thompson, Ed.D.
Senior Associate, Center for Assessment
•
•
Consultant to PDE and DRC on the development of Text Dependent
Analysis Questions
Lead a state team of teachers who met last year to work though the TDA
model and help develop staff development
Diane Simaska,
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Responsible for providing overall direction
for development of text dependent analysis model
Agenda
• Understanding Text-Dependent Analysis Questions
& how they incorporated into the new ELA PSSA
• Analyzing a Text-Dependent Analysis (TDA) Question
• Analyzing the Text-Dependent Analysis Rubric
• Scoring student work using the state TDA scoring
guidelines
• Developing TDAs
Background:
• Pennsylvania Core Standards (PCS) identifies
text-dependent analysis as the ability to “draw
evidence from literary or informational texts to
support analysis, reflection, and research”.
• Prompts to measure the PCS will move beyond
general reading comprehension to specific questions
that require the use of text-dependent evidence
Then & Now Written Responses Activity
THEN: Open-Ended Items
Grade 6: Explain why Rick’s job is dangerous, using at least
three examples from the passage to support your response.
Grade 6: Which editorial is more convincing? Use at least
three examples from the editorials to explain your
response.
Grade 7: What does the old woman represent? Use at least
two examples from the passage to support your response.
Grade 7: Give a word or phrase that describes both the
student and the school representative. Use at least one
example from each editorial to explain your response.
Grade 8: Describe one way the setting of “Autumntime” is
similar to cities of today. Describe two ways the setting is
different from cities of today. Use details from the passage
to support your response.
Grade 8: Explain the main conflict in the passage and how it
is resolved. Use at least two examples from the passage to
support your explanation (Grade 8)
NOW: Text Dependent Analysis Questions
Grade 6: The passage and the poem address a similar theme.
Write an essay analyzing how the passage and the poem
develop this theme. Use evidence from both of the passage and
the poem to support your response.
Grade 6: The passage discusses how the body regulates its
internal clock. Write an essay analyzing the importance of the
body’s clock to people’s everyday lives. Use evidence from the
passage to support your response.
Grade 7: The drama focuses on events in the life of Florence
Nightingale. Write an essay analyzing how the three-scene
structure of the drama emphasizes certain characteristics of
Florence. Use evidence from the drama to support your
response.
Grade 7: In the letter Adams informs her daughter about the
experience of moving to a new city and living in a new home.
Write an essay analyzing how Adams responds to her new
surroundings. Use evidence from the letter to support your
responses.
Grade 8: The plot of “Joe’s Reward is driven by specific events
that take place. Write an essay analyzing how the passage
draws on elements commonly found in myths. Use evidence
from the passage to support your response.
Grade 8: The editorial focuses on teen use of text messaging.
Write an essay analyzing how the author develops the main
argument in the editorial. Use evidence from the editorial to
support your response.
PSSA testing based on previous standards
• Understand the main ideas within a text
– The passage is mainly about…
• Understand supporting details within a text
– The author writes…, which statement best supports this claim?
• Understand the meaning of a word within a sentence
– What is the meaning for the word …in the sentence?
• Understand the meaning of phrases within a sentence
– What word best describes the phrase…?
• Understand explicit information from the text
– Identify two challenges that the main character encountered …
• Inferring information from the text
– State the theme or the author’s message
ELA PSSA testing based PA Core Standards
• Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more…
• Compare and contrast the overall structure…
• Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence…
• Integrate information from several texts on
the same topic to…
• Analyze multiple accounts of the same event
or topic…
PA Core Standards and Instructional Shifts
1. Balancing the reading of informational and literary texts
so that students can access nonfiction and authentic
texts, as well as literature
2. Focusing on close and careful reading of text so that
students are learning from the text
3. Supporting writing from sources (i.e., using evidence
from text to inform or make an argument) so that
students use evidence and respond to the ideas,
events, facts, and arguments presented in the texts
they read
4. Stressing an academically focused vocabulary so that
students can access more complex texts
Instructional Shifts and TDAs
Text-Dependent Analysis Question:
1. Supports the key shifts – point students towards parts of
the text most important to pay attention to
2. Highlights and scaffolds key knowledge and information
from texts
3. Requires students to examine and use evidence from the
text to analyze core understandings and key ideas
4. Expects students to construct a well-written essay to
demonstrate analysis of the text, moving beyond
answering and generating questions about explicit and
implicit information, summarizing, and being aware of
vocabulary or text structure
PA Core Standards & New ELA PSSA
Overall increase in text complexity,
higher level thinking skills assessed,
and overall rigor of the assessments.
TDA essays are part of what will be an
overall increase in the complexity and
rigor of the PSSA test.
TDAs more rigorous than previous
open-ended written responses.
ELA PSSA Testing Blueprint
Core Passage MC items
Reading questions related directly to passages
Field Test
Items & extra
TDA essay
Core Standalone MC items
Grammar & Usage
Core EBSR—2 & 3 point response
Two-part Evidence-Based Selected Response MC questions. The
second part asks for one or two pieces of evidence that would support
their answer in the first part of the question.
TDA—Text Dependent Analysis Essay
Writing Prompt
Traditional writing prompt based on one of the eligible types.
19%
Scoring Guides Then & Now: Proficient
Then
3 Points
• The response provides a complete
answer to the task, e.g.., a
statement that offers a correct
answer as well as text-based
support.
• The response provides specific
appropriate and accurate details
(e.g., naming, describing,
explaining, or comparing) or
examples
Now
Text-Dependent Analysis Questions…
• May begin with a literal check for understanding but
must also require analysis, synthesis, evaluation
• Emphasize the use of explicit and implicit
information from the text to support reasoning and
analysis (detailed examination of the elements or
structure of something, typically as a basis for
discussion or interpretation)
Text-Dependent Analysis Questions
A text-dependent analysis question does not rely on
any particular background information extraneous to
the text nor depend on students having other
experiences or knowledge; instead it privileges the
text itself and what students can extract from what
is before them.
Text-Dependent Analysis Questions…
Across Texts
Entire Text
Segments
Paragraphs
Sentence
Word
Cognitive Rigor Matrix
• Examine the Cognitive Rigor Matrix
• Where does the rigor of previous PSSA
open-ended items seem to ‘fit’?
What is required for Text-Dependent
Analysis Questions?
Text-Dependent Analysis Questions
Require close reading of a text.
Require students to provide evidence from the text and to
draw inferences based on what the text says in order to
support an analysis.
This is different from traditional reading comprehension
questions which require students to read to get the “gist”
of the text.
Students will be expected to engage in close reading to…
• Analyze paragraphs on a sentence-by-sentence basis and sentences
on a word-by-word basis to determine the role played by individual
paragraphs, sentences, phrases, or words
• Investigate how meaning can be altered by changing key words and
why an author may have chosen one word over another
• Probe each argument in persuasive text, each idea in informational
text, each key detail in literary text, and observe how these build to a
whole
• Examine how shifts in the direction of an argument or explanation
are achieved and the impact of those shifts
• Question why authors choose to begin and end when they do
• Note and assess patterns of writing and what they achieve
• Consider what the text leaves uncertain or unstated
Close Reading & TDA
Close Reading—Doug Fisher & Nancy Frey
How is close reading connected to TextDependent Analysis Questions?
What types of text should be chosen for close
reading?
As you read, annotate the text and ‘read with a
pencil’.
Expectations in Student Responses
ELA Grades 4-8 Text Dependent Analysis Scoring Guidelines
• Examine the Proficient Level 3 of the guidelines
• Discuss expectations
Responding to Text-Dependent Analysis Questions
TDA Essay Expectations
1.
Introduction: compelling introduction or “hook” (e.g., quote, action, personal
remark, question)
2.
Development: clear focus and controlling idea throughout the essay; includes a
short summary plus analysis or reflection
3.
Conclusion: relevant statement/section; extends beyond a restatement of
introduction
4.
Organization: coherence – introduction, body, and conclusion support the
focus; sequences and groups related ideas
5.
Transitions: connects ideas and reasons
6.
Language: appropriate use of vocabulary; authoritative voice; variety of
sentence structure
7.
Conventions of Standard English
Responding to TDA Questions
Scoring Sample Student Responses TDA Questions
Grade 6 Item Sampler
The passage and the poem address a similar theme.
Write an essay analyzing how the passage and the
poem develop this theme. Use evidence from both the
passage and the poem to support your response.
Nail Soup & The Poem of Stone Soup
• Read the passage and the poem
• Refer to scoring guidelines and discuss:
What would you expect to read in a proficient
level response?
Scoring Sample Student Responses TDA Questions
• Review the two student responses
• Compare to scoring guidelines
• Discuss why each response
was scored as a 4 or a 3
•
Scoring Sample Student Responses TDA Questions
Scoring Sample Student Responses TDA Questions
ELA PSSA Eligible Content
Grade 6 Item Sampler
The passage and the poem address a similar theme.
Write an essay analyzing how the passage and the
poem develop this theme. Use evidence from both the
passage and the poem to support your response.
Review TDA prompt and the ELA Assessment
Anchors & Eligible Content handout
What Eligible Content is being assessed
through this TDA prompt?
Responding to Text-Dependent Analysis Questions
1. What a text says – summary or restatement
2. What a text does – description: discusses
important aspects of the presentation of the text
(choices of content, author’s perspective, language,
and structure)
3. What a text means – analysis: interprets the text
and asserts a meaning for the text as a whole
(putting the message in a larger context and
determine theme)
Creating a Text-Dependent Analysis
What a text says…
Does…
Means.
Framing Text-Dependent
Analysis Questions
Framing Text Dependent Analysis Questions
• It is critical that a text dependent question originate from the text
itself.
• CCS Anchor Standards suggest that questions focus on a on a word or
phrase (Standard 4) or even a sentence, paragraph, or larger section of
the text (Standard 5).
• Yet an equally important feature of text dependent questions is that
they should be framed as open ended and not leading questions, as
genuine learning only happens when students can engage in an
authentic conversation about the text instead of the questions (or
teachers) providing the right answer immediately.
• Effective text dependent questions therefore encourage students to
spend time lingering over a specific portion of the text looking for
answers instead of just a cursory look to get the gist of what is meant.
Framing Text Dependent Analysis Questions
• An effective set of text dependent questions delves
systematically into a text to guide students in extracting the
key meanings or ideas found there.
• They typically begin by exploring specific words, details, and
arguments and then moves on to examine the impact of
those specifics on the text as a whole.
• Along the way they target academic vocabulary and specific
sentence structures as critical focus points for gaining
comprehension.
Getting Started with Text-Dependent Questions
Start small to build confidence
1. Select a text
Choose wisely. Not every text is worthy of a close reading that requires an
analysis lead by text dependent questions. Choose wisely.
2. Identify the core understandings and key ideas of the text.
• In literature the core understandings and big ideas can focus on the
theme, interactions of characters, events in the story, and important
events.
• In informational texts the core understandings and big ideas can focus
on important ideas, text organization, and the author’s purpose, claims,
or arguments.
Getting Started with Text-Dependent Questions
3. Locate and identify academic vocabulary, figurative
language, and key text structures that are connected to the
essential understandings and key ideas.
4. Create coherent sequences of text-dependent questions.
• Do the questions require analysis? If not, revise your
question.
• Determine what would you expect to see in a proficient
student response.
• Check alignment to the standards/eligible content. Use
the language from the standards/ eligible content in the
questions as much as possible
Getting Started with Text-Dependent Questions
5. Create culminating PSSA TDA-style question(s).
–A coherent sequence of text dependent questions will
scaffold students toward successfully completing the
culminating task
–What would you expect to find in a proficient level
response?
Let’s Practice…
Read and annotate Thank You, Ma’am
by Langston Hughes
Record your thinking on the handout:
Creating Text-Dependent Questions for
Close Analytic Reading
Meg Burke, North Penn School District
Start Small to Build Confidence
Reread the lines from Thank You, Ma’am closely.
After that the woman said, “Pick up my pocketbook, boy, and give it here.” She still held
him. But she bent down enough to permit him to stoop and pick up her purse. The she
said, “Now ain’t you ashamed of yourself?
Firmly gripped by his shirt front, the boy said, “Yes ‘m.”
The woman said, “What did you want to do it for?”
The boy said, “I didn’t aim to.”
She said, “You a lie!”
Text-dependent questions leading to analysis:
• Based on the dialogue above, what does the author want you to understand about
the woman and about the boy?
• What did the woman mean when she said “You a lie!” to the boy? And what did the
boy understand when he heard this from the woman.
• How does this exchange in dialogue propel the plot of the story?
Start Small to Build Confidence
Reread the lines from Thank You, Ma’am closely.
“I’m very sorry, lady, I’m sorry,” whispered the boy.
“Um-hum! And your face is dirty. I got a great mind to wash your face for you.
Ain’t you got nobody home to tell you to was your face?”
“No’m,” said the boy.
“Then it will get washed this evening,” said the large woman starting up the
street, dragging the frightened boy behind her.
Text-dependent question leading to analysis:
• What impact do these lines have on the story’s overall theme?
Start Small to Build Confidence
Example of a possible culminating TDA question:
• Write an essay analyzing how the author develops
Mrs. Luela Bates Washington Jones’ character and motivation
throughout the passage. Use evidence from the passage to
support your analysis.
Developing TDA Questions
Step 1: Read and annotate the text
Step 2: Identify the essential understanding(s) and key
supporting details from the text (what is noteworthy and what
supports this)
Step 3: Locate and identify academic vocabulary and key text
structures that are connected to the essential understandings
and key ideas
Step 4: Identify the standards associated with the essential
understandings and key supporting details from the text.
Step 5: Create coherent Sequence of Text Dependent Questions
Step 6: Propose a culminating text-dependent analysis question
Step 7: Identify the expected proficient-level response
Creating a Text-Dependent Analysis
TDA Question Checklist
• Does the student have to read the text to answer the question?
• Does the question require the reader to return to the text?
• Does the question target the core understandings and key ideas of the text?
• Can the question be answered with careful reading rather than background knowledge?
• Is the question open-ended, not leading or providing the right answer?
• Does the question require the reader to use evidence from the text to support his or her ideas
or claims?
• Does the question encourage students to spend time lingering over a portion of the text
looking for answers instead of just a cursory look to get the gist of what is meant?
• Does the question target standards/eligible content?
• Does the question require the student to interpret or analyze author’s craft (literary devices,
figurative language, text organization, viewpoint or potential bias) in order to create meaning
(i.e. plot, theme, characterization, author purpose etc.)?
• Does the question analyze interrelationships among concepts, issues, or problems within the
text?
Creating your own TDAs
Closing thoughts…
• Classroom experiences stay deeply connected to the
text on the page
• Students develop habits for locating evidence in both
conversations, as well as in writing, to demonstrate
analysis of a text
• Teaching elements of well-written essays
• Development of text-dependent analysis questions
on a consistent basis
Accessing Training PPTs from PDE
PowerPoints & handouts have been posted by PDE to
the SAS Website— http://pdesas.org
Click on Teacher Tools at the top, log in, and click on
Learning Communities.
Search for and join the Text Dependent Analysis
Professional Development Community. Download
PPTs, passages, scored student sample and handouts.
Terri Kelly —Quakertown Community School District
tkelly@qcsd.org
Eve LaPier —Bucks County Intermediate Unit
elapier@Bucksiu.org
Paul Beltz —Central Bucks School District
pbeltz@cbsd.org