ACT Close and Critical Reading
Using ACT Content Passages
Macomb Intermediate School
District
September 15th, 2010
Close and Critical Reading
The Importance of Strategy Instruction!
The Karate Kid
Getting Ready for the Big Game!
Just like playing a sport or an
instrument, students need
practice before game day.
Preparing a game plan!
Now, let’s take a practice test!
Same testing conditions.
 Full Length ACT Practice Test
 Select a passage (Prose, Social Studies,
Humanities, or Natural Science)
 8 minutes to try it out
Talk at your table . . .
How did you feel?
What strategies did
you use while taking
the test?
Think about it . . .
If you just keep giving students
multiple choice tests, and you
don’t change your instructional
methods, how can you expect
different results?
Why is this important?
Today in Michigan schools, the measure of
English Language Arts for the purpose of
Annual Yearly Progress report will be
determined by Reading only. Only 25
percent of the passages on the ACT
assessment are prose fiction with the
other passages equally distributed among
the three areas: Social Studies,
Humanities, and Natural Science.
ACT Reading
The Reading Test is a 40-question, 35minute test that measures reading
comprehension. Students are asked to
read four passages and answer questions
that show their understanding of:
 what is directly stated
 statements with implied meanings
Timing …At a glance
 ACT Reading
 40 multiple choice questions (4 passages with 10
questions each) = 35 minutes
That means about 9 minutes on each
passage.
 ACT Reading for Information
 33 multiple choice questions = 45 minutes
That means about 1 and ½ minutes on each
question.
Reading Review and Practice
Text Structures
Referring Questions (14) – they refer to
what is exactly stated in the passage.
Reasoning Questions (26) – they call for
answers that you must reason by
interpreting ideas, making generalizations,
and drawing inferences and conclusions.
The Passages
Each passage is about 750 words, or
roughly two pages of typical book.
Arranged by reading level.
Ten questions are arranged according to
level of difficulty.
Performance on complex texts is the
clearest differentiator in reading between
students who are likely to be ready for
college and those who are not.
And this is true for both genders, all
racial/ethnic groups, and all annual family
income levels.
- ACT Reading Between the Lines
What’s New!
Alignment to Common Core State
Standards
More ACT Reads for all Content Areas
More Scaffolding and Grade Level
Passages (9th, 10th, and 11th Grade)
Two Guided Highlights for
Questions 1 and 2
Providing Direct Strategy Instruction
Guided Highlighted Reading
Close and Critical Reading
 Question # 1 – Content and Summary
 Question # 2 – Craft, Structure, and Purpose
Getting are students ready!
A Seven Step Guide
ACT Guided
Highlighted
Reading and
Passage
Matrix
Highlighted Reading
Purpose:
Engage students in print
Develop fluent scanning
Highlight most important information
Prepare text for substantive conversation
Procedure:
Build the context for the reading by
activating prior knowledge.
Have students find the vocabulary in the
text and highlight it as you give the
definition.
Move the students to scan the text by
telling them which paragraph and what to
highlight. (Like finding Waldo)
Let’s try it out!
ACT Exam A – Passage 2
What it looks like in Data Director:
 Test 6856
 Teacher Key
 Guided Highlight, Teacher Directions and
Lesson Plan
Data Director
Complete ACT Test (All Four Parts)
Two Full Length Reading Tests
 For a total of three complete reading tests can
be given through Data Director.
Exam ID Numbers for Pre/Post ACT
Reading Test
6830
6831
Think about . . .
How might you use these tools back
in your classroom?
What activities might you try with
your students?
Scaffolding and Tools
Resources and Handouts are on
www.missionliteracy.com
ACT Close and Critical Reading
Final Thoughts