English Language Arts/Literacy
Assessment Framework
Grades 3–8
For Assessments Beginning School Year 2012–2013
Prepared by the
New Mexico Public Education Department
Assessment and Accountability Division
300 Don Gaspar
Santa Fe, New Mexico
April 2012
Susana Martinez, Governor of the State of New Mexico
Hanna Skandera, Secretary-Designate of the New Mexico
Public Education Department
Acknowledgements
Dr. Pete Goldschmidt is Director of Assessment and Accountability at the New Mexico
Public Education Department (PED). Dr. Tom Dauphinee is the division’s Deputy Director.
Dr. Dauphinee led the development of the Assessment Frameworks in conjunction with the
Assessment Frameworks Development Workgroup and with the assistance at the PED of
Claudia Ahlstrom, State Math Specialist; Diana Jaramillo, Education Administrator for the
Assessment Bureau; and Melinda Webster, Reading Program Director.
Members of the Assessment Frameworks Development Workgroup included:
 Karon Axtell, Carlsbad Municipal Schools
 Lorene Beckstead, Los Alamos Public Schools
 Elizabeth Jacome, Rio Rancho Public Schools
 JoRaye Jenkins, Carlsbad Municipal Schools
 Linda Kinane, Albuquerque Public Schools
 Amanda Knott, Carlsbad Municipal Schools
 Dora (Mae) Montaño, Rio Rancho Public Schools
 Linda Pehr, Alamogordo Public Schools
Dr. Howard T. Everson, professor of education and psychology at the City University of New
York, served as senior technical and policy advisor. New Mexico’s statewide educational
foundation, the Advanced Programs Initiative (API), facilitated the project and wrote the
report with the support of Marybeth Schubert, Eilani Gerstner, and Melissa Wauneka.
The University of New Mexico College of Education and Dean Richard Howell provided
invaluable logistical help by hosting the Workgroup at the college on February 27–29, 2012.
S u m m a r y
E x e c u t i v e
New Mexico and 45 other states have adopted Common Core State
Standards (CCSS) for public schools, establishing new guidelines for student learning
Executive
Summary
that are internationally competitive. Developed over many years, tested and proven to
be effective, these new learning standards draw on research on how students learn
and how best to prepare them for college and the increasingly competitive job market.
To spur its implementation of CCSS, New Mexico is a member of the Partnership for
Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC)—a consortium of 24
states working together to develop a common assessment system. By 2015, all
statewide accountability tests in New Mexico will be developed and administered by
PARCC. In other words, New Mexico students will be taking the same standardsbased assessments as students in 23 other states. These assessments will be
delivered and taken via computer.
The New Mexico Public Education Department (PED) is responsible for developing
assessment frameworks for statewide testing during the transition to PARCC. The
purpose of the English Language Arts/Literacy Assessment Framework is to inform
educators, test developers, the public, and policy makers of the topics in the CCSS
for reading that will be emphasized over the next two years in New Mexico's
Standards Based Assessment (SBA).
New Mexico is seeking to better prepare teachers and students to meet the
heightened expectations of the new learning standards and the PARCC assessments
by steadily raising the rigor of the state’s standards based assessment. In school year
2012–2013, the SBA will test students on the New Mexico state standards for grades
4–8, 10 and 11, and there will be a Bridge Assessment for grade 3 that is dually
aligned to CCSS and the New Mexico state standards. In 2013–2014, there will be a
“bridge” SBA for students in all tested grades (3–8, 10, and 11) that will look and feel
more like the PARCC assessment.
The Bridge Assessments will follow the state’s current proficiency ratings—Beginning
Step, Nearing Proficiency, Proficient, Advanced—for reporting scores based on New
Mexico Academic Content Standards as outlined in the New Mexico Standards Based
Assessment: Standard Setting Report (2011). School Grades in the A-F
accountability system will continue to be based on growth in student scores using
New Mexico Academic Content Standards. The Bridge Assessment will include
newly developed items aligned with CCSS starting in 2014, but those items will not
count towards school accountability grades. The PED will issue a separate report to
districts about student proficiency on CCSS items and tasks.
The CCSS value depth of knowledge over breadth of knowledge. This means that
New Mexico teachers should expect to teach less content but with more complexity.
When designing assignments, teachers should keep in mind the over-arching goals of
the ELA CCSS, which include independent comprehension of complex text, the use
of evidence to support claims, the acquisition of academic vocabulary, understanding
other perspectives and cultures, and the ability to communicate effectively. These
goals should be attained through reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
Table of Contents
I.
Introduction
1
II.
About the Common Core State Standards
Organization
Literacy Practices that affect All Grades
Learning Progressions
Six “Shifts” in ELA/Literacy
College and Career Readiness
2
2
3
3
4
4
III.
Design Principles for the Bridge Assessments
What is the Bridge Assessment Framework?
Design Goals
Impact on Instruction: New Priorities for Teachers
Use of Technology
5
5
5
6
7
IV.
Reporting and Accountability
Policy and Definitions
Technology
Scaffolding
Complexity
Text Complexity
Item Formats
Achievement Levels
SBA Results and the A-F Accountability System
7
7
7
7
8
8
9
10
10
V.
Critical Skills
Grades 3–5
Reading: Literature
Reading: Informational Text
Reading: Foundational Skills
Writing
Speaking and Listening
Language
10
Grades 6–8
Reading: Literature
Reading: Informational Text
Writing
Speaking and Listening
Language
English Assessment Frameworks, Grades 3-8, New Mexico Public Education Department
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11
11
12
12
12
13
13
13
14
14
i
Table of Contents
VI.
Conclusion
14
VII.
Appendices
Reference Tables
Bibliography
15
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English Assessment Frameworks, Grades 3–8, New Mexico Public Education Department
I. Introduction
New Mexico and 45 other states have adopted Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for
public schools, establishing new guidelines for student learning that are internationally
competitive. The CCSS represent a very different approach to teaching, learning, and
assessment—one focusing on fewer but more rigorous standards, and fostering a deeper
understanding of critical concepts and the practical applications of knowledge. Developed
over many years, tested, and proven to be effective, these new learning standards draw on
research on how students learn and how best to prepare them for college and the
increasingly competitive job market.
The purpose of the English Language Arts/Literacy Assessment Framework is to inform
educators, test developers, the public, and policy makers of the topics in the CCSS for
reading that will be emphasized over the next two years in New Mexico's Standards Based
Assessment (SBA). This “bridge” assessment will be designed to incrementally shift the New
Mexico SBA to a closer alignment with the CCSS.
To spur its implementation of the CCSS, New Mexico is a member of the Partnership for
Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC)—a consortium of 24 states
working together to develop a common assessment system for the CCSS. New Mexico is a
Governing State, or leader, in the PARCC consortium. The PARCC assessments, which the
consortium expects to be available to states in the 2014–2015 school year, will be designed
to measure higher-order skills such as critical thinking, reasoning, communications, and
problem solving that are essential to college and career readiness. In addition, these next
generation assessments will help to determine if students are progressing in their mastery
of the content and skills tapped by the CCSS in English language arts and mathematics.
They will be designed, as well, to provide parents, educators, and policymakers with
comparable performance data on students’ proficiency within and across states.
By 2015, all statewide accountability tests in New Mexico will be developed and
administered by PARCC. In other words, New Mexico students will be taking the same
standards-based assessments as students in 23 other states. These tests will be delivered
and taken via computer.
New Mexico is seeking to better prepare teachers and students to meet the heightened
expectations of the new learning standards and the PARCC assessments by steadily raising
the alignment of the State’s standards based assessment to the CCSS. In school year 2012–
2013, for example, the SBA will test students on the New Mexico state standards for grades
4–8, 10, and 11, and there will be a Bridge Assessment for grade 3 that is dually aligned to
CCSS and the New Mexico state standards. This means that for third graders the SBA will
immediately begin to emphasize the learning goals of CCSS. In 2013–2014, there will be a
“bridge” SBA for students in all tested grades (3–8, 10, and 11) that will look and feel more
like the PARCC assessment. This means that students will experience test questions more
directly aligned to CCSS. By 2014–2015, all students will be taking the PARCC assessments.
English Assessment Frameworks, Grades 3–8, New Mexico Public Education Department
1
The New Mexico Public Education Department (PED) is responsible for developing
assessment frameworks for statewide testing during the transition to PARCC. These
assessment frameworks define in general terms the knowledge, skills, and abilities to be
assessed at each grade and describe the format of the tests and required achievement
levels. The assessment frameworks serve another important purpose as well. They signal a
shift towards greater transparency about the form of the SBA, emulating the openness
about test items and assessment support for teachers that will be implemented with the
PARCC system. In CCSS, teachers will become more expert about assessment, its purposes
and methodologies, and will be modeling in their own classrooms the examination
standards and protocols that are relied on at the state level.
II. About the Common Core State Standards
According to the expert groups who developed the CCSS for ELA/L, the Standards define
what students should understand and be able to do in their study of reading and literacy.
Indeed, they set grade-specific standards and benchmarks, but they do not dictate a
curriculum or specify teaching methods. This new generation of learning standards
emphasizes both content knowledge and conceptual understanding and highlights
“capacities” related to problem solving, reasoning and proof, communication,
representation, and connections.
Organization
The CCSS for ELA/L are organized into four strands, or what might be understood as subjects
as follows:
 Reading
 Writing
 Speaking and Listening
 Language
In the Reading strand, there are three content areas:
 Literature
 Informational Texts
 Foundational Skills
In the CCSS, ELA/L, like mathematics, features a three-tiered structure that describes for
each grade the following:
 The ultimate skillsets that students must acquire—in ELA/L these are the strands
 The integration of related standards needed to perform complex tasks—in ELA/L an
example of such complex task requiring the applications of a cluster or group of
standards would be identifying key ideas in a text or recognizing its structure
 Standards that define what students must understand and be able to do
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English Assessment Frameworks, Grades 3–8, New Mexico Public Education Department
Each ELA/L strand has its own so-called “anchor standards” that set expectations that all
students must meet if they are to be prepared to enter college and workforce training
programs ready to succeed. The anchor standards for each strand are identical across all
grades and content areas, emphasizing that they are fundamental to lifelong success. The
grade-specific standards correspond to an anchor standard, but progress in complexity and
rigor as they move upward in grade level.
Literacy Practices that affect all Grades
The CCSS describe the characteristics of a student who meets the standards. They call these
characteristics Capacities of the Literate Individual. Teachers are to consider the Capacities
(or what in the math CCSS are called “practices”) essential skills that must be taught in
every course and at every grade and against which students will be assessed. The
Capacities of the Literate Individual are to
 Demonstrate independence;
 Build strong content knowledge;
 Respond to the varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline;
 Comprehend; as well as critique;
 Value evidence;
 Use technology and digital media strategically and capably; and,
 Come to understand other perspectives and cultures.
Learning Progressions
CCSS were deliberately designed to improve teaching and learning in U.S. public schools by
recognizing how student learning progresses. The developers of the CCSS understood that
if the newly revised learning standards failed to lead to the alignment of coursework within
and across grades they would not promote learning. Learning progressions serve to
describe successively, incrementally more sophisticated ways of thinking within an
academic domain—showing how topics and concepts follow one another as students learn.
They lay out in words and examples what it means to move forward to more expert
understanding of a subject, and provide a picture of what it means to “improve” or “grow”
in academic proficiency. According to contemporary learning experts, “these pathways or
progressions serve to ground curriculum, instruction and assessment” (Heritage, 2008). For
this to happen, teachers and students alike need an understanding of how learning
develops in knowledge domains like ELA/L.
The learning progressions, as articulated in the CCSS, provide guidance about the types of
assessment tasks that elicit evidence to support inferences about student achievement at
different points along the progression trajectory and vertically across grade levels. The
CCSS and the PARCC content frameworks move beyond the traditional horizontal (grade
level) definitions of standards to a vertical view of learning in which there is a sequence
along which students can move incrementally from novice to more advanced performance.
English Assessment Frameworks, Grades 3–8, New Mexico Public Education Department
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Thus the CCSS and this assessment framework describe what it means for students to move
over time toward a more expert understanding of the big ideas that bring coherence to the
academic domain of ELA/L.
Six “Shifts” in ELA/Literacy
For New Mexico’s students to successfully master the CCSS, it is necessary for teachers to
realize the major differences between New Mexico’s current standards and those in the
CCSS, and how those differences will be reflected in the SBA. For example, in the
elementary grades, the current standards focus heavily on literary text while the CCSS
recommend an equal balance between literary and informational text. It is also new that
there are literacy standards for social studies, science, and other non-ELA/L courses,
requiring all teachers to share responsibility for students’ literacy skills. In all content areas,
texts should be more complex and more “authentic” than they are now. Instead of
providing students with simpler texts that are easier to understand, the CCSS recommend
that teachers provide complex text, but with more time and more scaffolding (see the
definition of scaffolding below).
The CCSS ask that students demonstrate command of material by providing specific, textbased evidence to support their claims. The CCSS place great importance on students’
ability to use evidence in their writing as well as during classroom discussion. Narrative
writing still has a place in the classroom but should not comprise the bulk of students’
writing— even in elementary school. Vocabulary instruction will also look different under
the CCSS. Rather than teach esoteric literary terms such as “onomatopoeia” or
“assonance,” the CCSS recommend that teachers focus on commonly found, academic
terms like “discourse” or “theory” that will allow students to apply these concepts across all
content areas.
These changes mean that in the CCSS, assessments, including the Bridge Assessments, will
include more non-fiction texts, rubrics and prompts, paired passages and academic
vocabulary.
College and Career Readiness
College and career readiness for all students is another seminal idea in the CCSS. The
commitment to ensure that all public school students have the knowledge, skills and
abilities to be successful in post-secondary education marks a dramatic shift from most
states’ prior learning standards—many of which were little more than a disconnected,
‘laundry list’ description of grade-by-grade achievement. Using college and career
readiness as a benchmark also brings focus, coherence, and rigor to the CCSS.
New Mexico, like the other states adopting the CCSS, has agreed to further align
expectations for elementary and secondary school students with college and career
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English Assessment Frameworks, Grades 3–8, New Mexico Public Education Department
readiness—requiring all students to take challenging courses in high school that prepare
them for college. As a member of PARCC, New Mexico is streamlining its standards based
assessment system to hold students, teachers and schools accountable for “clearer, deeper,
stronger” learning standards, those that connect solidly with the knowledge and skills
needed to succeed in college and at work. In selecting items for the Bridge Assessments,
New Mexico will follow this same logic.
III. Design Principles for the Bridge Assessments
What is the Bridge Assessment Framework? Why is it Needed?
An assessment framework, unlike the highly detailed, technical blueprints that states use to
develop actual tests, lays out in plain language the design priorities of a standards based
assessment so that they can be understood by educational stakeholders and the public at
large. New Mexico’s Bridge Assessments for CCSS will be implemented starting in 2013. It
is the intent of the Public Education Department to describe the content, knowledge, and
skills to be tested across all public schools as New Mexico moves incrementally to
implement the CCSS in the next few years. By defining clearly and carefully what it is the
Bridge Assessments intend to measure, the Bridge Assessment framework offers a starting
place for a public conversation about what will be tested once the CCSS are fully
implemented in 2015.
The Bridge Assessment frameworks in ELA/L and mathematics will explain to students, their
parents, and teachers what we expect students to know and to be able to do as the schools
prepare students to be career and college ready. The frameworks will be used to guide
school-based instructional design teams as they identify the complimentary sets of
knowledge and skills needed for college and career readiness.
Design Goals
If successful, the 2013 and 2014 bridge standards based assessments in ELA/L will include
items that measure the full range of student performance to be measured, including the
performances across the spectrum of high and low performing students. Like the current
assessments, the Bridge Assessments will provide data to inform instruction, including
measures of growth, and outline innovative approaches to assessment design. Also, the
assessment frameworks ought to guide the professional development initiatives for ELA/L
teachers by identifying clearly the instructional shifts in content knowledge and practices—
the demands for rigor, fluency and deep understanding—that are the focus of the CCSS.
The assessment frameworks meet these goals by specifying student achievement levels,
and by describing the levels of thinking and reasoning that the Bridge Assessment items and
(or) tasks demand of the students; how those test items and tasks are distributed
proportionately across the content areas tested; and the various item and task formats to
English Assessment Frameworks, Grades 3–8, New Mexico Public Education Department
5
be used, including multiple-choice and constructed response tasks. These technical details
are defined in the next section.
The Bridge Assessment frameworks build from the PARCC Model Content Frameworks in
ELA/L. In doing so, this assessment framework provides a sufficient level of specification to
guide the test development process and serve as a preliminary blueprint for constructing
the Bridge Assessment test forms in ELA/L now and in the future. At the same time, the PED
has set guidelines for establishing priority areas of assessment, including essential learning
standards as described by CCSS/PARCC, those most important to student development, and
those not well covered by current New Mexico standards. Finally, the Bridge Assessment
framework—though admittedly an interim document—ought to be durable enough to
remain relatively stable for the next 3 to 5 years.
Impact on Instruction: New Priorities for Teachers
After high school graduation, students’ skills are at least as important, if not more so, than
the content they know. For that reason, the CCSS tend to focus more on processes rather
than just content. Future teaching, learning, and assessment should therefore all become
more process-focused. This can be accomplished by infusing more performance tasks and
authentic assessments into curricula. At the same time, in CCSS teachers will find that
assessments continue to be directly linked to curriculum and instruction—in other words,
the material in the standards is both what must be taught and what will be assessed.
When designing assignments, teachers should keep in mind the over-arching goals of the
ELA/L CCSS, which include independent comprehension of complex text, the use of
evidence to support claims, the acquisition of academic vocabulary, understanding other
perspectives and cultures, and the ability to communicate effectively. These goals should
be attained through reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
The CCSS value depth of knowledge over breadth of knowledge. This means that New
Mexico teachers should expect to teach less content but with more complexity than they
may have in the past. This may include the use of more complex texts, more involved
research projects, and higher expectations for students’ use of evidence to support their
claims in writing.
Another important implication of the CCSS for instruction is the need for teacher
collaboration. The learning progressions embedded in the CCSS require that teachers
collaborate vertically, to ensure that understanding and fluency build as students move
from grade-to-grade. Horizontal collaboration is also extremely important, particularly due
to CCSS’s focus on informational text and literacy in all content areas.
Finally, experts acknowledge that when implementing new standards, pedagogical changes
nearly always lag change in the assessments. New Mexico’s teachers must begin to change
instructional techniques and material now, in anticipation of the Bridge Assessments and
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English Assessment Frameworks, Grades 3–8, New Mexico Public Education Department
the full transition to CCSS. Although the bridge standards based assessments will not be as
much of a change as the PARCC exams, they will reflect the CCSS, requiring students to
demonstrate a deeper knowledge of topics.
Teachers can therefore anticipate the need for the following:
 More fidelity to the standards in classroom teaching
 More professional development to train teachers in the CCSS and inform them of
the how the CCSS will be assessed
 Increased emphasis on collaborative lesson planning within and across grades
 New strategies for classroom management and use of time in the classroom
Use of Technology
The Bridge Assessment for third graders in 2013 will be a paper and pencil test. The Bridge
Assessments in 2014 and beyond should be developed to be delivered mostly by computer,
utilizing formats and technology, like those for short-cycle testing, already available in the
districts.
IV. Reporting and Accountability
Policy and Definitions
Technology
The PARCC assessments are intended to become computer-based, statewide assessments.
There are many benefits to computer-based assessment, including:
 The ability to make the assessments adaptive increases the opportunity to better
test students at the lower and higher ends of achievement. However, the PARCC
assessment will not be adaptive.
 Scoring can be accomplished and reported more quickly than on paper and pencil
tests.
 Standardized scaffolds can be imbedded in the program (see “Scaffolding” below).
However, issues of equity would need to be addressed in implementing statewide
computer-based assessment including:
 Disparity among districts that cannot afford enough computers for all students to
take the exams
 Differences in students' experiences using technology because of lack of access
 Differences in access to broadband internet in different areas of the state (if the
assessment is web-based)
English Assessment Frameworks, Grades 3–8, New Mexico Public Education Department
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Scaffolding
The idea of providing students with “scaffolding”—the additional materials and aids
available to students during an assessment—is evolving, and will play a greater role in
assessments as technology advances. More often than not, students use “scaffolds” in
order to solve more complex problems than they could without such aids. The inclusion of
scaffolded assessment items and tasks allows students to demonstrate what they know and
can do without placing undo burden on test-taking strategies that emphasize rote
memorization or simply recognizing or choosing an answer from a number (multiple) of
choices. Examples of these types of assessment items would include those requiring
students to solve a multi-part question, applying answers developed at one level to help
solve the next part of the question, or to appropriately use a tool, like a Thesaurus, to
enhance an answer. With the implementation of the CCSS comes the need to assess more
complex topics at a deeper level of conceptual understanding and to tap into students’
higher-order reasoning skills, much of which will require the use of scaffolded assessment
items not previously available to students in current testing programs.
The shift towards computer-based testing changes the types of scaffolds or supports
available to students and allows test designers to imbed standardized scaffolds within the
assessment itself. However, before New Mexico transitions toward computer-based
assessments, the challenge of providing students with equitable and standardized scaffolds
statewide will continue. For example, if certain tools are viewed as legitimate scaffolds and
incorporated into the bridge assessments, the question arises whether they should be
provided by the PED, the schools, or if students should be required to bring their own.
Complexity
Increased complexity in standards based assessments is intended to better measure depth
of knowledge. Multi-part test items on one problem or passage are intended to provide a
rich picture of students' understanding, but to serve that purpose they must be properly
constructed. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP):
 Low-complexity items expect students to recall or recognize concepts or procedures;
 Moderate-complexity items involve more flexibility of thinking and choice among
alternatives than do those in the low-complexity category; and,
 High-complexity items make heavy demands on students, because they are
expected to use reasoning, planning, analysis, judgment, and creative thought.
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English Assessment Frameworks, Grades 3–8, New Mexico Public Education Department
Text Complexity
One of the goals of the CCSS is to ensure that by the end of high school students can
independently read and comprehend the types of texts commonly found in college and the
workplace. Currently, there is a large gap between many students’ reading abilities and the
demands put forth in increasingly complex fields of study. To close the gap, the CCSS
recommend increasing the complexity of text used during instructing, starting in elementary
school.
Text complexity can be measured in three ways: qualitative, quantitative, and reader/task
considerations. Test developers of the bridge standards based assessments should develop
test items that meet these thresholds.
Qualitative Measures of Text Complexity. There are many characteristics that can make a
text complex but that cannot be measured. For example, literary texts with single meanings
are less complex than texts, like satires, with multiple levels of meaning. Texts’ structures
can also be simplistic—chronological, well-marked, and conventional—or complex,
including manipulations of time and sequence. Language is also an important part of a
text’s complexity. Texts that rely on literal, clear, contemporary, and conversational
language are easier to read than texts with a great deal of figurative, ambiguous, or domainspecific vocabulary. A text also can be made more complex if it requires specific
background knowledge, such as cultural or academic content, in order to be fully
understood.
Quantitative Measures of Text Complexity. Quantitative measures of complexity typically
involve the use of a formula to measure a text’s readability. One of the most common
formulas, the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Test, uses word and sentence length to
approximate complexity. More sophisticated formulas exist, which use things like word
frequency and word difficulty to compute a text’s complexity. The use of quantitative
measures of complexity are extremely easy to use, but are limited by their inability to “see”
things like multiple meanings and figurative language.
Reader/Task Considerations. Numerous factors are important when determining whether a
particular text is appropriate for a reader. For example, a particular text may be well suited
to a reader with specific background knowledge. Or a reader that is very interested in a
topic may be more motivated to read a text on that topic. The RAND Reading Study Group
identified a reader’s cognitive capabilities, motivation, knowledge, and experiences as
important to consider when deciding whether a text is appropriately complex.
Item Formats
The State’s testing provider, following the guidelines in this document, will develop test
items and tasks aligned with CCSS for use in the 2014 Bridge Assessment. Those items will
be field tested in the spring of 2013 as part of the SBA, and will be scored but will not be
English Assessment Frameworks, Grades 3–8, New Mexico Public Education Department
9
counted toward school accountability grades. Field-tested items will be selected for
inclusion in the 2014 Bridge Assessment. These items too will be scored but not count
toward school accountability grades.
The distribution of items on the “bridge” SBAs will remain largely consistent with that used
by the SBA over the past two years, with about 80 percent of items being multiple choice,
12 percent short answer, and 8 percent extended response. Constructed response items
carry greater weight in the scoring of the SBA, so that multiple choice answers account for
about 60 percent of the total score, and constructed response items account for 40 percent.
These distribution and scoring percentages represent the state’s targets, and are not meant
to be construed as formulas for the Bridge Assessments in 2013 or beyond.
Achievement Levels
The Bridge Assessments will follow the state’s current proficiency ratings for reporting
scores based on New Mexico Academic Content Standards, as outlined in the New Mexico
Standards Based Assessment: Standard Setting Report (Measured Progress, 2011):
 Beginning Step
 Nearing Proficiency
 Proficient
 Advanced
In order to preserve the integrity of trend data on student performance, only those items
that are aligned with the New Mexico Academic Content Standards and/or dually aligned
with the New Mexico Academic Content Standards and the CCSS will be used in calculating
student proficiency.
SBA Results and the A-F Accountability System
School grades in the A-F accountability system will continue to be based on growth in
student scores using New Mexico Academic Content Standards. The items and tasks on the
bridge standards based assessments that will be scored for accountability purposes will be
aligned with current New Mexico state standards. Some of the SBA’s items and tasks also
align with CCSS, particularly in Reading, and they will be scored for accountability purposes.
This methodology ensures that the performance data the state is using to compute school
grades is reliable and valid.
The Bridge Assessment will include newly developed items aligned with CCSS starting in
2014. Some of those items will measure essential skills not in New Mexico Academic
Content Standards. The PED will issue a separate report to districts about baseline
performance on CCSS items and tasks.
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English Assessment Frameworks, Grades 3–8, New Mexico Public Education Department
V. Critical Skills
In New Mexico and elsewhere, past standards based assessments have measured student
proficiency by taking snapshots of student performance on individual grade-level standards.
In the Common Core, New Mexico’s assessments are being designed to provide a more
complete picture. The Bridge Assessments, modeling the PARCC assessments, follow, and
to some extent predict, whether classroom instruction is leading students toward being well
prepared for post-secondary education by the time of high school graduation. While all of
the CCSS are important and must be taught, we believe that the critical skills identified here
should be given priority in instruction and assessment over the next several years.
The following high-level description of essential skillsets synthesizes the detailed
descriptions of what students must understand and be able to do as found in the 1) strands;
2) the “clustering” of standards described in the anchor standards; and 3) the standards
themselves.
The skillsets have been identified as critical for one or more of the following reasons:
 They are fundamental building blocks in college and career readiness
 They strongly contribute to the Capacities of the Literate Individual and have been
identified as critical by the CCSS themselves
 They are areas not adequately represented in New Mexico’s current standards
The most significant shift for ELA/L teachers in grades 3–8 is the central role of
Informational Texts in reading—and by extension in writing and language. For that reason,
we have provided grade-specific, standard-level detail about Informational Texts in Tables 1
and 2. These tables serve as an exemplar both of the relationship between the standards,
the anchor standard groupings and the strand in CCSS, and also to show how learning in the
topic grows over time.
Table 3 in the Appendix provides a quick reference guide of critical skills, by grade span,
described below.
Grades 3–5
Reading: Literature
When reading literature, students in grades three to five should learn to quote accurately
from a text and to identify a text’s theme. They should learn the names of and recognize
the structure of different genres of literature. Students should also learn to compare and
contrast across an author’s works, across themes and within genres in order to build their
knowledge.
English Assessment Frameworks, Grades 3–8, New Mexico Public Education Department
11
Reading: Informational Text
The CCSS place a much greater emphasis on students’ ability to comprehend and analyze
informational texts than do the New Mexico state standards. This focus on informational
text arises from the reality that required reading in college and the workplace is almost
entirely informational in nature. CCSS require reading of informational text starting in
kindergarten.
Students in grades three to five should learn to explain how ideas and relationships develop
within an informational text and should be able to interpret the meaning of words based on
the way that they are used within a text (connotations, sarcasm, technical meanings, etc.).
Reading: Foundational Skills
According to the CCSS, foundational reading skills should be taught and assessed through
fifth grade. From grades three to five, students should be practicing their phonics and their
word analysis skills in order to read and understand texts. As foundational skills only appear
in the CCSS through fifth grade, it is important that students are fluent readers with tools to
help them independently comprehend complex texts by the time they enter the sixth grade.
Writing
In the past, narratives comprised a majority of elementary students’ writing. The CCSS
include narrative writing, but place a much greater emphasis on writing informational and
even argumentative texts than do the current New Mexico standards. This makes sense, as
the goal of the CCSS is for students to be college and career ready by the end of high school,
after which they will be expected to communicate effectively and write technically.
As noted in the Capacities of the Literate Individual, students must be taught to use
evidence and details to make their case when writing argumentatively. When writing
informationally, students should focus on the effective use of organization. And, when
writing narratively, students should work on using writing techniques such as chronology
and description to convey real or imagined events.
Third to fifth grade students also should learn to conduct research projects that involve
gathering appropriate information from varied sources, analyzing the information, and
organizing it into a coherent document.
Speaking and Listening
The speaking and listening requirements of CCSS are not easy to assess with a traditional
pencil/paper test. Therefore, the Bridge Assessments will not incorporate these standards.
However, effective speaking and listening are required for college and career readiness and
should not be neglected as an important part of ELA/L teaching and learning.
12
English Assessment Frameworks, Grades 3–8, New Mexico Public Education Department
Students in grades three to five should practice speaking and listening by engaging in
academic discussions, evaluating various forms of media, and presenting convincing
evidence to support a particular point of view.
Language
Language in the CCSS refers to the use of conventions and to the acquisition of vocabulary.
It is widely understood that the depth of a child’s vocabulary is directly correlated with
his/her academic performance. It is extremely important that New Mexico’s students
broaden their vocabularies as well as improve the tools they possess in order to learn new
words in context.
Throughout grades three to five, vocabulary acquisition should be a constant focus, and
students should practice independently gathering academic vocabulary through reading
informational texts as well as using the context of words to determine not only their literal
meanings but their implied and/or technical meanings.
Grades 6–8
The CCSS for grades six to eight are based largely on the same anchor or “college and career
ready” standards as those for grades three to five. The two major differences are that
students in grades six to eight are expected to already possess foundational reading skills
and that a requirement for reading is literacy in the content areas of history/social studies,
science, and technical subjects.
Reading: Literature
Students in grades six to eight, like those in grades three to five, should focus on the use of
textual evidence and comparing/contrasting when reading literature. Students in the
middle grades are learning to analyze complex texts, not just read and comprehend them.
For example, students in the middle grades should be able to use textual evidence to
analyze how a theme develops in a text, rather than just be able to quote evidence
accurately. Students should be able to compare and contrast types of literature—again, as
part of a critical, coherent analysis rather than the simple listing of similarities and
differences. In grades six through eight students are growing in demonstrating the abilities
or “capacities” of the Literate Individual.
English Assessment Frameworks, Grades 3–8, New Mexico Public Education Department
13
Reading: Informational Texts
The CCSS place an even greater emphasis on informational texts in grades six to eight than
they do in grades three to five. Fortunately, students in the middle grades gain exposure to
these texts in their history, science and even math classes—that way they continue to build
their reading skills in addition to gaining the tools to understanding and analyze technical
information.
When reading informational texts, students in grades six to eight should learn to recognize
and interpret the interactions between ideas and relationships that develop over the course
of a text. They should not only comprehend complex words, but must understand how
word choice shapes textual meaning and an author’s purpose in writing a text. For
example, students must be able to determine whether an author addresses conflicting
viewpoints.
Writing
In general, the ELA/L CCSS place a greater emphasis on writing than the current New
Mexico standards. In grades six to eight, students should spend a great deal of time writing
both expository and argumentative texts, as opposed to narrative texts. Students should
become proficient at using clear reasoning and relevant evidence to support their claims in
argumentative writing and should use details to sufficiently explain topics in their
expository writing. Students should also be able to choose the appropriate structure to
convey complex ideas and information effectively.
Students in grades six to eight should build on their skills from grades three to five to
research topics by gathering and organizing appropriate information. They should expand
the number and types of sources they use for information, should analyze those sources,
and should be able to juxtapose the information found in those sources with their own
point of view.
Speaking and Listening
Just as in grades three to five, speaking and listening will not be assessed on the grade six to
grade eight Bridge Assessments. Speaking and listening are important aspects of teaching
and learning in ELA/L, and must not be ignored. Students in grades six to eight should listen
carefully to others and engage in discussions that require asking and answering questions
based on evidence; analyzing the purpose of and motives behind various forms of media—
including whether there is adequate evidence to support a claim; and should present claims
and findings in a variety of contexts.
14
English Assessment Frameworks, Grades 3–8, New Mexico Public Education Department
Language
Students’ ability to correctly use conventions and new vocabulary words becomes
increasingly important as they move up the grade levels, as shown in Table 4, provided in
the Appendix. Students in grades six to eight should study conventions and grammar
alongside all other content and skills contained in the CCSS. While some guided learning in
these areas is necessary, instructors should keep in mind that students’ independent use of
conventions and academic vocabulary is the ultimate goal for college and career readiness.
VI. Conclusion
The CCSS set out clearly the content knowledge and skills in ELA/L needed to succeed in
college and the world of work. The assessment framework presented in this document is
intended to set forward-thinking goals for students, their parents and their teachers. If
successful, the Bridge Assessment built from this framework will begin to set the stage for
New Mexico public education not only beginning in 2013, but beyond and for the next
decade. The CCSS and the State’s standards based assessments will raise the bar for all New
Mexico’s students. Neither the CCSS nor the Bridge Assessments are intended to dictate
curriculum, pedagogy, or the delivery of instruction. The school districts across New Mexico
are expected to handle the transition to the CCSS in different ways. This assessment
framework is intended to help guide this transition.
English Assessment Frameworks, Grades 3–8, New Mexico Public Education Department
15
VII. Appendices
Table 1: Learning Progressions for Reading: Informational Text: Grades 3–5
English/Language Arts Anchor Standards and 3-5 Grade Level Standards for Reading Informational Text
Range of Reading and
Level of Text Complexity
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
Craft and Structure
Key Ideas and Details
Anchor Standards Grades 3-8
Read closely to determine what
the text says explicitly and to
make logical inferences from it;
cite specific textual evidence
when writing or speaking to
support conclusions drawn from
the text.
Determine central ideas or
themes of a text and analyze
their development; summarize
the key supporting details and
ideas.
Analyze how and why
individuals, events, and ideas
develop and interact over the
course of a text
16
Grade 3
Grade 4
Grade 5
Ask and answer questions to
demonstrate understanding of a
text, referring explicitly to the text
as the basis for the answers.
Refer to details and examples in a
text when explaining what the text
says explicitly and when drawing
inferences from the text.
Quote accurately from a text when
explaining what the text says
explicitly and when drawing
inferences from the text.
Determine the main idea of a text;
recount the key details and explain
how they support the main idea.
Determine the main idea of a text
and explain how it is supported by
key details; summarize the text.
Determine two or more main ideas
of a text and explain how they are
supported by key details;
summarize the text.
Describe the relationship between
a series of historical events,
scientific ideas or concepts, or
steps in technical procedures in a
text, using language that pertains
to time, sequence, and
cause/effect.
Explain events, procedures, ideas,
or concepts in a historical, scientific,
or technical text, including what
happened and why, based on
specific information in the text.
Explain the relationships or
interactions between two or more
individuals, events, ideas, or
concepts in a historical, scientific,
or technical text based on specific
information in the text.
Interpret words and phrases as
they are used in a text, including
determining technical,
connotative, and figurative
meanings, and analyze how
specific word choices shape
meaning or tone.
Analyze the structure of texts,
including how specific sentences,
paragraphs, and larger portions
of the text (e.g., a section,
chapter, scene, or stanza) relate
to each other and the whole.
Determine the meaning of general
academic and domain-specific
words and phrases in a text
relevant to a grade 3 topic or
subject area.
Determine the meaning of general
academic and domain-specific
words or phrases in a text relevant
to a grade 4 topic or subject area.
Determine the meaning of general
academic and domain-specific
words and phrases in a text
relevant to a grade 5 topic or
subject area.
Use text features and search tools
(e.g., key words, sidebars,
hyperlinks) to locate information
relevant to a given topic
efficiently.
Describe the overall structure (e.g.,
chronology, comparison,
cause/effect, problem/solution) of
events, ideas, concepts, or
information in a text or part of a
text.
Compare and contrast the overall
structure (e.g., chronology,
comparison, cause/effect,
problem/solution) of events, ideas,
concepts, or information in two or
more texts.
Assess how point of view or
purpose shapes the content and
style of a text.
Distinguish their own point of view
from that of the author of a text.
Compare and contrast a firsthand
and secondhand account of the
same event or topic; describe the
differences in focus and the
information provided.
Analyze multiple accounts of the
same event or topic, noting
important similarities and
differences in the point of view
they represent.
Integrate and evaluate content
presented in diverse media and
formats, including visually and
quantitatively, as well as in
words.
Use information gained from
illustrations (e.g., maps,
photographs) and the words in a
text to demonstrate
understanding of the text (e.g.,
where, when, why, and how key
events occur).
Interpret information presented
visually, orally, or quantitatively
(e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams,
time lines, animations, or
interactive elements on Web pages)
and explain how the information
contributes to an understanding of
the text in which it appears.
Draw on information from multiple
print or digital sources,
demonstrating the ability to locate
an answer to a question quickly or
to solve a problem efficiently.
Delineate and evaluate the
argument and specific claims in a
text, including the validity of the
reasoning as well as the
relevance and sufficiency of the
evidence.
Analyze how two or more texts
address similar themes or topics
in order to build knowledge or to
compare the approaches the
authors take.
Read and comprehend complex
literary and informational texts
independently and proficiently.
Describe the logical connection
between particular sentences and
paragraphs in a text (e.g.,
comparison, cause/effect,
first/second/third in a sequence).
Explain how an author uses reasons
and evidence to support particular
points in a text.
Explain how an author uses
reasons and evidence to support
particular points in a text,
identifying which reasons and
evidence support which point(s).
Compare and contrast the most
important points and key details
presented in two texts on the
same topic.
Integrate information from two
texts on the same topic in order to
write or speak about the subject
knowledgeably.
Integrate information from several
texts on the same topic in order to
write or speak about the subject
knowledgeably.
By the end of the year, read and
comprehend informational texts,
including history/social studies,
science, and technical texts, at the
high end of the grades 2–3 text
complexity band independently
and proficiently.
By the end of year, read and
comprehend informational texts,
including history/social studies,
science, and technical texts, in the
grades 4–5 text complexity band
proficiently, with scaffolding as
needed at the high end of the
range.
By the end of the year, read and
comprehend informational texts,
including history/social studies,
science, and technical texts, at the
high end of the grades 4–5 text
complexity band independently
and proficiently.
English Assessment Frameworks, Grades 3–8, New Mexico Public Education Department
Table 2: Learning Progressions for Reading: Informational Text: Grades 6–8
Range of Reading and
Level of Text Complexity
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
Craft and Structure
Key Ideas and Details
English/Language Arts Anchor Standards and 6-8 Grade Level Standards for Reading Informational Text
Anchor Standards Grades 3-8
Grade 6
Grade 7
Grade 8
Read closely to determine what the
text says explicitly and to make
logical inferences from it; cite specific
textual evidence when writing or
speaking to support conclusions
drawn from the text.
Determine central ideas or themes of
a text and analyze their
development; summarize the key
supporting details and ideas.
Cite textual evidence to support
analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn
from the text.
Cite several pieces of textual evidence
to support analysis of what the text
says explicitly as well as inferences
drawn from the text.
Cite the textual evidence that most
strongly supports an analysis of
what the text says explicitly as well
as inferences drawn from the text.
Determine a central idea of a text
and how it is conveyed through
particular details; provide a
summary of the text distinct from
personal opinions or judgments.
Determine two or more central ideas
in a text and analyze their
development over the course of the
text; provide an objective summary of
the text.
Determine a central idea of a text and
analyze its development over the
course of the text, including its
relationship to supporting ideas;
provide an objective summary of the
text.
Analyze how and why individuals,
events, and ideas develop and
interact over the course of a text
Analyze in detail how a key
individual, event, or idea is
introduced, illustrated, and
elaborated in a text (e.g., through
examples or anecdotes).
Analyze the interactions between
individuals, events, and ideas in a text
(e.g., how ideas influence individuals
or events, or how individuals
influence ideas or events).
Analyze how a text makes
connections among and distinctions
between individuals, ideas, or events
(e.g., through comparisons,
analogies, or categories).
Interpret words and phrases as they
are used in a text, including
determining technical, connotative,
and figurative meanings, and analyze
how specific word choices shape
meaning or tone.
Determine the meaning of words
and phrases as they are used in a
text, including figurative,
connotative, and technical
meanings.
Determine the meaning of words and
phrases as they are used in a text,
including figurative, connotative, and
technical meanings; analyze the
impact of a specific word choice on
meaning and tone.
Determine the meaning of words
and phrases as they are used in a
text, including figurative,
connotative, and technical
meanings; analyze the impact of
specific word choices on meaning
and tone, including analogies or
allusions to other texts.
Analyze the structure of texts,
including how specific sentences,
paragraphs, and larger portions of
the text (e.g., a section, chapter,
scene, or stanza) relate to each other
and the whole.
Assess how point of view or purpose
shapes the content and style of a
text.
Analyze how a particular sentence,
paragraph, chapter, or section fits
into the overall structure of a text
and contributes to the development
of the ideas.
Analyze the structure an author uses
to organize a text, including how the
major sections contribute to the
whole and to the development of the
ideas.
Analyze in detail the structure of a
specific paragraph in a text,
including the role of particular
sentences in developing and refining
a key concept.
Determine an author’s point of view
or purpose in a text and explain how
it is conveyed in the text.
Determine an author’s point of view
or purpose in a text and analyze how
the author distinguishes his or her
position from that of others.
Determine an author’s point of view
or purpose in a text and analyze how
the author acknowledges and
responds to conflicting evidence or
viewpoints.
Integrate and evaluate content
presented in diverse media and
formats, including visually and
quantitatively, as well as in words.
Integrate information presented in
different media or formats (e.g.,
visually, quantitatively) as well as in
words to develop a coherent
understanding of a topic or issue.
Compare and contrast a text to an
audio, video, or multimedia version of
the text, analyzing each medium’s
portrayal of the subject (e.g., how the
delivery of a speech affects the impact
of the words).
Evaluate the advantages and
disadvantages of using different
mediums (e.g., print or digital text,
video, multimedia) to present a
particular topic or idea.
Delineate and evaluate the argument
and specific claims in a text, including
the validity of the reasoning as well
as the relevance and sufficiency of
the evidence.
Trace and evaluate the argument
and specific claims in a text,
distinguishing claims that are
supported by reasons and evidence
from claims that are not.
Trace and evaluate the argument and
specific claims in a text, assessing
whether the reasoning is sound and
the evidence is relevant and sufficient
to support the claims.
Delineate and evaluate the
argument and specific claims in a
text, assessing whether the
reasoning is sound and the evidence
is relevant and sufficient; recognize
when irrelevant evidence is
introduced.
Analyze how two or more texts
address similar themes or topics in
order to build knowledge or to
compare the approaches the authors
take.
Compare and contrast one author’s
presentation of events with that of
another (e.g., a memoir written by
and a biography on the same
person).
Analyze how two or more authors
writing about the same topic shape
their presentations of key information
by emphasizing different evidence or
advancing different interpretations of
facts.
Analyze a case in which two or more
texts provide conflicting information
on the same topic and identify
where the texts disagree on matters
of fact or interpretation.
Read and comprehend complex
literary and informational texts
independently and proficiently.
By the end of the year, read and
comprehend literary nonfiction in
the grades 6–8 text complexity band
proficiently, with scaffolding as
needed at the high end of the range.
By the end of the year, read and
comprehend literary nonfiction in the
grades 6–8 text complexity band
proficiently, with scaffolding as
needed at the high end of the range.
By the end of the year, read and
comprehend literary nonfiction at
the high end of the grades 6–8 text
complexity band independently and
proficiently.
English Assessment Frameworks, Grades 3–8, New Mexico Public Education Department
17
Table 3: Overview of Critical Skills, by Grade Span
ELA CCSS Strand
Reading: Literature
Reading: Informational
Text
Reading: Foundational
Skills
Writing
Speaking and Listening
Knowledge of Language
18
Grades 3–5
Quote accurately from a text, identify
themes, learn the names and structures of
different genres, learn to compare and
contrast within and across texts
Explain how ideas and relationships
develop within an informational text,
interpret the meaning of words based on
the way that they are used within a text
(connotations, sarcasm, technical
meanings, etc.).
Practice phonics and their word analysis
skills in order to read and understand texts
Use evidence and details to make a point,
write using organizational techniques such
as paragraphs with topic sentences and
supporting details, use writing techniques
such as chronology and description to
convey real or imagined events, conduct
research projects that involve gathering
appropriate information from varied
sources, analyzing the information, and
organizing it into a coherent document.
Engage in academic discussion; evaluate
various forms of media, present
convincing evidence to support a
particular point of view.
Independently gather new vocabulary
through reading, use the context of words
to determine not only their literal
meanings but also their implied and/or
technical meanings.
Grades 6–8
Analyze texts and provide evidence to
support claims, use comparing and
contrasting as a tool for analysis.
Analyze the interactions between ideas
and relationships that develop over the
course of a text, analyze how word choice
shapes textual meaning, determine an
author’s purpose in writing a text and
whether that author addresses conflicting
viewpoints.
Use evidence to support claims in
argumentative writing, use details to
sufficiently explain topics in expository
writing, use a structure that effectively
conveys complex ideas and information,
expand the number and types of sources
they use for information, should analyze
those sources, and should be able to
juxtapose the information found in those
sources with their own point of view
Engage in discussions that require asking
and answering questions based on
evidence, analyze the purpose of and
motives behind various forms of media –
including whether a speaker presents
adequate evidence, present claims and
findings in a variety of contexts.
Independent use of and acquisition of
increasingly complex conventions and
academic vocabulary words
English Assessment Frameworks, Grades 3–8, New Mexico Public Education Department
Table 4: Common Core State Standards Learning Progressions for Language
English/Language Arts 3–12 Grade Level Standards for Language
English/Language Arts 3-12 Grade Level Standards for Language
The following skills, marked with an asterisk (*) in Language standards 1–3, are particularly likely to require
continued attention in higher grades as they are applied to increasingly sophisticated writing and speaking.
Standard
3
4
5
Grade(s)
6
7
8
9–
10
11–
12
L.3.1f. Ensure subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent
agreement.
L.3.3a. Choose words and phrases for effect.
L.4.1f. Produce complete sentences, recognizing and
correcting inappropriate fragments and run-ons.
L.4.1g. Correctly use frequently confused words (e.g.,
to/too/two; there/their).
L.4.3a. Choose words and phrases to convey ideas
precisely.*
L.4.3b. Choose punctuation for effect.
L.5.1d. Recognize and correct inappropriate shifts in verb
tense.
†
L.5.2a. Use punctuation to separate items in a series.
L.6.1c. Recognize and correct inappropriate shifts in
pronoun number and person.
L.6.1d. Recognize and correct vague pronouns (i.e., ones
with unclear or ambiguous antecedents).
L.6.1e. Recognize variations from standard English in their
own and others’ writing and speaking, and identify and use
strategies to improve expression in conventional language.
L.6.2a. Use punctuation (commas, parentheses, dashes) to
set off nonrestrictive/parenthetical elements.
L.6.3a. Vary sentence patterns for meaning, reader/listener
‡
interest, and style.
L.6.3b. Maintain consistency in style and tone.
L.7.1c. Place phrases and clauses within a sentence,
recognizing and correcting misplaced and dangling
modifiers.
L.7.3a. Choose language that expresses ideas precisely and
concisely, recognizing and eliminating wordiness and
redundancy.
L.8.1d. Recognize and correct inappropriate shifts in verb
voice and mood.
L.9–10.1a. Use parallel structure.
* Subsumed by L.7.3a
†
Subsumed by L.9–10.1a
‡
Subsumed by L.11–12.3a
English Assessment Frameworks, Grades 3–8, New Mexico Public Education Department
19
Bibliography
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social
Studies, Science, Technical Subjects, Common Core State Standards Initiative, Council of
Chief State Schools Officers and National Governors Association, Washington, DC.
Correspondence Between the New Mexico Content Standards and the Common Core State
Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics: Summary Report, WestEd, San
Francisco, California, December 19, 2011.
Illinois Reading Assessment Framework Grades 3-8: State Assessments Beginning Spring
2006, Illinois State Board of Education, Chicago, Illinois, September 2004.
New Mexico ELA Assessment Priorities, New Mexico Public Education Department, Santa Fe,
New Mexico, 2012.
Reading Framework for the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress, National
Assessment Governing Board, Washington, DC, September 2010.
Suggested Outline for Mathematics and English Language Arts Frameworks Grades 6–12,
Howard T. Everson, The College Board, New York, New York, (unpublished draft)
20
English Assessment Frameworks, Grades 3–8, New Mexico Public Education Department