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New York State Testing Program Grade 4 Common Core

English Language Arts Test

Annotated Passages

November 2014

New York State Testing Program Common Core English Language Arts

Annotated Passages

With the adoption of the New York P–12 Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS) in ELA/Literacy and

Mathematics, the Board of Regents signaled a shift in both instruction and assessment. Starting in the

Spring 2013, New York State (NYS) began administering tests designed to assess student performance in

accordance with the instructional shifts and the rigor demanded by the Common Core State Standards

(CCSS). To aid in the transition to new assessments, New York State has released a number of resources,

including test blueprints and specifications, sample questions, and criteria for writing assessment

questions. These resources can be found at http://www.engageny.org/common‐core‐assessments.

New York State administered the ELA/Literacy and Mathematics Common Core tests in April 2014 and is

now making a portion of the questions and passages from those ELA tests available for review and use.

These released questions and passages will help students, families, educators, and the public better

understand how tests have changed to assess the instructional shifts demanded by the Common Core

and to assess the rigor required to ensure that all students are on track to college and career readiness.

Annotated Passages Are Teaching Tools

The released annotated passages herein are intended to help educators, students, families, and the

public understand how the Common Core is different. The annotated passages demonstrate the rich,

authentic, and complex texts necessary to support instruction and measurement of the knowledge,

skills, and proficiencies described in the Common Core Learning Standards. These annotated passages

are intended to illustrate how NYS uses quantitative metrics and qualitative rubrics to select and place

passages for inclusion on the tests. In addition, the annotation can help educators understand in depth

the text complexity demands that are a key requirement for growing students' reading abilities as

articulated by the Common Core.

Passage selection for Common Core English Language Arts Assessments

Selecting high‐quality, grade‐appropriate passages requires both objective text complexity metrics and

expert judgment. For NYS Common Core English Language Arts Tests, both quantitative metrics and

qualitative rubrics are used to determine the complexity of the texts and their appropriate placement

within a grade‐level ELA exam.

Quantitative Measures of Text Complexity

Quantitative measures of text complexity are used to measure aspects of text complexity that are

difficult for a human reader to evaluate when examining a text. These aspects include word frequency,

word length (number of characters per word), sentence length, and text cohesion. These aspects are

efficiently measured by computer programs, and all of the measures listed below can be accessed for

free online. (For more information about these metrics, including how to access these measures online,

please see http://achievethecore.org/page/642/text‐complexity‐collection .)

Based on research and the guidance of nationally‐recognized literacy experts1, the following ranges for quantitative measures were used to guide initial passage selection to place a passage within a possible grade‐level band for the Grades 3–8 exams. (Note: in instances where the quantitative measures do not place the text in the same grade level, the different grade bands resulting are noted and the selection process continues to the qualitative analysis.)

Updated Text Complexity Grade Bands and Associated Ranges from Multiple Measures2

Common Core Band

Degrees of Reading Power® Flesch‐Kincaid3

The Lexile Framework®

Reading Maturity

2nd – 3rd 42 – 54 1.98 – 5.34 420 – 820 3.53 – 6.13

4th – 5th 52 – 60 4.51 – 7.73 740 – 1010 5.42 – 7.92

6th – 8th 57 – 67 6.51 – 10.34 925 – 1185 7.04 – 9.57

9th – 10th 62 – 72 8.32 – 12.12 1050 – 1335 8.41 – 10.81

11th – CCR 67 – 74 10.34 – 14.2 1185 – 1385 9.57 – 12.00

Note in looking at all of these quantitative ranges, there are wide ranges within grade bands, and

considerable degrees of overlap between the 3–8 grade bands. (See Appendix A of this document for

tables visually representing this overlap for these readability metrics.) The overlap within and between

grades reflects the range of developmental reading abilities in regards to various facets of literacy. Put

simply, different types of texts, text structures, and language demands will challenge individual students

within and between grades differently.

Qualitative Measures of Text Complexity

While quantitative text complexity metrics are a helpful start, they are far from definitive. Many aspects

of writing cause text complexity metrics to produce flawed results. For example, a canonical high

school‐level novel such as John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath has a lexile level of 680, which would

place it in the Grade 2–3 band. To account for these known shortcomings, qualitative measures are a

1 Nelson, Jessica; Perfetti, Charles; Liben, David; and Liben, Meredith, “Measures of Text Difficulty: Testing Their Predictive Value for Grade

Levels and Student Performance,” 2012. 2 The band levels themselves have been expanded slightly over the original CCSS scale that appears in Appendix A at both the top and bottom of each band to provide for a more modulated climb toward college and career readiness and offer slightly more overlap between bands. The wider band width allows more flexibility in the younger grades where students enter school with widely varied preparation levels. This change was provided in response to feedback received since publication of the original scale (published in terms of the Lexile® metric) in Appendix A. 3 Since Flesch‐Kincaid has no ‘caretaker’ that oversees or maintains the formula, the research leads worked to bring the measure in line with college and career readiness levels of text complexity based on the version of the formula used by Coh‐Metrix.

crucial complement to quantitative measures. In the Steinbeck example, a qualitative review reveals

that even though the author uses short sentences and common words, the level of meaning in his novel,

as well as the knowledge demands and emotional maturity required for comprehension, would make it

more appropriate for use in a high school classroom4.

Using qualitative measures of text complexity involves making an informed decision about the difficulty

of a text in terms of one or more factors discernible to a human reader applying trained judgment to the

task. The following passage annotations illustrate the application of a qualitative rubric based largely on

the qualitative resources from PARCC and the SCASS rubrics from Student Achievement Partners. The

qualitative criteria used in these rubrics and the qualitative rubric used for qualitative analysis by NYS

uses four required qualitative factors and one optional qualitative factor. The rating on these criteria will

result in an overall qualitative rating of the text along a continuum of readily accessible, moderately

complex, and very complex.

These criteria are described below:

(1) Meaning (literary texts) or Purpose (informational texts). Literary texts with a single and obvious

level of meaning tend to be easier to read than literary texts with multiple levels of meaning (such as

satires, in which the author's literal message is intentionally at odds with his or her underlying message).

Similarly, informational texts with an explicitly stated purpose are generally easier to comprehend than

informational texts with an implicit, hidden, or obscure purpose.

(2) Text Structure. Texts that are readily accessible within a grade‐band tend to have simple, well‐

marked, and conventional structures, whereas very complex texts tend to have complex, implicit, and

(particularly in literary texts) unconventional structures. Simple literary texts tend to relate events in

chronological order, while complex literary texts make more frequent use of flashbacks, flash‐forwards,

and other manipulations of time and sequence. Simple informational texts are likely not to deviate from

the conventions of common genres and subgenres, while complex informational texts are more likely to

conform to the norms and conventions of a specific discipline.

(3) Language Features. Texts that rely on literal, clear, contemporary, and conversational language tend

to be easier to read than texts that rely on figurative, ironic, ambiguous, purposefully misleading,

archaic, or otherwise unfamiliar language or on general academic and domain‐specific vocabulary. The

relative complexity of sentence structures is also an aspect of this criterion, with the presence of mostly

simple sentences being an indication of a readily accessible text and the presence of many complex

sentences with subordinate phrases and clauses being a feature of a very complex text.

(4) Knowledge Demands. Texts that make few assumptions about the extent of readers' life experiences

and the depth of their cultural/literary and content/discipline knowledge are generally less complex

than are texts that are written for a specific audience with a specific schema of knowledge on a topic.

(5) Optional Graphics. Graphics elements that accompany the passages that are indicators of a readily

accessible text can be images or features that are simple and/or supplementary images to the meaning

of texts, with a primary focus being to orient the reader to the topic. Complex and detailed graphics

4 See IV, #3 of Key Considerations in Implementing Text Complexity recommendations from the Supplemental Information for Appendix A of

the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy: New Research on Text Complexity for more information about

exceptions to using quantitative measures to place texts within grade bands.

http://www.corestandards.org/assets/E0813_Appendix_A_New_Research_on_Text_Complexity.pdf

and/or graphics whose interpretation is essential to understanding the text, and graphics that provide

an independent source of information within a text are graphic features common to moderately and

very complex texts.

Passages in the classroom vs. Passages on a test.

Passages serve different purposes depending on the context in which they are used. As stated in

Appendix A of the Common Core State Standards, in an instructional context (including a student's

independent reading for the purpose of this discussion) there are aspects of individual readers that will

impact comprehension—emotional maturity/thematic concerns, background knowledge, and

motivations are some considerations that may impact understanding. Good instruction supports these

individual aspects of comprehension in an effort to grow learning. In a summative assessment context,

however, the task is considerably more constrained; the task is to determine the degree to which

students can independently make meaning of texts. As such, there are no scaffolds, no opportunities for

collaboration with peers, and no framing by adults before the student is accessing the content. In the

testing context, students work independently to read the texts and answer questions that measure their

abilities to make meaning of the texts and topics they are reading about. Using texts that are grade‐level

complex according to the CCSS helps to determine where the student is in terms of his/her pathway to

college and career‐readiness, and as such fulfills a crucial purpose of the Grades 3–8 ELA testing

program.

https://www.engageny.org/resource/appendix-a-common-core-standards-for-elaliteracy-supporting-research-and-glossary

Appendix A: Text Complexity Grade Ranges for Quantitative Measures Table 1: Text Complexity Grade Ranges for Grades 3–8 as represented by Degrees of Reading Power® Metric

Table 2: Text Complexity Grade Ranges for Grades 3–8 as represented by Flesch‐Kincaid5 readability metric

5 Since Flesch‐Kincaid has no ‘caretaker’ that oversees or maintains the formula, the research leads worked to bring the measure in line with college and career readiness levels of text complexity based on the version of the formula used by Coh‐Metrix.

40 45 50 55 60 65 70

Grade 2‐3

Grade 4‐5

Grade 6‐8

CCLSDegrees of Reading Power Ranges

1 3 5 7 9 11

Grade 2‐3

Grade 4‐5

Grade 6‐8

CCLSFlesch‐Kincaid Ranges

Table 3: Text Complexity Grade Ranges for Grades 3–8 as represented by Lexile Framework®

Table 4: Text Complexity Grade Ranges for Grades 3–8 as represented by Reading Maturity Matrix

400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200

Grade 2‐3

Grade 4‐5

Grade 6‐8

CCLSLexile Ranges

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Grade 2‐3

Grade 4‐5

Grade 6‐8

CCLSReading Maturity Ranges

1

204003P

Read this story. Then answer questions XX through XX.

Pecos Bill Captures the Pacing White Mustang

by Leigh Peck

1 Pecos Bill decided to get a real cowpony, and he asked cowboys, “What’sthe very best horse in these parts?”

2 They answered: “The best horse in all the world is running loose in thesevery hills. He runs fast as the lightning, so we call him Lightning. Otherscall him the Pacing White Mustang, and some even say that his real name isPegasus. We have all tried hard to catch him, but no one has ever got closeenough to him to put a rope on him or even to see him clearly. We havechased him for days, riding our very best ponies and changing horses everytwo hours, but he outran all our best ponies put together.”

3 But Pecos Bill told them: “I’ll not ride a cowpony when I chase thishorse. I can run faster myself than any of your ponies can.”

4 So Pecos Bill threw his saddle and bridle overhis shoulder and set out on foot to look for thefamous wild white horse. When he got closeenough to take a good look at Lightning, he sawthat only the horse’s mane and tail were purewhite. The beautiful animal was really a lightcream or pale gold color—the color of lightning itself. The Spanish people inthe Southwest call such a horse a palomino. He chased Lightning five days

Directions

bridle = a harness, whichincludes the reins, thatfits over a horse’s headand is used to control orguide the horse

2

and four nights, all the way from Mexico across Texas and New Mexico andArizona and Utah and Colorado and Wyoming and Montana, clear up toCanada, and then down to Mexico again. Pecos Bill had to throw away hissaddle and bridle, as they leaped across cactus-covered plains, down steepcliffs, and across canyons.

5 Finally Lightning got tired of running from Pecos Bill and stopped andsnorted. “Very well, I’ll let you try to ride me if you think you can! Goahead and jump on!”

6 Pecos Bill smiled. And he jumped on Lightning’s back, gripping thehorse’s ribs with his knees and clutching the mane with his hands.

7 First, Lightning tried to run out from under Pecos Bill. He ran ten milesin twenty seconds! Next he jumped a mile forward and two miles backward.Then he jumped so high in the air that Pecos Bill’s head was up among thestars. Next Lightning tried to push Pecos Bill off his back by runningthrough clumps of mesquite trees. The thorns tore poor Pecos Bill’s face.

8 When that failed, too, Lightning reared up on his hind legs and threwhimself over backward. But Pecos Bill jumped off quickly, and beforeLightning could get on his feet again, Bill sat on his shoulders and held himfirmly on the ground.

9 “Lightning,” Pecos Bill explained, “you are the best horse in all the world,and I am the best cowboy in all the world. If you’ll let me ride you, we willbecome famous together, and cowboys everywhere forever and forever willpraise the deeds of Pecos Bill and Lightning.”

10 Then Pecos Bill turned Lightning loose and told him, “You may decide.You are free to go or to stay with me.”

11 The beautiful horse put his nose in Pecos Bill’s hand, and said, “I want tostay with you and be your cowpony—the greatest cowpony in all the world.”

12 Pecos Bill and Lightning went back and found the saddle and bridlewhere Bill had thrown them. Lightning let Pecos Bill put the saddle on him,but he didn’t want to take the bit of the bridle into his mouth. So, Pecos Billjust put a halter on him, and guided him by pressure of the knees and bypulling on the reins of the halter.

13 Lightning would not let anybody but Pecos Bill ride him.

Grade 4

Title and Author: Pecos Bill Captures the Pacing White Mustang by Leigh Peck Word count: 637

Quantitative Analysis Summary of Grade 4 Assessment Placement

Degrees of Reading Power (DRP)

54 Overall rating: Readily Accessible to Moderately Complex The quantitative measures for this text place it in a range of grade levels, and the qualitative measures support its use as a readily accessible to moderate fourth grade text. It employs an engaging style and storyline, with memorable action and detail. It has a basic chronological structure and traces a single central theme (how Pecos Bill tames the mustang). Descriptions within the plot are clear and straightforward. Most challenging words are glossed or italicized, offering scaffolds for unfamiliar vocabulary. The proper nouns, such as Pegasus and Lightning, also contribute to the complexity, but are appropriate to the grade.

Lexile: 1040

Flesch-Kincaid: 6.4

Reading Maturity Matric (RMM)

5.4

Qualitative Analysis Literary Text

Criteria Very Complex Moderately Complex Readily Accessible Notes

Meaning Multiple levels of meaning that may be difficult to identify, separate, and interpret; theme is implicit, subtle, or ambiguous and may be revealed over the entirety of the text.

Multiple levels of meaning that are relatively easy to identify; theme is clear, but may be conveyed with some subtlety.

One level of meaning; theme is obvious and revealed early in the text.

While the theme isn’t immediately revealed, it is clear very early on that this is a tall tale about a cowboy and his horse.

Text Structure

Prose or poetry contains more intricate elements such as subplots, shifts in point-of-view, shifts in time, or non-standard text structures.

Prose includes two or more storylines or has a plot that is somewhat difficult to predict (e.g., in the case of a non-linear plot); poetry has some implicit or unpredictable structural elements.

Prose or poetry is organized clearly and/or chronologically; the events in a prose work are easy to predict because the plot is linear; poetry has explicit and predictable structural elements.

The prose is clear and chronological. The beginning sets up a question that is answered at the conclusion.

Language Features

Language is generally complex, with abstract, ironic, and/or figurative language, and regularly includes archaic, unfamiliar, and academic words; text uses a variety of sentence structures, including complex sentences with subordinate phrases and clauses.

Language is often explicit and literal, but includes academic, archaic, or other words with complex meaning (e.g., figurative language); text uses a variety of sentence structures.

Language is explicit and literal, with mostly contemporary and familiar vocabulary; text uses mostly simple sentences.

Text uses a variety of grade-appropriate sentence structures. As part of the tall tale genre, the text uses figurative language and hyperbole that may contribute to its complexity.

Knowledge Demands

The text explores complex, sophisticated, or abstract themes; text is dependent on allusions to other texts or cultural elements; allusions or references have no context and require inference and evaluation.

The text explores several themes; text makes few references or allusions to other texts or cultural elements; the meaning of references or allusions may be partially explained in context.

The text explores a single theme; if there are any references or allusions, they are fully explained in the text.

The text is limited to one major theme and makes no references to outside texts. There are some discipline-specific terms included (i.e., harness, reins, halter, and mesquite), but there is sufficient context to determine the meaning of these terms. Otherwise, the knowledge demands are relatively straightforward and vocabulary is supported with text boxes.

Optional Graphics

When graphics are present, the connection between the text and graphics is subtle and requires interpretation.

Graphics support interpretation of selected parts of the corresponding written text; they may introduce some new and relevant information.

Graphics support and assist in interpreting text by directly representing important concepts from the corresponding written text.

Graphics helps orient the reader in a general manner to the story by depicting Pecos Bill and the mustang.

20

204050P

Read this story. Then answer questions XX through XX.

Excerpt from Lawn Boyby Gary Paulsen

1 Okay. Since I was twelve, I didn’t have much experience with motors. I’venever even had a dirt bike or four-wheeler. I’m just not machine oriented.

2 My birthday present sat there. I tried pushing it toward our garage, but itdidn’t seem to want to move. Even turning around to put my back against itand push with my legs—which I thought might give me better leverage—didn’t help; it still sat there.

3 So I studied it. On the left side of the motor was a small gas tank, and Iunscrewed the top and looked in. Yep, gas. On top of the tank were twolevers; the first was next to pictures of a rabbit and a turtle. Even though I’mnot good with machines, I figured out that was the throttle and the picturesmeant fast and slow. The other lever said ON-OFF. I pushed ON.

4 Nothing happened, of course. On the very top of the motor was astarting pull-rope. What the heck, why not? I gave it a jerk and the motorsputtered a little, popped once, then died. I pulled the rope again and themotor hesitated, popped, and then roared to life. I jumped back. No muffler.

5 Once when I was little, my grandmother, in her usual logic-defyingfashion, answered my request for another cookie by saying that my

Directions

21

grandfather had been a tinkerer. “He was always puttering with things,taking them apart, putting them back together. When he was aroundnothing ever broke. Nothing ever dared to break.”

6 Loud as the mower was, it still wasn’t moving and the blade wasn’t goingaround. I stood looking down at it.

7 This strange thing happened.8 It spoke to me.9 Well, not really. I’m not one of those woo-woo people or a wack job. At

least I don’t think I was. Maybe I am now.10 Anyway, there was some message that came from the mower through the

air and into my brain. A kind of warm, or maybe settled feeling. Like I wassupposed to be there and so was the mower. The two of us.

11 Like it was a friend. So all right, I know how that sounds too: We’ll situnder a tree and talk to each other. Read poems about mowing. Totallywack.

12 But the feeling was there.13 Next I found myself sitting on the mower, my feet on the pedals. I moved

the throttle to the rabbit position—it had been on turtle—and pushed the left pedal down, and the blade started whirring. The mower seemed togive a happy leap forward off the sidewalk and I was mowing the lawn.

14 Or dirt. As I said, we didn’t really have much of a lawn. Dust and bits ofdead grass flew everywhere and until I figured out the steering, the mailbox,my mother’s flowers near the front step and a small bush were in danger.

15 But in a few minutes I got control of the thing and I sheared off whatlittle grass there was.

16 The front lawn didn’t take long, but before I was done the next-doorneighbor came to the fence, attracted by the dust cloud. He waved me over.

17 I stopped in front of him, pulled the throttle back and killed the engine.The sudden silence was almost deafening. I stood up away from the mower,my ears humming, so I could hear him.

18 “You mow lawns?” he asked. “How much?”19 And that was how it started.

Grade 4

Title and Author: Excerpt from Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen Word count: 579

Quantitative Analysis Summary of Grade 4 Assessment Placement:


48 Overall rating: Readily Accessible This literary text is appropriate for 4th grade assessment. Though quantitatively it falls slightly below the grade band, the treatment of its theme and use of an informal style make it appropriate for grade 4. Lexile: 600

Flesch-Kincaid: 3.2


6.6

Qualitative Analysis Literary Text


Meaning Multiple levels of meaning that may be difficult to identify, separate, and interpret; theme is implicit, subtle, or ambiguous and may be revealed over the entirety of the text.

Multiple levels of meaning that are relatively easy to identify; theme is clear, but may be conveyed with some subtlety.

One level of meaning; theme is obvious and revealed early in the text.

The theme is revealed in paragraph 8, where the reader sees that the boy and lawnmower belong together, and is explicitly stated in paragraph 11. The author uses an informal style; first person narration makes it an accessible text.

Text Structure

Prose or poetry contains more intricate elements such as subplots, shifts in point-of-view, shifts in time, or non-standard text structures.

Prose includes two or more storylines or has a plot that is somewhat difficult to predict (e.g., in the case of a non-linear plot); poetry has some implicit or unpredictable structural elements.

Prose or poetry is organized clearly and/or chronologically; the events in a prose work are easy to predict because the plot is linear; poetry has explicit and predictable structural elements.

Most of the text is organized in a linear fashion except for a shift in time in paragraph 5, which requires some attention, but is appropriate to 4th grade. There is one plot line, which is predictable given the clear storyline.

Language Features

Language is generally complex, with abstract, ironic, and/or figurative language, and regularly includes archaic, unfamiliar, and academic words; text uses a variety of sentence structures, including complex sentences with subordinate phrases and clauses.

Language is often explicit and literal, but includes academic, archaic, or other words with complex meaning (e.g., figurative language); text uses a variety of sentence structures.


The text uses an informal style with a strong sense of voice (paragraph 11) and first person narration. It is constructed of a variety of sentence structures. There is some content-specific vocabulary (i.e., throttle, leverage, pull rope, and tinkerer), but these do not overly complicate comprehension.

Knowledge Demands

The text explores complex, sophisticated, or abstract themes; text is dependent on allusions to other texts or cultural elements; allusions or references have no context and require inference and evaluation.

The text explores several themes; text makes few references or allusions to other texts or cultural elements; the meaning of references or allusions may be partially explained in context.

The text explores a single theme; if there are any references or allusions, they are fully explained in the text.

Passage requires no prior knowledge in order for readers to comprehend.

Optional Graphics

When graphics are present, the connection between the text and graphics is subtle and requires interpretation.

Graphics support interpretation of selected parts of the corresponding written text; they may introduce some new and relevant information.

Graphics support and assist in interpreting text by directly representing important concepts from the corresponding written text.

Graphics help situate reader into the context and theme of passage.

53

304031P

Read this article. Then answer questions XX through XX.

Elephants Don’t Wear Bootsby Lisa Hart

1 Did you ever wonder while snuggling up in your winter coat, how zoolions keep warm? Did you ever picture when pulling on your hat andmittens, a flamingo wearing a scarf? Did you ever consider as you put onyour winter boots that elephants do not wear boots?

2 The lions stretched out on the rocks at the zoo share a secret. The hotrocks they lie on are not real. Heaters hidden under the fake stones keep thebig cats cozy warm. Zoos use lots of little tricks to help the animals in theircare fight off the chill of winter. Keepers warm up the water in swimmingpools for residents like the otters.

3 Animals such as deer and elk find outside shelter in three-sided barnswith extra bedding.

4 Nature allows many animals like flamingos to adapt to some cold even ifthey come from a warm climate. And if the temperatures dip too low forcomfort, keepers simply bring the animals inside.

5 All this extra time indoors presents a challenge for zoo keepers. For onething, animals need exercise to make up for the time spent cooped up. Anew toy or a small change in schedule gives a bored beast something to lookforward to. Hiding some food treats lets animals do what comes naturally:hunt for their meal.

6 Sometimes a zoo resident’s diet needs changing during the winter too.Zoos give more food to those who build fat to keep warm or become moreactive. Animals that burn less energy in the winter need less food.

7 Forget the snow and the cold. Ice presents the real danger at zoos inwinter. A frozen-over watering hole leaves an animal to go thirsty, spellingdisaster. A slip on the ice in an enclosure leads to deadly, serious injuries.Some animals like elephants never see ice in the wild. Nature did not givethem feet designed for walking on it.

Directions

54

8 So once you snuggle into your coat and pull on your hat, mittens, andboots, pay a visit to a local zoo in winter. You might be surprised at who yousee enjoying the snow.

Grade 4

Title and Author: Elephants Don’t Wear Boots by Lisa Hart Word count: 356



56 Overall rating: Moderately Complex The text's explicit purpose, grounded by the questions in the opening paragraph and coupled with the structure and organization linking ideas within the text, make this appropriate for 4

th grade assessment. The quantitative measures also support this placement, indicating the sentence structures and

vocabulary help to make the text and topic accessible.

Lexile: 970

Flesch-Kincaid: 5.9


5.8

Qualitative Analysis for Informational Text


Purpose The text contains multiple purposes, and the primary purpose is subtle, intricate, and/or abstract.

The primary purpose of the text is not stated explicitly, but is easy to infer based on the content or source. The text may include multiple perspectives.

The primary purpose of the text is clear, concrete, narrowly focused, and explicitly stated. The text has a singular perspective.

The questions in the opening paragraph and the explanation in the second create a clear and focused purpose for the passage about how zoos in colder climates keep animals unaccustomed to those climates healthy throughout the winter.

Text Structure

Connections among an expanded range of ideas, processes, or events are often implicit, subtle, or ambiguous. Organization exhibits some discipline-specific traits. Text features are essential to comprehension of content.

Connections between some ideas, processes, or events are implicit or subtle; organization is generally evident and sequential; any text features help facilitate comprehension of content.

Connections between ideas, processes, and events are explicit and clear; organization is chronological, sequential, or easy to predict because it is linear; any text features help readers navigate content, but are not critical to understanding content.

Organization is generally evident through sections arranged by topic. The connections between paragraphs are more subtle than they are easy to predict, but the smooth paragraph transitions, and the questions that frame the beginning of the passage help to link the ideas presented.

Language Features

Language is generally complex, with abstract, ironic, and/or figurative language, and archaic and academic vocabulary and domain-specific words that are not otherwise defined; text uses many complex sentences with subordinate phrases and clauses.

Language is often explicit and literal, but includes some academic, archaic, or other words with complex meaning; text uses some complex sentences with subordinate phrases or clauses.


Some domain-specific (i.e., Flamingo and enclosure) and/or multiple meaning words are included in the passage. There are some complex sentences as well.

Knowledge Demands

The subject matter of the text relies on specialized, discipline-specific knowledge; the text makes many references or allusions to other texts or outside areas; allusions or references have no context and require inference.

The subject matter of the text involves some discipline-specific knowledge; the text makes some references or allusions to other texts or outside ideas; the meaning of references or allusions may be partially explained in context.

The subject matter of the text relies on little or no discipline-specific knowledge; if there are any references or allusions, they are fully explained in the text.

The text demands some understanding of animals and conditions at zoos, but even without this knowledge there is generally sufficient content included to derive meaning.

Optional Graphics

Graphics are essential to understanding the text; they may clarify or expand information in the text and may require close reading and thoughtful analysis in relation to the text.

Graphics are mainly supplementary to understanding the text; they generally contain or reinforce information found in the text.

Graphics are simple and may be unnecessary to understanding the text.

N/A

44

304029P

Read this article. Then answer questions XX through XX.

Call of the Wildby Debra A. Bailey

1 Its body stretched flat in the water, the hunter swims toward the prey.One hop, and the hunter is out of the water, snatching its catch. Licking itslips, it prepares to devour its meal.

2 A ruthless killer? An unlucky victim? Nope. The hunter is a fluffymuskrat, looking more like a bedroom slipper than a dangerous predator. Itsprey is an apple slice, hidden in an exhibit at the Museum of Life andScience in Durham, N.C.

3 The “hunt” is part of a game called enrichment. And it’s happening atzoos all over the country.Game of life

4 When zoo animals are put on display with nothing to do, they get bored,upset and even sick. That’s especially alarming if the animals are threatenedor endangered and don’t breed because they feel uncomfortable.

5 That’s where enrichment—anything that helps animals act and feel as ifthey are back in the wild—comes in. Natural-looking exhibits, hidden foods,weird smells and even toys are used to promote wild behaviors such ashunting, playing, sniffing and stalking.

6 “Wild muskrats like to look for their food,” says Thea Staab, a Museumof Life and Science animal keeper. That’s why she hides apple slices on treelimbs and sweet potatoes behind fake rocks.Dip Sticks

7 The same thing goes for the chimpanzees at the Oregon ZooSM inPortland.

Oregon Zoo is the registered service mark of the Oregon Zoo and Metro Corporation.

Directions

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8 In the wild, chimps poke sticks into termite mounds to catch a tastysnack. So the zoo built fake termite mounds in the chimp exhibit.

9 “Animals have to work for their food in nature,” says Dr. Blair Csuti,conservation coordinator for the zoo. “This presents their food the way it isin the wild.”

10 Of course, the zookeepers don’t use real termites—they might eat theexhibit instead of the chimps eating them! Instead, the mound is filled withtasty hot sauce and mustard, perfect for dipping. Tall Order

11 What do you do when giraffes lick the walls because they have no leafytrees to nibble?

12 “We take something that looks like giant frozen Lifesavers® candy madeof chunks of bananas, apples and carrots,” says conservation programassistant Cathy Dubreuil of the Calgary Zoo in Alberta, Canada. “Then wehang it from the ceiling.”

13 The result? Giraffes lick the ice to free the food—and forget about thewalls.

14 And then there are smells.15 “Animals just like to sniff things,” says Janine Antrim, behavior specialist

for the San Diego Zoo in California. “We’ll rub the logs in the bear exhibitwith fabric softener sheets, and they love it. They’ll spend hours rubbing andsniffing those spots.”

16 If you think fabric softener sounds strange, wait till you watch a bear rollaround in perfume, aftershave . . . and elephant dung.

17 Whatever makes them happy!

Lifesavers is the registered trademark of the Nabisco Brands Company.

Grade 4

Title and Author: Call of the Wild by Debra A. Bailey Word count: 455


Degrees of Reading Power (DRP): 60 Overall rating: Moderately Complex The qualitative measures point to this text being moderately complex based on qualitative criteria. While some of quantitative analyses places this text in the high end of the grade 4-5 grade band, the use of headings, familiar and contemporary vocabulary measures makes the text appropriate for use on a 4

th grade assessment. In addition, the topic of Call of the Wild, which involves animals coping in captivity

situations, is likely to be a topic of interest for fourth grade students.

Lexile: 910

Flesch-Kincaid: 6.5

Reading Maturity Matric (RMM): 7.7

Qualitative Analysis for Informational Text


Purpose The text contains multiple purposes and the primary purpose is subtle, intricate, and/or abstract.

The primary purpose of the text is not stated explicitly, but is easy to infer based on the content or source. The text may include multiple perspectives.

The primary purpose of the text is clear, concrete, narrowly focused, and explicitly stated. The text has a singular perspective.

The purpose of the text can be inferred in the first two sections and there is one consistent perspective: animals in captivity need to be engaged in activities.

Text Structure

Connections among an expanded range of ideas, processes, or events are often implicit, subtle, or ambiguous. Organization exhibits some discipline-specific traits. Text features are essential to comprehension of content.

Connections between some ideas, processes, or events are implicit or subtle; organization is generally evident and sequential; any text features help facilitate comprehension of content.

Connections between ideas, processes, and events are explicit and clear; organization is chronological, sequential, or easy to predict because it is linear; any text features help readers navigate content, but are not critical to understanding content.

Organization is generally evident, but it is not sequential or chronological; it jumps to different animals in different zoos addressing problems and solutions within several, but not all, sections. The headings help the reader navigate the content, supporting the connections between ideas.

Language Features

Language is generally complex, with abstract, ironic, and/or figurative language, and archaic and academic vocabulary and domain-specific words that are not otherwise defined; text uses many complex sentences with subordinate phrases and clauses.

Language is often explicit and literal, but includes some academic, archaic, or other words with complex meaning; text uses some complex sentences with subordinate phrases or clauses.


The passage contains undefined and domain-specific terminology (i.e., stalking, devour, and dung); academic terms (i.e., coordinator and specialist); and words with multiple meaning (i.e., exhibits and presents); all embedded sometimes in the same complex sentence. This is partially balanced by contemporary and familiar vocabulary and tone.

Knowledge Demands

The subject matter of the text relies on specialized, discipline-specific knowledge; the text makes many references or allusions to other texts or outside areas; allusions or references have no context and require inference.

The subject matter of the text involves some discipline-specific knowledge; the text makes some references or allusions to other texts or outside ideas; the meaning of references or allusions may be partially explained in context.

The subject matter of the text relies on little or no discipline-specific knowledge; if there are any references or allusions, they are fully explained in the text.

Readers have to be familiar with some basic science knowledge of predator-prey relationships. Author makes multiple references to museum and zoo exhibits. While there are additional outside references that are not explicitly explained (i.e., fabric softener sheets and aftershave), these are not crucial to understanding the important points in the text.

Optional Graphics

Graphics are essential to understanding the text; they may clarify or expand information in the text and may require close reading and thoughtful analysis in relation to the text.

Graphics are mainly supplementary to understanding the text; they generally contain or reinforce information found in the text.

Graphics are simple and may be unnecessary to understanding the text.

N/A

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