ELA/Literacy Released Items 2015 Grade 9 Conventions Sample Student Responses (from all 3 released tasks)
Anchor Set A1 A8
A1a
A1b
Score Point 3 A1c
Annotations Anchor Paper 1 Conventions Score Point 3 The response demonstrates full command of the conventions of standard English at an appropriate level of complexity. The response includes several successful examples of sentences with varying complexity (To begin with, Stretching Sound to Help the Mind See describes mainly how sound is the first sense to be switched on and how it lacks acknowledgement since it is believed to function as an accompaniment for what someone sees). Spelling and punctuation are well executed and the meaning is clear.
Score Point 3 A2
Annotations Anchor Paper 2 Conventions Score Point 3 The response demonstrates a full command of conventions. There are minor capitalization errors (my wife began to scold), but they do not impede understanding.
Score Point 2 A3
Annotations Anchor Paper 3 Conventions Score Point 2 The response includes some basic errors, including randomly capitalized words (Excerpt, Water, Each), missing apostrophes in contractions (Ill [I ll], wouldnt, isnt), and overused, misplaced commas. One sentence contains misused commas in addition to a basic spelling error (This shows, that the first sense humans recieve [receive], is sound.). The lack of a verb in the attempted first sentence of the fourth paragraph impedes understanding (Lastly, the excerpt Stretching Sound to Help the Mind See, by Walter Murch, biology of humans, and how we perceive sound.). However, the overall level of complex constructions and quantity of well-controlled evidence demonstrate some command of the conventions of standard English at grade 9.
Score Point 2 A4
Annotations Anchor Paper 4 Conventions Score Point 2 The response includes some minor errors in usage, punctuation, and spelling (past [passed], Sirenes island, peom), along with sometimes incorrect use of commas (In McCayghrean s poem the majority of the story was about how Odysseus was tied up, and ignored, by Polites, one of Odysseus s men.) and a comma splice in the last sentence. While meaning is generally clear, some lack of control of sentence construction occasionally impedes understanding (In Pope s poem Polites was not mentioned, as for any other Odysseus s companions [and] Im conclusion, McCaughrean pretty much took the middle part of Pope s story, where Odysseus was being tied up and the men rowing while already having wax in their ears, and making his own). Overall, the response demonstrates some command of the conventions of standard English at an appropriate level of complexity.
Score Point 1 A5
Annotations Anchor Paper 5 Conventions Score Point 1 The response demonstrates limited command of the conventions of standard English at an appropriate level of complexity. The response includes some examples of successfully written sentences with dependent and independent clauses (Also in Stretching sound to help the Mind See it talks about how sound is our very first sense [and] In Sound as my Mentor it talks about how water is very important to life). There are capitalization errors in titles ( first notes, Stretching sound to help the Mind See ) and throughout some sentences (When at the Cinema without Sound the image is unlikely to appear good). There are errors in punctuation and spelling (lulabys, anouncers). The errors in mechanics and grammar often impede understanding.
Score Point 1 A6
Annotations Anchor Paper 6 Conventions Score Point 1 The response provides limited evidence and includes a few errors, such as the lack of punctuation to indicate the titles of the passages, a misspelling (writen), an un-capitalized proper adjective and proper noun (old english), an incorrectly punctuated plural possessive (Siren s singing), and a sentence fragment. The meaning is relatively clear; therefore, the response demonstrates limited command of the conventions of standard English at grade 9.
Score Point 0 A7
Annotations Anchor Paper 7 Conventions Score Point 0 The response demonstrates no command of the conventions of standard English. Frequent and varied errors in sentence constructions (Yes,sound is difficult to talk about because,no one really knows how sound works it just does.), spelling (toung, mabey), spacing, and punctuation impede understanding.
Score Point 0 A8
Annotations Anchor Paper 8 Conventions Score Point 0 No command of the conventions of standard English is demonstrated in this three-sentence response. Errors in capitalization (i, sudays) and punctuation (didnt) often impede the reader s understanding.