Standard #: LA.8.1.7.3 (Archived Standard)


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The student will determine the main idea or essential message in grade-level or higher texts through inferring, paraphrasing, summarizing, and identifying relevant details;


General Information

Subject Area: X-Reading/Language Arts (former standards - 2008)
Grade: 8
Strand: Reading Process
Standard: Reading Comprehension - The student uses a variety of strategies to comprehend grade level text.
Date Adopted or Revised: 01/07
Status: State Board Approved - Archived
Assessed: Yes

Test Item Specifications

    Item Type(s): This benchmark may be assessed using: MC item(s)
    N/A

    Clarification :
    The student will determine the main idea (stated or implied), identify a correct summary statement, locate relevant details and facts, draw logical conclusions, make appropriate inferences, and use details to make predictions beyond a text within or across grade-level;appropriate texts.
    Content Limits :

    Main Idea (stated or implied)
    Summary Statement
    Relevant Details
    Conclusions/Inferences
    Predictions

    Content Focus :
    Grade-level appropriate texts should include an identifiable main idea (stated or implied) and relevant details from which students may draw logical conclusions or make inferences within or across texts.

    Paraphrasing should not be assessed.

    Items may assess a student’s ability to identify a correct summary statement.

    Text Attributes :
    Texts should be literary or informational.

    Other stimuli may include, but are not limited to, illustrations with captions, graphics, and charts.

    Texts should include a main idea (stated or implied) with relevant details, which will enable students to draw logical conclusions and make appropriate inferences.
    Distractor Attributes :
    Distractors may include, but are not limited to
    • details that do not support the main idea;
    • incorrect interpretations of the main idea;
    • incorrect inferences or conclusions based on details found in the text;
    • incorrect summary statements; and
    • plausible but incorrect distractors based on the text.

    Note: Multiple-choice items should not assess a student’s ability to identify details of least importance when assessing a summary or main idea statement.

    Note: A main idea should be stated in a complete sentence.

    Note: A summary statement should be expressed in a complete sentence. 

    Note: When the main idea is assessed in a literary text, it should be assessed as a summary statement (e.g., “Which statement best summarizes the events in the passage?”). When the main idea is assessed in an informational text, it should be assessed as a main idea statement (e.g., “Which sentence best expresses the main idea of the article?”).



Sample Test Items (3)

Test Item # Question Difficulty Type
Sample Item 1 The sample item below is based on “The Earthmovers” on page H–22.

If this article were published in a newspaper, which headline best expresses the main idea?
N/A MC: Multiple Choice
Sample Item 2 The sample item below is based on “The Earthmovers” on page H–22.

Based on their investigations, how do Saunders and Jones think the mounds at Watson Brake and Poverty Point were created?
N/A MC: Multiple Choice
Sample Item 3 The sample item below is based on “The Earthmovers” on page H–22.

Read this quotation from Joe Saunders.

“I think we’re going to find many more surprises that will make us reevaluate what was going on in that period of history.”

In the quotation above, Saunders is indicating that

N/A MC: Multiple Choice


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