US 31008 annotated exemplars

This annotated exemplar is intended for teacher use only. Annotated exemplars are extracts of student evidence, with commentary, that explain key parts of a standard. These help teachers make assessment judgements at the grade boundaries.

Download all exemplars and commentary [PDF, 1.6 MB]

For Achieved, the learner needs to read and understand a range of written texts independently.

This involves:

• reading a minimum of six written texts, one of which is an extended written text, of at least three different text types
• recording the date of reading, title, text type and the author or source of each text in a reading log
• providing a personal written, oral or visual response to each text to show engagement with the text.

This learner has read six written texts of three different text types – three short stories, two poems and an autobiographical extended text.

The title, text type, author of each text and the date read have been recorded (1). All texts meet CEFR high B1 complexity requirements.

A personal response has been written for each of the six texts, three of which are included. Responses show engagement with the text in different ways. These include making connections between the text and the reader’s experiences, such as happiness at school and celebrating one’s cultural legacy through performance (2).

Engagement is also shown through empathy with the hardships and fears of Rwandan refugees, based on prior knowledge of family struggles (3).

Other responses not included make connections between bullying and prior knowledge of teacher mistreatment of students in the reader’s home country, and show empathy towards black American victims of police brutality and a close friend who suffered from extreme anxiety.

For Achieved, the learner needs to read and understand a range of written texts independently.

This involves:

• reading a minimum of six written texts, one of which is an extended written text, of at least three different text types
• recording the date of reading, title, text type and author or source of each text in a reading log
• providing a personal written, oral or visual response to each text to show engagement with the text.

This learner has read six written texts of three different text types – two novels, two articles, a poem and a short story.

The title and author/source of each text have been recorded, as well as the date or term read (1). The text type is recorded correctly for four of the texts.

A personal response has been written for each of the six texts, three of which are included. Some responses show engagement with texts. These include making personal connections in the texts relating to the love theme in ‘The Snow Goose’, and a baby’s first word (2).

Other responses (not included) show connections to ideas about judging and believing people in the context of the novel ‘Psycho’ and to an article about saving endangered species.

For Achieved, stronger evidence of understanding and engagement is needed for the poem ‘Eating Words’, as well as the article (not included) about salty oceans.