School Improvement in Maryland

Public Release Item: Public Release items have appeared on HSA forms and then are released for public viewing and use. Releasing items is one step to ensuring that schools, districts, and other stakeholders understand how the core learning goals are assessed on the HSA.

Goal 4 Evaluating the Content, Organization, and Language Use of Texts

Expectation 4.2 The student will assess the effectiveness of choice of details, organizational pattern, word choice, syntax, use of figurative language, and rhetorical devices.

Indicator 4.2.1 The student will assess the effectiveness of diction that reveals an author's purpose.

Assessment Limits:

  • Evaluating author's choice of words, phrases, sentences, and word order
    • for a particular audience or effect
    • for a given purpose
    • to extend meaning in a context
    • to provide emphasis

Selected Response Item - Released in 2005

Read these lines from the poem "I, Too."

Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.

The poet most likely includes these lines to

  1. predict social change in the future
  2. tell where he will eat the next day
  3. express anger for past treatment
  4. warn uninvited guests to stay away
/share/clg/xml/public_release/english/2005_421_eng23.xml

Correct Answer:
A

Selected Response Item - Released in 2006

Read the screenplay Anna and the King. Then answer the following:

In the stage directions at the beginning of the scene, details such as “deep red carpet” and “golden throne” create an atmosphere of

  1. delight
  2. security
  3. splendor
  4. warmth
/share/clg/xml/public_release/english/2006_421_eng15.xml

Correct Answer:
C

Selected Response Item - Released in 2006

Read the essay “High Tide in Tucson.” Then answer the following.

Read this sentence from the essay.

Then, while we watched in stunned reverence, the strange beast found its bearings and began to reveal a determined, crabby grace.

The author most likely includes the phrase “determined crabby grace” to suggest

  1. the difficulty with which Buster moved
  2. the complexity of Buster's movements
  3. the strength required for Buster to move
  4. the cramped manner of Buster's movements
/share/clg/xml/public_release/english/2006_421_eng36.xml

Correct Answer:
B

Selected Response Item - Released in 2007

Read the essay “A Sea Worry.” Then answer the following:

Read this sentence from paragraph 10 of the essay.

The strip of cliff pulverized into sand is Sandy’s.

The author most likely uses pulverized instead of crumbled to

  1. point out the beauty of the ocean
  2. identify the location of the beach
  3. emphasize the power of the waves
  4. describe the shape of the shoreline
/share/clg/xml/public_release/english/2007_421_eng38.xml

Correct Answer:
C

Selected Response Item - Released in 2008

The following item should be answered upon reading the excerpt “Wanderlust” from the autobiography A Life on the Road by Charles Kuralt, which can be found at most local or school libraries.

“Wanderlust” is a memoir of Kuralt’s early life on the road with his father, his childhood experiences on the farm, and the memory of winning a journalistic contest at age twelve.

Read these sentences from the end of paragraph 8.

They are words that still give me a little thrill of importance all these years later. I did my twelve-year-old best to growl them like a veteran.

Kuralt most likely uses the word growl instead of say to suggest that he is

  1. angry and impatient with the clerk
  2. uncertain about how to treat older people
  3. acting immaturely to get the clerk’s attention
  4. trying to sound older and more experienced
/share/clg/xml/public_release/english/2008_421_eng12.xml

Correct Answer:
D
Resources for 4.2.1:
PUBLIC RELEASE ITEMS | Sample Assessment Items |