STAAR ELA Stragies

Last year, 75% of T.H. Rogers 7th graders earned advanced performance (commended status) on the Reading STAAR. This year, our goal is 100% passing, and 90% or more individuals earning the advanced performance designation. The latter notation shows a high level mastery of 8th grade curriculum, and shows your high school instructors you are ready for advanced exploration of subject material.1 You will take the 8th grade Reading STAAR Test on March 30th. You are allotted four hours for the STAAR Reading test and are allowed to use a dictionary and a thesaurus.

15 STAAR Reading Test Reminders2 General: 1. This is a timed test, but you do not get any extra points for speed, only for accuracy. Take your sweet time and pace yourself. You will have 7-8 passages and 52 questions to answer. Plan to spend 15-20 minutes (or more) per passage. You’ll be testing for at least 2 ½ hours.

2. There will often be at least two answers that seem correct; you must find the BEST answer. If stuck between two answers, pick the one with the best textual evidence.

3. When none of the choices makes sense, use process of elimination to narrow down.

4. Circle any question you’re not sure about; go back to look at it at the end of the section.

5. Coach yourself based on our practice tests / warm-ups / Study Island. If you tend to second-guess correct answers, trust your instincts! If you tend to make careless mistakes, pay attention!

6. Circle all your answers, and check your bubbles one last time before you turn in the test.

1 STAAR performance standards relate levels of test performance to the expectations defined in the state-mandated curriculum standards known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Cut scores established by the agency distinguish between performance levels, or categories. The process of establishing cut scores that define performance levels for an assessment is standard setting. Standard setting is also used to classify students into an appropriate performance category. For the general STAAR assessments, the labels for the performance categories are Level III: Advanced Academic Performance Level II: Satisfactory Academic Performance Level I: Unsatisfactory Verbatim from http://tea.texas.gov/student.assessment/staar/performance-standards/

Ms. Laura Arrazolo is the author of the remainder of this document. STAAR ELA Stragies

Do NOT leave any questions blank! This is not the SAT. A wrong answer = 0 points

All Reading sections: 1. Get into what you are reading! Visualize. Hear the voices speaking. Learn the facts. 2. The more closely you read and annotate the passage the FIRST time, the more ready you’ll be to answer the questions, especially the “big idea” questions like main idea, characterization, theme, tone, point of view, and author’s purpose. Interpret as you go!

3. Pay attention to what kind of genre you’re reading, especially if you are reading nonfiction. Is this a letter? A set of instructions? An advertisement? An informative article? etc.

4. Read carefully, but do not “overanalyze” (no conspiracy theories!) or add anything to the question or text that isn’t given or implied (even if it’s something you know about).

5. There will be five to six single passages and one or two sets of paired passages. For the paired passages, read one passage and answer its questions, then the next passage and answer its questions, then answer comparison/contrast questions for the two passages.

6. You may use a dictionary for any word, including the Words in Context, but you must check the meaning with the context of the word as it is used in the passage. If you can, notice the part of speech; this may help you. Otherwise, just use the context clues.

7. When stuck between two good answers, choose the one that is more specifically accurate. A correct summary will also be well-written. Correct answers use literary terms correctly.

8. Use AT LEAST one highlighter to mark important parts of the text. See the lists below for the “TPCASTT” / “TPCRAST” reminders of what to highlight.

Poetry: TPCASTT Title; Paraphrase; Connotations (FIDDS*); Attitudes; Shifts; Title Revisited; Theme; *Figurative Language, Imagery, Diction (Word Choice), Details, Syntax (Sentence Structure) What to watch for: TPCRAST (differs slightly by genre) Fiction: Title; Paraphrase by sections; Character & Conflict; Reactions; Attitudes; Shifts; Theme Nonfiction: Title; Paraphrase main ideas; Connect details; Reasons/Examples; Author’s Purpose; Shifts/Contrasts

*Final note: If something about the test seems weird (extra passage, strange question), don’t panic; it’s probably a field test passage or question. But you never know! Still do your very best. STAAR ELA Stragies