Test Information Guide

Field 50: Middle School Humanities
Sample Open-Response Items

The following materials contain:

Sample Test Directions for Open-Response Items

This section of the test consists of two open-response item assignments. You will be asked to prepare a written response of approximately 150–300 words for each assignment. You should use your time to plan, write, review, and edit your response for each assignment. You must write responses to both of the assignments.

For each assignment, read the topic and directions carefully before you begin to work. Think about how you will organize your response.

As a whole, your response to each assignment must demonstrate an understanding of the knowledge of the field. In your response to each assignment, you are expected to demonstrate the depth of your understanding of the subject area by applying your knowledge rather than by merely reciting factual information.

Your response to each assignment will be evaluated based on the following criteria.

The open-response item assignments are intended to assess subject knowledge. Your responses must be communicated clearly enough to permit valid judgment of the evaluation criteria by scorers. Your responses should be written for an audience of educators in this field. The final version of each response should conform to the conventions of edited American English. Your responses should be your original work, written in your own words, and not copied or paraphrased from some other work.

Be sure to write about the assigned topics. You may not use any reference materials during the test. Remember to review your work and make any changes you think will improve your responses.

Sample Open-Response Item #1

Objective 0016
Prepare an organized, developed analysis on a topic related to literature, language, reading, rhetoric, and/or composition.

Read the excerpt below from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), a novel by Mark Twain; then complete the exercise that follows.

In the excerpt shown below, Tom, the novel's young protagonist, is lovesick. His guardian, Aunt Polly, assumes he is physically ill and sets out to cure him.

He no longer took an interest in war, nor even in piracy. The charm of life was gone; there was nothing but dreariness left. He put his hoop away, and his bat; there was no joy in them any more. His aunt was concerned. She began to try all manner of remedies on him. She was one of those people who are infatuated with patent medicines and all newfangled methods of producing health or mending it. She was a constant experimenter in these things. When something fresh in this line came out she was in a fever, right away, to try it, not on herself, for she was never ailing, but on anybody else that came handy. She was a subscriber for all the "health" periodicals, and the solemn ignorance they were inflated with was breath to her nostrils. . . . She was as simple-hearted and honest as the day was long, and so she was an easy victim. She gathered together her quack periodicals and her quick medicines, and thus armed with death, went about on her pale horse, metaphorically speaking, with "hell following after." But she never suspected that she was not an angel of healing in disguise, to the suffering neighbors. . . .

Tom had become indifferent to persecution by this time. This phase filled the old lady's heart with consternation. This indifference must be broken up at any cost. Now she heard of Pain Killer for the first time. She ordered a lot at once. She tasted it and was filled with gratitude. It was simply fire in a liquid form. She dropped the water treatment and everything else and pinned her faith to Pain Killer. She gave Tom a teaspoonful and watched with the deepest anxiety for the result. Her troubles were instantly at rest, her soul at peace again; for the "indifference" was broken up. The boy could not have shown a wilder, heartier interest if she had built a fire under him.

Tom felt that it was time to wake up; this sort of life might be romantic enough, in his blighted condition, but it was getting to have too little sentiment and too much distracting variety about it. So he thought over various plans for relief and finally hit upon that of professing to be fond of Pain Killer. He asked for it so often that he became a nuisance, and his aunt ended by telling him to help himself and quit bothering her.

Using your knowledge of literature, write a response in which you:

Be sure to cite specific evidence from the excerpt in your response.

Sample Strong Response to Open-Response Item #1

The sample response below reflects a strong knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.

The main theme of this passage from Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is that people often put misplaced faith in simple solutions as manifested in Aunt Polly’s gullibility. She is full of enthusiasm for "patent medicines and all newfangled methods of producing health or mending it," even though these are just quack remedies. She subscribes to magazines about them and buys everything she sees advertised. Then she goes around trying to treat all her neighbors' ailments, with her "quack periodicals and her quick medicines." But the neighbors don't appreciate this, and she has no idea.

She thinks Tom Sawyer is sick, but really he is lovesick. She gives him Pain Killer to try to cure him. But Tom is a step ahead of her. He pretends to like the medicine and asks for it so often that "he became a nuisance," and his aunt ends up telling him to leave her alone and just help himself. This is the irony, that by pretending to like the medicine he gets out of being pestered by her. It is also ironic that the medicine is probably alcohol, and again, she has no idea. No wonder he likes it so much.

Sample Open-Response Item #2

Objective 0017
Prepare an organized, developed analysis on a topic related to history, geography, government, and/or economics.

Read the information below; then complete the exercise that follows.

Two of the most important political revolutions of the modern era—the American Revolution of 1776 and the French Revolution of 1789—not only had profound effects on the lives of people within those countries but also had consequences that extended well beyond the time and place in which they occurred.

Using your knowledge of world history, write a response in which you:

Sample Strong Response to Open-Response Item #2

The sample response below reflects a strong knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.

The American revolution was led by individuals who were looking for political and economic justice within a system they basically accepted. They felt their rights were being abused by the English government, and they did not want to pay the new taxes proposed by the English without having political representation in Parliament.

When the American colonists' demands were ignored, they decided to break from England. The war that resulted had several important features. First, casualties were largely suffered by soldiers. While some Loyalists were persecuted and many lost property, there was no reign of terror in the British colonies. Second, the Americans received the assistance of French soldiers and sailors who helped the American revolutionaries defeat the British.

The revolution in France was different. First of all, it was rooted in anger at old feudal rules and obligatons and in the economic hardship felt to one degree or another by most people in French society. The French Revolution was also more ideological and more radical—ultimately involving executions of people identified as enemies of the Revolution. A third difference was that the revolution in France was carried out by the French themselves without outside support. Finally, the French also had to deal with enormous opposition and ended up fighting neighboring countries to protect their revolutionary ideas.

Although some of the ideas that guided the Americans could be found in the words of the French leaders ("liberty, equality, fraternity"), the origins of the two revolutions were not the same and the results were quite different. After the defeat of the British, the American colonists created a representative democracy. The French ended up with a dictatorship followed by the restoration of the monarchy.

Scoring Rubric

Performance Characteristics

The following characteristics guide the scoring of responses to the open-response item(s).

Performance Characteristics
Purpose The extent to which the response achieves the purpose of the assignment.
Subject Matter Knowledge Accuracy and appropriateness in the application of subject matter knowledge.
Support Quality and relevance of supporting details.
Rationale Soundness of argument and degree of understanding of the subject matter.

Scoring Scale

The scoring scale below, which is related to the performance characteristics for the tests, is used by scorers in assigning scores to responses to the open-response item(s).

Score Scale with description for each score point.
Score Point Score Point Description
4 The "4" response reflects a thorough knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.
  • The purpose of the assignment is fully achieved.
  • There is substantial, accurate, and appropriate application of subject matter knowledge.
  • The supporting evidence is sound; there are high-quality, relevant examples.
  • The response reflects an ably reasoned, comprehensive understanding of the topic.
3 The "3" response reflects an adequate knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.
  • The purpose of the assignment is largely achieved.
  • There is a generally accurate and appropriate application of subject matter knowledge.
  • The supporting evidence is adequate; there are some acceptable, relevant examples.
  • The response reflects an adequately reasoned understanding of the topic.
2 The "2" response reflects a limited knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.
  • The purpose of the assignment is partially achieved.
  • There is a limited, possibly inaccurate or inappropriate, application of subject matter knowledge.
  • The supporting evidence is limited; there are few relevant examples.
  • The response reflects a limited, poorly reasoned understanding of the topic.
1 The "1" response reflects a weak knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.
  • The purpose of the assignment is not achieved.
  • There is little or no appropriate or accurate application of subject matter knowledge.
  • The supporting evidence, if present, is weak; there are few or no relevant examples.
  • The response reflects little or no reasoning about or understanding of the topic.
U The response is unrelated to the assigned topic, illegible, primarily in a language other than English, not of sufficient length to score, or merely a repetition of the assignment.
B There is no response to the assignment.