TCAP TENNESSEE COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT PROGRAM

GRADES 6-7 PROMPT 1 FOCUS &

ORGANIZATION GUIDE

Grades 9–10 Page 2 of 12

Score: Focus & Organization

4

In response to the task and the stimuli, the writing:

• contains an effective and relevant introduction.

• utilizes effective organizational strategies to create a unified whole and

to aid in comprehension.

• effectively clarifies relationships among ideas and concepts to create

cohesion.

• contains an effective and relevant concluding statement or section.

3

In response to the task and the stimuli, the writing:

• contains a relevant introduction.

• utilizes adequate organizational strategies to create a mostly unified

whole and to aid in comprehension.

• clarifies most relationships among ideas and concepts, but there may be

some gaps in cohesion.

• contains a relevant concluding statement or section.

2

In response to the task and the stimuli, the writing:

• contains a limited introduction.

• demonstrates an attempt to use organizational strategies to create

some unification, but ideas may be hard to follow at times.

• clarifies some relationships among ideas and concepts, but there are

lapses in focus.

• contains a limited concluding statement or section.

1

In response to the task and the stimuli, the writing:

• contains no or an irrelevant introduction.

• demonstrates an unclear organizational structure; ideas are hard to

follow most of the time.

• fails to clarify relationships among ideas and concepts; concepts are

unclear and/or there is a lack of focus.

• contains no or an irrelevant concluding statement or section.

Grades 9–10 Page 3 of 12

EXPLANATION OF FOCUS & ORGANIZATION RUBRIC TERMS

“In response to the task and stimuli”

• As you assess focus and organization in a student’s response, remember that you are scoring based upon how the student foc uses on the task and organizes in response to the task and the stimuli. If a response does not address the task, organization would be considered irrelevant due to a lack of focus on the task.

“organizational strategies”

• Organizational strategies are techniques the studen t utilizes throughout in order to create a unified response and order inform ation appropriately. These strategies can include the use of paragraphs to group related information, use of transitional words and phrases to connect ideas, and the use of comparison and contrast.

“unified whole”

• A successful response should demonstrate the abilit y to remain focused throughout and should be organized appropriately to help the reader clearly understand the student’s ideas.

“relationships among ideas and concepts”

• It is the responsibility of the student to explain how ideas and concepts are related throughout his or her response. If ideas an d concepts are disconnected, the score will be affected.

“focus”

• Focus refers to the student’s ability to remain on- task. The student’s ideas and concepts should always be connected to the task and stimuli and the student’s central idea, thesis, or claim. If they a re not, the response becomes irrelevant to the given task.

“concluding statement or section”

• The concluding statement or section refers to the c onclusion. The relevance of a student’s conclusion depends upon hi s or her ability to appropriately bring ideas to a close and his or her ability to relate closing statements to the overall focus of the response.

You will now review 8 individual student responses, scored only in Focus & Organization, along with annotations to help you in ternalize the use of the rubric for this trait.

Response#: 2-a Litho#: M048807000167Set A

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Focus and Organization: Response #1a

Response#: 36-a Litho#: M048807002718Set B

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Focus and Organization: Response #2a

Response#: 46-a Litho#: M048807004433Set B

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Focus and Organization: Response #3a

Response#: 25-a Litho#: M048807000668Set A

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Focus and Organization: Response #4a

Response#: 37-a Litho#: M048807001975Set B

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Focus and Organization: Response #5a

Response#: 37-b Litho#: M048807001975Set B

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Focus and Organization: Response #5b

Response#: 1-a Litho#: M048807000684Set A

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Focus and Organization: Response #6a

Focus and Organization: Response #7a

Response#: 5-a Litho#: M048807006312Set A

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Focus and Organization: Response #8a

Response#: 5-b Litho#: M048807006312Set A

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Focus and Organization: Response #8aFocus and Organization: Response #8b

Response#: 45-a Litho#: M048807005086Set B

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Focus and Organization: Response #9a

Response#: 45-b Litho#: M048807005086Set B

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Focus and Organization: Response #9b

The article “Trim Your Waste” tells us that floating in the middle of

the Pacific Ocean there exists a sub-surface garbage patch, twice

the size of the U.S. and this morrass consists mostly of bits of

decomposing plastic debris! In “Trim Your Waste” by Sharon

Kelly a central idea is that pollution caused by using too much

plastic can be reduced with a few simple steps. Kelly shows this

idea by giving some of these steps: switching to reusable water

bottles, cooking with fresh foods and recycling disposable

packing.

The first way in which the author shows us how to reduce

pollution and improve our environment is explaining why we

should use reusable water bottles. According to Sharon Kelly,

“nearly three million tons of plastic are used worldwide on

disposable water bottles each year.” She says by simply using a

stainless steel bottle, it will reduce the amount of disposable

bottles which will greatly decrease the amount of plastic in our

oceans and landfills. This is important because “In the U.S.,

nearly 80% of these single use containers fail to make it to the

recycling bin.” Kelly wants the reader to understand that there is

not only a lot of plastic being used each year, but also that there

are alternatives to plastic, which if used will put a stop to the

growth of that garbage patch.

Cooking with fresh foods is another way to reduce pollution

because a lot of the food we buy is wrapped in layers of plastic. If

you don’t buy packaged food, you cut back on waste. Also Kelly

says “If you can avoid processed foods…you’ll feel better …” She

means you’ll feel better because not only you’ve helped reduce

pollution but because you are also eating healthier. Therefore

Focus and Organization: Response #10a

according to the author, cooking with fresh foods instead of

packaged can have two great benefits.

The final step that the author says is a good idea to reduce

pollution is to recycle all disposable packaging that are used.

“The U.S. Environmental Protection agency estimates that

roughly 75% of waste is recyclable, but only third actually makes

it to the right bin,” which means that a significant percentage ends

up as pollution. The author uses these facts to let the reader

know that there is room for improvement.

In summary, Sharon Kelly explains the central idea by discussing

the enormous pollution problem and providing a plan to reduce

pollution: use durable, long lasting water bottles, cook with fresh

foods and recycle all disposable packaging. Following these

steps can have a large positive impact on the environment by

reducing pollution.

Focus and Organization: Response #10b