VII. English Language Arts, Reading Comprehension, Grade 8

[Pages:30]VII. English Language Arts, Reading Comprehension, Grade 8

Grade 8 English Language Arts Reading Comprehension Test

The spring 2008 grade 8 MCAS English Language Arts Reading Comprehension test was based on learning standards in the two content strands of the Massachusetts English Language Arts Curriculum Framework (2001) listed below. Page numbers for the learning standards appear in parentheses.

Language (Framework, pages 19?26) Reading and Literature (Framework, pages 35?64) The English Language Arts Curriculum Framework is available on the Department Web site at doe.mass.edu/frameworks/current.html. In Test Item Analysis Reports and on the Subject Area Subscore pages of the MCAS School Reports and District Reports, ELA Reading Comprehension test results are reported under two MCAS reporting categories: Language and Reading and Literature, which are identical to the two Framework content strands listed above.

Test Sessions and Content Overview The MCAS grade 8 ELA Reading Comprehension test included three separate test sessions. Each session included selected readings, followed by multiple-choice and open-response questions. Common reading passages and test items are shown on the following pages as they appeared in test booklets. Due to copyright restrictions, certain reading passages cannot be released to the public on the Web site. For further information, contact Student Assessment Services at 781-338-3625.

Reference Materials and Tools The use of bilingual word-to-word dictionaries was allowed for current and former limited English proficient students only, during all three ELA Reading Comprehension test sessions. No other reference materials were allowed during any ELA Reading Comprehension test session.

Cross-Reference Information The table at the conclusion of this chapter indicates each item's reporting category and the Framework general standard it assesses. The correct answers for multiple-choice questions are also displayed in the table.

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Reading Comprehension: Session 1

DIRECTIONS This session contains three reading selections with seventeen multiple-choice questions and two open-response questions. Mark your answers to these questions in the spaces provided in your Student Answer Booklet.

In this famous speech given on January 28, 1986, President Ronald Reagan addresses a nation that has just witnessed the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger. Read the introduction and the speech, and answer the questions that follow.

President Ronald Reagan Honors the Memory of the Seven Astronauts Killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion.

1

Officially, it was "Shuttle Mission 51-L," but every American knew it

as "the flight with the teacher" because one of the crew members was a

thirty-seven-year-old teacher named Christa McAuliffe. The first civilian to

venture into space, McAuliffe had been chosen out of 11,000 volunteers to

join six astronauts on the space shuttle Challenger. Promising "the ultimate field trip," NASA1 heavily promoted the launch, and tens of millions of

Americans--many of them schoolchildren--tuned in to witness the historic

event live on January 28, 1986. At 11:39 a.m., cheers erupted at Cape

Canaveral and at McAuliffe's school back in Concord, New Hampshire, as

the Challenger soared skyward into a picture-perfect, cloudless sky. And then

suddenly, inconceivably, the shuttle disappeared into a massive fireball as the

two booster rockets sailed on, leaving behind a billowy pitchfork of smoke.

Shock immediately turned to grief as the realization sank in: The shuttle

had exploded, killing everyone on board. President Reagan was scheduled

to give the State of the Union address before Congress that evening, but

instead focused solely on the seven crew members who lost their lives--the

first American astronauts ever to die in flight.

* * *

2 Ladies and gentlemen, I'd planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the Union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss.

3 Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we've never lost an astronaut in flight. We've never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle. But they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, overcame them, and did their

1 NASA -- National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the government agency responsible for space travel and exploration

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jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together. 4 To the families of the seven: We cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, "Give me a challenge, and I'll meet it with joy." They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us. We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us, but for twentyfive years the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers. 5 And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them. 6 I've always had great faith in and respect for our space program, and what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don't hide our space program. We don't keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public. That's the way freedom is, and we wouldn't change it for a minute. We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here. Our hopes and our journeys continue. I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA or who worked on this mission and tell them, "Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades, and we know of your anguish. We share it." 7 There's a coincidence today. On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and an historian later said, "He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it." Well today we can say of the Challenger crew, Their dedication was, like Drake's, complete. 8 The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."2

2 a quotation from the poem "High Flight" by John Gillespie Magee Introduction to President Ronald Reagan's speech reprinted by permission of Kodansha America, Inc. Challenger speech in the public domain.

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ID:234525 A Common

1 According to the introduction, why was "Shuttle Mission 51-L" considered to be historic and different from other space flights?

A. It included the first private citizen.

B. It included the first female astronaut.

C. It was the first time a space shuttle was launched.

D. It was the first time astronauts planned to walk in space.

ID:234548 B Common

3 In paragraph 5, how does President Reagan try to console schoolchildren?

A. by suggesting there will be no future tragedies

B. by explaining the tragedy as a risk of exploration

C. by promising they will solve the shuttle's problems

D. by explaining the reasons for the shuttle's accident

ID:234527 A Common

2 Based on the introduction, what was the most likely reason that NASA described the shuttle mission as "the ultimate field trip"?

A. to emphasize the fact that a teacher was part of the shuttle crew

B. to publicize the fact that the mission included the first space walk

C. to encourage people to travel to Cape Canaveral to watch the launch

D. to indicate that the main purpose of the shuttle mission was educational

ID:234549 C Common

4 In paragraph 5, President Reagan urges his audience to

A. solve the problems of the past.

B. forget about the tragedies of the past.

C. focus on the challenges of the future.

D. anticipate further problems in the future.

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ID:234556 C Common

5 In paragraph 7, what is the main reason President Reagan refers to Sir Francis Drake? A. to show that past explorers are sometimes forgotten B. to show that a person must die to be considered a hero C. to show that the astronauts are as heroic as past explorers D. to show that the frontiers of human exploration have changed

ID:234559 B Common

6 What is the main message of President Reagan's speech? A. Americans should question the future of the space program. B. Americans should honor the Challenger crew by sharing their dream. C. Americans should trust that a similar tragedy is unlikely to happen again. D. Americans should solve the problems that caused the Challenger tragedy.

ID:234531 C Common

7 In the speech, President Reagan uses the pronoun "we" to refer mainly to A. the Challenger crew. B. government officials. C. the American people. D. himself and his wife.

ID:256723 D Common

8 What does the colon used at the beginning of paragraph 4 indicate? A. President Reagan is beginning a list. B. President Reagan is pausing for suspense. C. President Reagan has omitted some words. D. President Reagan is addressing a specific audience.

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Question 9 is an open-response question.

?Read the question carefully. ?Explain your answer. ?Add supporting details. ?Double-check your work.

Write your answer to question 9 in the space provided in your Student Answer Booklet.

ID:234563 Common

9 Explain the techniques President Reagan uses in his speech to honor the Challenger astronauts. Support your answer with relevant and specific details from the speech.

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In the following excerpt from her autobiography, author Zora Neale Hurston recalls a significant memory from her childhood. Read the excerpt and answer the questions that follow.

from Dust Tracks on a Road

by Zora Neale Hurston

. . .

1 Naturally, I felt like other children in that death, destruction and other agonies were never meant to touch me. Things like that happened to other people, and no wonder. They were not like me and mine. Naturally, the world and the firmaments* careened to one side a little so as not to inconvenience me. In fact, the universe went further than that--it was happy to break a few rules just to show me preferences.

2 For instance, for a long time I gloated over the happy secret that when I played outdoors in the moonlight the moon followed me, whichever way I ran. The moon was so happy when I came out to play, that it ran shining and shouting after me like a pretty puppy dog. The other children didn't count.

3 But, I was rudely shaken out of this when I confided my happy secret to Carrie Roberts, my chum. It was cruel. She not only scorned my claim, she said that the moon was paying me no mind at all. The moon, my own happy private-playing moon, was out in its play yard to race and play with her.

4 We disputed the matter with hot jealousy, and nothing would do but we must run a race to prove which one the moon was loving. First, we both ran a race side by side, but that proved nothing because we both contended that the moon was going that way on account of us. I just knew that the moon was there to be with me, but Carrie kept on saying that it was herself that the moon preferred. So then it came to me that we ought to run in opposite directions so that Carrie could come to her senses and realize the moon was mine. So we both stood with our backs to our gate, counted three and tore out in opposite directions.

5 "Look! Look, Carrie!" I cried exultantly. "You see the moon is following me!" 6 "Aw, youse a tale-teller! You know it's chasing me." 7 So Carrie and I parted company, mad as we could be with each other. When

the other children found out what the quarrel was about, they laughed it off. They told me the moon always followed them. The unfaithfulness of the moon hurt me deeply. My moon followed Carrie Roberts. My moon followed Matilda Clarke and Julia Moseley, and Oscar and Teedy Miller. But after a while, I ceased to ache over the moon's many loves. I found comfort in the fact that though I was not the moon's exclusive friend, I was still among those who showed the moon which way to go. That was my earliest conscious hint that the world didn't tilt under my footfalls, nor careen over one-sided just to make me glad.

. . .

* firmaments -- objects in the sky overhead

Pages 26?27 from DUST TRACKS ON A ROAD by Zora Neale Hurston. Copyright 1942 by Zora Neale Hurston; renewed ? 1970 by John C. Hurston. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

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