On Demand Writing/Constructed Response

With NECAP testing right around the corner, I wanted to take an opportunity to share some information about the constructed response task that is asked of our students in the areas of reading (literary and informational), writing, and mathematics. Although the Vermont Department of Education provides release items that allow our students to practice (http://www.education.vermont.gov/new/html/pgm_assessment/necap.html), I also wanted to share some resources that also allow you as a teacher to create and use authentic constructed response questions in the assignments and assessments you give your students.

In some cases, "preparation for writing on demand is often largely disconnected from the curriculum and puts teachers in the position of teaching to the test while students develop an impoverished concept of writing." (Gere, Christenbury, & Sassi, 2005)

According to this site (https://www.msu.edu/~kingdoro/sample_constructed_responses.htm), "Constructed Response questions are open-ended, short answer questions that measure application-level cognitive skills as well as content knowledge. These questions provide students with the opportunity to generate and weave ideas into a short response. The student supplies a response in the form of a few sentences, a graphic organizer, or a simple drawing/diagram with explanation." In addition, Constructed Response questions "can assess higher level thinking:

• comparisons, contrasts, causes, effects, changes


• identify patterns or conflicting points of view


• categorize or summarize information


• construct graphs or charts from data


• state a generalization, conclusion, explanation or prediction" (http://www.edteck.com/dbq/testing/const_resp.htm)

Below are some resources from the Nevada National Writing Project (NWP) that might be useful to you if you are preparing some authentic constructed responses for your students.

A Suggested Process for Writing Constructed Response Questions -- Tips for writing Constructed Response Questions http://www.writingfix.com/PDFs/RICA_PDFS/constructed_response/A_suggested_process_for_writing_constructed_response_questions.pdf

Solid Versus Unsolid Constructed Response -- Uses "Three Little Pigs" as an example, but gives you an idea of what to look for in these questions.
http://www.writingfix.com/PDFs/RICA_PDFS/constructed_response/solid_versus_unsolid_CR_Questions.pdf


Five Question-Making Suggestions
http://www.writingfix.com/PDFs/RICA_PDFS/constructed_response/CR_Team_question_suggestions.pdf


Anatomy of a Good Constructed Response Question
http://www.writingfix.com/PDFs/RICA_PDFS/constructed_response/questionanatomy.pdf


Bloom's Taxomony and Question Stems
http://www.writingfix.com/PDFs/RICA_PDFS/constructed_response/bloomsverbs.pdf


Six Steps for Drafting a Constructed Response
http://www.writingfix.com/PDFs/RICA_PDFS/constructed_response/6_steps_for_drafting_constructed_responses.pdf


Constructed Response Organizer
http://www.writingfix.com/PDFs/RICA_PDFS/constructed_response/CRorganizer.pdf


Post-It Note Checklsit for Constructed Response
http://www.writingfix.com/PDFs/RICA_PDFS/constructed_response/Trait_Based_CR_Checklist_All_Students.pdf


Rubric Template for Constructed Response
http://www.writingfix.com/PDFs/RICA_PDFS/constructed_response/crrubrictemplate.pdf

Examples of Constructed Response from Content Areas
http://sps.k12.mo.us/boyd/CR%20Top%20Quality/Quality%20CRs.pdf

Math Example
http://sps.k12.mo.us/boyd/CR%20Top%20Quality/Quality%20CRs.pdf

Informational Text Example
http://www.measuredprogress.org/assessments/clients/montana/G11ReadingResponse.pdf

Science Example
https://www.msu.edu/~kingdoro/10th_grade_science_constructed_r.htm

History Example
https://www.msu.edu/~kingdoro/11th_grade_american_history_cons.htm

Please let me know if you have questions about resources or if you are interested in working with me on either creating constructed response questions, sharing constructed response strategies, or helping prepare students for on demand writing.