Assessment/Accountability Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System
MEPA
(Massachusetts English Proficiency Assessment)

Fall 2004 MEPA Sample Student Work and Scoring Guides

Using this Online Tool

Purpose

From the pages linked below, you will find each short-answer question, sentence-writing question, open-response question, and writing prompt that was included on the fall 2004 MEPA tests, the scoring guide that accompanies it, and a sample of student work at each score point for that question.

Taken together, the questions, the writing prompts, the scoring guides, and the corresponding student work provide a picture of the expectations for student performance on the MEPA tests.

All of the test questions on which this year's student results are based are contained in the Release of Fall 2004 MEPA Reading and Writing (R/W) Test Items document, which was mailed in January to superintendents across the state.

Structure

Each subsequent page of this online tool contains information for one grade span and one content area (e.g., Grade Span 3-4 Reading).

Due to copyright restrictions, certain reading passages that appear in the printed version of the Release of Fall 2004 MEPA Reading and Writing (R/W) Test Items are not included in the Internet version. Citation information is provided online; hard copies were sent to superintendents throughout the Commonwealth. Hard copies of the omitted passages are available by calling the Student Assessment Services unit at (781) 338-3625.

The sample responses provided here are selections of actual student work from the fall 2004 MEPA administration. In order to protect individual students' privacy, all names and references of a personal nature have been altered or removed. Otherwise, the responses have been reproduced exactly as the students wrote them.

Test Administration Reference Materials and Tools

No reference materials or tools were allowed during MEPA test sessions.

Scoring of Test Questions

Responses to short-answer, sentence-writing, and open-response items, and compositions written in response to writing prompts, are scored individually.

Printing Instructions

Printing the Questions and Rubrics

Select "Print View" from the bottom right side of any page. This view excludes extraneous navigation and graphic elements.

Try printing in landscape format:

• Select the "File" menu in your browser's tool bar
• Select "Print" in the File menu
• Select the "Properties" button and select to print landscape

Printing the Samples

Select "Print Now" from the top right side of the page.