English 6–12

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Written Performance Section

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General Information

The written performance assignment is an authentic task that reflects student-centered teaching practices and requires you to provide a written response demonstrating both subject-matter knowledge and pedagogical expertise. The focus of the assignment is on the candidate's ability to evaluate a student's written analysis of a literary text and provide meaningful feedback.

For this assignment, you will provide a written response to evaluate student work based on review and analysis of multiple components, including the following:

Directions for the Written Performance Assignment

A sample topic is presented below. Your response will be judged "off topic" if it does not fully address the topic presented. You will have one hour to complete your response.

You must write an original response that specifically and directly responds to the assignment. Pre-prepared responses that are discovered to contain memorized sentences or pre-prepared passages will be invalidated. For example, if the raters discover passages that appear in two or more responses, the responses and the violation will be brought to the attention of the Florida Department of Education and may result in the invalidation of your scores.

Be sure to monitor your time effectively and allow time for editing and revising. Take a few minutes to organize your thoughts and plan your response. Leave time for editing and revising after you have completed your response. You may outline or plan your response on the erasable notebooklet provided. Your informal outline or plan will not be scored.

Your response should demonstrate your ability to write, with proficiency, at a postsecondary level appropriate to a teacher of English language arts.

Your essay will be holistically evaluated according to the following criteria:

Completion: The degree to which the candidate completes the assignment by responding to each specific task in the assignment.

Application of Content: The degree to which the candidate applies the relevant knowledge and skills to the response accurately and effectively.

Support: The degree to which the candidate supports the response with appropriate evidence, examples, and explanations based on the relevant content knowledge and skills.

Sample Written Performance Assignment

Use your knowledge of instructional practices and standards-based content in English language arts and evidence from the exhibits provided to write an evaluative response of approximately 300 to 500 words in which you:

Be sure to use evidence from all the exhibits in your response.

Exhibit 1: Standards, Learning Objective, and Literary Passage

A teacher of 11th-grade English language arts wants to help students achieve the following standards:

ELA.11.R.1.3: Analyze the author's choices in using juxtaposition to define character perspective.

ELA.11.C.1.3: Write literary analyses to support claims, using logical reasoning, credible evidence from sources, and elaboration, demonstrating an understanding of literary elements.

The teacher sets the following learning objective based on the standards:

Students will write an essay analyzing how an author uses juxtaposition to define character perspective in a literary text. In their essays, students will use logical reasoning, relevant textual evidence, and elaboration.

Students read the following passage from the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontė.

There was nothing to cool or banish love in these circumstances; though much to create despair. Much too, you will think, reader, to engender jealousy: if a woman, in my position, could presume to be jealous of a woman in Miss Ingram's. But I was not jealous: or very rarely;—the nature of the pain I suffered could not be explained by that word. Miss Ingram was a mark beneath jealousy: she was too inferior to excite the feeling. Pardon the seeming paradox: I mean what I say. She was very showy, but she was not genuine: she had a fine person, many brilliant attainments; but her mind was poor, her heart barren by nature: nothing bloomed spontaneously on that soil; no unforced natural fruit delighted by its freshness. She was not good; she was not original: she used to repeat sounding phrases from books: she never offered, nor had, an opinion of her own. She advocated a high tone of sentiment; but she did not know the sensations of sympathy and pity; tenderness and truth were not in her.

Brontė, C. (1950). Jane Eyre (pp. 199–200). New York, NY: Random House.

Exhibit 2: Writing Prompt, Success Criteria, and Student Written Response

After reading the passage, students respond to the following writing prompt.

Write an essay in which you analyze the author's choices in using juxtaposition to define the narrator's perspective in the passage from Jane Eyre.

The teacher provides the following success criteria.

In my essay, I will:

One student's written response follows.

First the narrator says she is not jealous of Miss Ingram, but then she says she is "rarely" jealous. Whether she admits it or not, she is jealous of Miss Ingram. If she were not jealous, she would not spend so much time listing everything that is wrong with Miss Ingram.

The narrator says Miss Ingram is not worth jealousy because she is superficial. Miss Ingram's "mind is poor," because she repeats "phrases from books" instead of expressing her own opinions. According to the narrator, Miss Ingram "advocated a high tone of sentiment," but the feelings of "sympathy and pity; tenderness and truth were not in her." When the narrator says, "no unforced natural fruit delighted by its freshness" bloomed spontaneously in Miss Ingram's heart," that is a metaphor for love. Miss Ingram feels no love for anyone. But is Miss Ingram really as insipid and cold as the narrator says she is? We do not know because we are not inside Miss Ingram's head.

We are inside the narrator's head, and we learn a lot about her from her negative opinion of Miss Ingram. By having the narrator describe everything she thinks is wrong with Miss Ingram, the author shows that the narrator thinks women should express their opinions and have genuine feelings. The narrator does not say she has these qualities herself, but she expresses strong opinions about Miss Ingram, so we know she has one quality that Miss Ingram lacks. We also know that she is jealous of Miss Ingram.

In the box provided, please write your  start uppercase ORIGINAL end uppercase  essay based on the topic presented. Note that you are limited to 1,500 words. As you type your response, a word count will appear at the bottom of the response box.


Word Count: 0

Written Response Scoring Criteria

Your written response will be scored holistically by two raters. The raters will use the criteria listed below when evaluating your written response. The score you receive for your written response will be the combined total of the two raters' scores.

Scoring criteria
SCORE of 4 The "4" response reflects a thorough understanding of the relevant content knowledge and skills.
  • The response fully addresses all parts of the assignment.
  • The response demonstrates an accurate, highly effective application of the relevant content knowledge and skills.
  • The response provides strong, relevant evidence, specific examples, and well-reasoned explanations.
SCORE of 3 The "3" response reflects a general understanding of the relevant content knowledge and skills.
  • The response addresses most or all parts of the assignment.
  • The response demonstrates a generally accurate, effective application of the relevant content knowledge and skills.
  • The response provides sufficient evidence, some examples, and generally sound explanations.
SCORE of 2 The "2" response reflects a limited understanding of the relevant content knowledge and skills.
  • The response addresses at least some of the parts of the assignment.
  • The response demonstrates a partially accurate, partially effective application of the relevant content knowledge and skills.
  • The response provides limited evidence and examples or explanations, when provided, may be only partially appropriate.
SCORE of 1 The "1" response reflects little or no understanding of the relevant content knowledge and skills.
  • The response addresses, few, if any, parts of the assignment.
  • The response demonstrates a largely inaccurate, ineffective application of the relevant content knowledge and skills.
  • The response provides little to no evidence, and if provided, examples or explanations are weak or inappropriate.

Sample Written Responses with Annotations

The sample responses are to the assignment provided in this guide and include an example that meets the general level of knowledge necessary to receive a passing score as well as an example that does not meet the required standard. All responses are scored holistically, meaning that both strengths and weaknesses are weighed when assigning an overall score. While rationales are provided, it is important to keep in mind that not all strengths and weaknesses are identified.

Annotation Key

Annotated text using these styles are related to the associated scoring criteria as follows:

Sample Passing Response

Please note: The sample response provided below is for review purposes only and should not be used in a response on an operational exam. Use of the exact words and phrases presented in this sample response will result in a Not Passing score due to lack of original work.

The student opens the essay with a claim about Jane's feelings toward another character: "Whether she admits it or not, she is jealous of Miss Ingram." This claim does not address the assignment's focus on how juxtaposition defines perspective. However, the student's reasoning shifts in the final paragraph and could be developed into a stronger claim: "By having the narrator describe what she thinks is wrong with Miss Ingram, the author shows that the narrator thinks women should express their opinions and have genuine feelings." Such a claim would address Jane's perspective on women and provide more opportunity for the student to discuss Brontė's use of juxtaposition in the passage.

Following the initial claim, the student reasons that "If she were not jealous, she would not spend so much time listing everything that is wrong with Miss Ingram." But the student ends this reasoning here, without further evidence. Instead, the student cites specifics illustrating Jane's negative opinion of Miss Ingram, reasoning that since "we are inside the narrator's head…we learn a lot about her" from these details—particularly her views on women. Here the student recognizes that the narrator's description of what she  start underline doesn't end underline  value can tell us what she  start underline does end underline  value. The student can use this reasoning to generate a revised claim that better addresses Jane's perspective.

Additionally, the response does not yet discuss Brontė's use of juxtaposition. Throughout the passage, the narrator juxtaposes traits she sees in Miss Ingram: "She was very showy, but she was not genuine: she had a fine person, many brilliant attainments; but her mind was poor." The repeated word "but" juxtaposes how Miss Ingram appears with the kind of person Jane thinks she really is. Given that Jane also notes the difference between her own and Miss Ingram's "positions" in society, this description suggests Jane disapproves of upper-class women who favor appearances over true virtue and integrity. Considering more of these details would allow the student to generate a more specific claim about Jane's perspective on women and provide stronger support.

The student's organization is confusing. The first paragraph claims Jane is jealous, but the next paragraph quotes Jane's complaints about Miss Ingram without a transition, so it is unclear how these examples are related to the claim. As noted, the final paragraph begins to suggest a different claim but fails to support it with text evidence. The final paragraph also lacks focus, as it ends by restating the claim that "We also know that she is jealous of Miss Ingram," which is not supported and unrelated to the paragraph's reasoning about Jane's view of women.

For revision, the student should eliminate the insufficient claim about jealousy and generate a revised claim about juxtaposition and Jane's perspective. Then, the student can present that claim in an introductory paragraph and develop clear reasoning for it in the body paragraphs to follow; one way to organize the body is to analyze how a specific instance of juxtaposition speaks to Jane's perspective in each paragraph. The student should also incorporate stronger, more relevant text evidence by quoting those examples.

This response is Passing based on the following performance characteristics:

Completion: The response fully addresses all parts of the assignment. The examinee identifies and evaluates the student's claim in the first paragraph; use of reasoning, elaboration, and text evidence in the second and third paragraphs; and organization in the fourth paragraph. The examinee also recommends revisions throughout the response, including suggestions to strengthen the claim and text evidence, and outlines a fuller revision plan in the final paragraph.

Application of Content: The response reflects a highly effective application of the relevant content knowledge and skills. First, the response accurately identifies that the student's claim does not address the assignment's focus on perspective and juxtaposition. Then the response demonstrates the examinee's own understanding of perspective by identifying parts of the student essay that could be revised into a claim that does address it. In addition, the response accurately identifies juxtaposition in the passage from  start italics Jane Eyre end italics . The subsequent discussion demonstrates the examinee's close reading skills, as it uses these instances of juxtaposition to provide a sound analysis of Jane's perspective. Recommended revisions also apply the examinee's knowledge of essay writing conventions, such as logical organization both within and between paragraphs.

Support: The response contains strong, relevant evidence, including specific examples from both Exhibits. For example, the examinee quotes directly from the student essay in Exhibit 2 to evaluate its claim, reasoning, and text evidence. The examinee also cites relevant text evidence from Exhibit 1 and highlights key words when analyzing juxtaposition in Brontė's passage. Explanations are well-reasoned, as when the examinee evaluates the student's organization paragraph by paragraph. Recommended revisions are specific, including suggestions for stronger text evidence and a potential way for the student to organize a revised essay.

Sample Not Passing Response

Please note: The sample response provided below is for review purposes only and should not be used in a response on an operational exam. Use of the exact words and phrases presented in this sample response will result in a Not Passing score due to lack of original work.

The student claims that the narrator is jealous of Miss Ingram even though she says she isn't. This is a strong claim that tells us a lot about the narrator's perspective. Claims usually come at the beginning, like this one does. The student also does a great job of using correct grammar to state it.

The student shows their reasoning for this claim when stating, "If she were not jealous, she would not spend so much time listing everything that is wrong with Miss Ingram." This piece of evidence helps to show us why the student made the claim. The parts from the passage that the student talks about in the second paragraph are also good things to include because the student gives more details about what the narrator thinks of Miss Ingram. But the response seems to be missing some things. Since the main claim was about jealousy, I found it odd that the student didn't include text evidence from the part of the passage where Jane talks about not being jealous and why.

The organization needs work too. I noticed that the response jumps right in with analysis, and an essay should have an introduction to set things up and a conclusion to wrap things up. This response is missing those parts. But the student sometimes does a nice job with transition words, like using "first" to introduce the first point. The topic sentences in the next two paragraphs also look good because they really give me an idea of what the paragraph will be about. The student also ends by repeating the claim about Jane being jealous, which is a useful reminder for the reader.

When it comes to a revision plan, I would mostly tell the student to elaborate more and explain the claim in a lot more detail than they did already. Maybe the student could add a few more quotes. Plus, this response isn't a real essay yet. The organization also needs to be fixed so it actually looks like an essay.

This response is Not Passing based on the following performance characteristics:

Completion: The response attempts to address all parts of the assignment but does not do so fully or accurately. The examinee identifies parts of the student essay (claim, reasons, text evidence), but the attempted evaluations are often vague (the claim "tells us a lot") or fail to engage with its content (the claim "uses correct grammar"). While some recommended revisions are accurate (the essay needs an introduction and conclusion), most are too vague ("elaborate more") or superficial ("needs to be fixed so it actually looks like an essay").

Application of Content: The application of content knowledge is only partially effective. For example, the examinee does not recognize that the student's claim does not fulfill the assignment as outlined in Exhibit 1, particularly the requirement to focus on Brontė's use of juxtaposition. While the examinee does recognize that the student's text evidence does not support the claim, recommended revisions merely instruct the student to provide more support for a claim that was insufficient to begin with ("elaborate more" and "add a few more quotes"). The response accurately discusses parts of an analytical essay, such as the introduction and conclusion, but fails to evaluate flaws in the student's organization within and between body paragraphs. In addition, some comments are not relevant to the assignment (for instance, the student's grammar).

Support: The response contains limited support. The examinee cites specific examples from the student essay only a few times, including one direct quote. Additionally, the explanations provide limited reasoning for the examinee's evaluations of those examples. For example, it is unclear why the examinee considers the claim "strong" or the text evidence "good." The examinee also fails to engage with specifics from Exhibit 1, as the response only vaguely references the Brontė passage ("the part where Jane talks about not being jealous"). Finally, the recommended revisions are vague as well. It is unclear what parts need more elaboration and how/why the claim requires further explanation, in the examinee's view.

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