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About Julie Coiro

Connecticut Mastery Test Guidelines for Reading
Clusters and their Characteristics  Grades 4, 6, and 8

A. Construct Meaning
(Initial Understanding, and Development Interpretation)

The student will demonstrate the ability to construct meaning with a variety of types of text:

• Identify or infer the central idea, purpose, or theme within a written work.
• Identify important characters, settings, events, relationships, and details within a written work.
• Infer important characters, settings, events, or relationships within a written work.
• Select and use relevant information from a written work in order to summarize.
• Draw conclusions about the author's purpose in including or omitting specific details in a written work (Grades 6 and 8).

B. Analyze Strategies

The student will demonstrate the ability to apply specific reading strategies in order to
construct meaning:

• Determine and use an appropriate strategy for a particular reading task.
• Determine and use the structure/organizational pattern of a written work as a strategy for constructing meaning, and use graphic aids such as lists, charts, diagrams, time lines, maps, and illustrations as a strategy for constructing meaning.
• Use context clues to determine meanings of unknown or multiple meaning words, or figurative language.

C. Analyzing, Elaborating, and Responding Critically
(Demonstrating a Critical Stance)

The student will demonstrate the ability to analyze, elaborate on, and respond critically
to written works:

• Use information from the text to make a prediction or support a hypothesis based on what is read.
• Synthesize explicit and implicit information from a written work to create a new product.
• Evaluate explicit and implicit information within a written work, including comparing and contrasting written works.
• Select and use relevant information within a written work to include in a response to or extension of the work.
• Demonstrate an awareness of values, customs, ethics, and beliefs included in a written work.

CMT 3rd Generation:
Strand 1: Forming an Initial Understanding
Strand 2: Developing Interpretation
Strand 3: Demonstrating a Critical Stance
Strand 4: DRP-words deleted from passage

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