Guidelines for Selecting Reading Passages
The introduction to the Kentucky Core Content for Reading Assessment includes the following statement: "The state reading assessment, which includes a variety of reading materials from different cultures and time periods, focuses on those skills and strategies most critical for students to become good readers." Please refer to the Core Content for the specific skills and strategies to be assessed at each grade.
Literary Reading includes whole texts and excerpts from materials such as short stories, novels, essays, poetry, plays, and scripts (Core Content). The reading materials represent various historical and cultural perspectives.
Informational Reading includes whole texts and excerpts from materials such as journals, magazines, newspaper articles, letters, brochures, reference materials, essays, nonfiction books, and electronic texts (Core Content). Distinguishing this type of passage from persuasive or practical/workplace passages can be difficult because many types of writing include some information. If the author attempts to convince the audience to believe a certain way or to take some action, then the text is persuasive in addition to being informative. If the author provides information that can be used to accomplish basic life skills, the text is practical in addition to being informative. For the informational reading passages we are looking for purely informational texts.
Persuasive Reading includes whole texts and excerpts from materials such as magazine and newspaper articles, brochures, letters, proposals, speeches, editorials, electronic texts, essays, opinion columns, and advertisements (Core Content). In a persuasive text, the author attempts to convince the reader to believe a certain way or to take some action.
Practical/Workplace Reading includes whole texts and excerpts from materials such as articles, letters, memos, brochures, electronic texts, warranties, forms, memoranda, consumer texts, manuals, schedules, and directions (Core Content). This is reading students will do in the real world. This reading allows students to accomplish basic life skills like catching a city a bus, assembling a piece of furniture, or passing a driver's test.
Passage Length Specifications
In order to provide a balance of passage length and to ensure reasonable reading times for students during the live test administration, KDE has requested that passage length be considered in the selection process. The table below provides rough guidelines for desired passage lengths.
Desired Passage Length in Number of Words
Short Medium Long
Grade 4 500 600-900 1000-1100
Grade 7 500-600 700-1000 1100-1500
Grade 10 600 700-1300 2000
Guidelines for Submitting Reading Passages
We will do our best to obtain permission to use the reading passages that you have submitted. If we cannot obtain permission to use a passage we will not be able to use it. By following the guidelines below you will provide us with the information we need to track down the copyright holders and request permission.
Please DO:
• Fill out the copyright information form completely or make sure the information is included in the documents you submit. (can be downloaded below)
• Submit copies of the following:
• reading passage
• title page
• copyright page for books/table of contents page for magazines
• acknowledgment page(s), usually at the back of the book
• if the passage is a label from a product, include all information about the
manufacturer
• Make sure all of the pages are copied completely and legibly.
• Try to obtain passages from original sources instead of collections of passages from various authors. If the passage comes from a collection, please be sure to copy the acknowledgment page(s) from the back of the book. Often the publisher of the book of collected works is not the copyright holder of the reading passages within the book.
• Let us know where you found the passage. Is it from a book or magazine you own? Did it come from your school or public library? We may need to obtain the original book or magazine to scan graphics or obtain missing information.
• Give us your name and a phone number at which we can reach you in case we have questions.
Please DO NOT:
• Retype the passage and turn it in. This increases the chance that there will be an error in the text and provides no copyright information.
• Select pieces from Nickelodeon Magazine or by Teresa Palomo Acosta. They will not allow their pieces to be used in assessments.