College Readiness Standards: ENGLISH (13 benchmark score on EXPLORE) Topic Development: Purpose and Focus 1. Read and discuss various authors and genres 2. Identify main idea in variety of texts and practice composing main idea sentences 3. Write informal responses to literature, fiction and non-fiction 4. Revise writing to ensure sentences relate to purpose and that no important information is left out Organization, Unity and Coherence 1. Write short texts in different genres illustrating simple organization 2. Use paragraphing as organizational device 3. Use conjunctive adverbs or phrases to show time relationships in simple narrative essays (e.g., then, this time) Word Choice: Style, Tone, Clarity and Economy 1. Revise writing to clarify sentences containing too many phrases 2. Check writing to make sure pronoun references are clear 3. Revise writing to edit out empty words (e.g., really, very, kind of) 4. Revise sentences to correct awkward or confusing wording 5. Revise vague nouns or pronouns that create logic problems Sentence Structure and Formation 1. Vary sentence length 2. Make verb tenses consistent 3. Use conjunctions or punctuation to join simple clauses 4. Revise shifts in verb tenses Conventions of Usage 1. Use adjectives like, well, less and worst correctly 2. Solve basic grammatical problems as how to form the past and past participle of irregular verbs and how to form comparative and superlative adjectives (e.g., better, best) Conventions of Punctuation 1. Recognize when commas are overused 2. Delete commas that create basic sense problems (e.g., between verb and direct object)
College Readiness Standards: MATHEMATICS (17 benchmark score on EXPLORE) Basic Operations and Applications 1. Use estimation and apply unit conversions correctly 2. Solve one-step arithmetic problems (using whole numbers, fractions, decimals) such as single-step percent 3. Solve routine two-step arithmetic problems Probability, Statistics and Data Analysis 1. Calculate average of a list of numbers 2. Calculate the average given the number of data values and sum 3. Read tables and graphs 4. Perform computations based on data from tables and graphs 5. Use relationship of probability of an event and it complement Numbers: Concepts and Properties 1. Recognize equivalent fractions and fractions in lowest terms 2. Recognize one-digit factors of a number 3. Identify a digit s place value Graphical Representations 1. Locate points on the number line and in the first quadrant Expressions, Equations and Inequalities 1. Substitute whole numbers for unknown quantities to evaluate expressions 2. Solve one-step equations having integer or decimal answers 3. Combine like terms (e.g., 2x + 5x) Measurement 1. Estimate or calculate length of a line segment based on other lengths given in a geometric figure 2. Compute the perimeter of polygons when all side lengths are given 3. Compute areas of rectangles when whole number dimensions are given Properties of Plane Figures 1. Describe, compare and contrast plane and solid figures using their attributes 2. Exhibit some knowledge of angles associated with parallel lines
College Readiness Standards: READING in Social Studies & English (15 benchmark score on EXPLORE) Main Ideas and Author s Approach 1. Recognize clear intent of author or narrator in uncomplicated literary narratives 2. Work with peers to create logical statements about main ideas or purposes Supporting Details 1. Locate basic facts (e.g., names, dates, events) clearly stated in a passage 2. Determine details in a text essential for understanding author s intent 3. Scan a text to locate details 4. Identify author s reason for including details Sequential, Comparative and Cause-Effect Relationships 1. Determine when (e.g., first, last, before, after) or if an event occurred 2. Recognize clear cause-effect relationships when described in a sentence or passage 3. Use prediction when reading literary text Meanings of Words 1. Understand implication of familiar word or phrase and of simple descriptive language 2. Examine specific language in text and propose plausible interpretations based in part on own viewpoints and experiences Generalizations and Conclusions 1. Draw simple generalizations and conclusions about main characters in uncomplicated literary narratives 2. Analyze reasonableness of generalizations by reviewing information in text and other sources 3. Draw reasonable conclusions using evidence from text
College Readiness Standards: SCIENCE (20 benchmark score on EXPLORE) Interpretation of Data 1. Understand basic science terminology 2. Find basic information in a text 3. Determine how value of one variable changes as value of another changes in simple data presentation 4. Display data gathered in lab exercises in a variety of formats (e.g., line graphs, pie charts, bar graphs) 5. Select data from a complex data presentation (e.g., table or graph with more than three variables; a phase diagram) 6. Compare or combine data from a simple data presentation (e.g., order or sum data from a table) 7. Translate information into a table, graph, or diagram Scientific Investigations 1. Understand the methods and tools of a moderately complex experiment 2. Understand a simple experimental design 3. Identify a control in an experiment 4. Conduct a simple experiment that makes use of a control group 5. Identify similarities and differences between experiments Evaluation of Models, Inferences, and Experimental Results 1. Read descriptions of actual experiments and discuss whether the conclusions support the hypothesis 2. Formulate hypotheses, predictions, or conclusions based on results of an experiment 3. Select a simple hypothesis, prediction, or conclusion that is supported by a data representation or model 4. Identify key issues of assumptions in a model
Science Topics Embedded in measurement of Life Science/Biology 1. Animal behavior 2. Animal development and growth 3. Body systems 4. Cell structure and processes 5. Ecology 6. Evolution 7. Genetics 8. Homeostasis 9. Life cycles 10. Molecular basis of heredity 11. Origin of life 12. Photosynthesis 13. Plant development, growth, structure 14. Populations 15. Taxonomy Physical Science/Chemistry, Physics 1. Atomic structure 2. Chemical bonding, equations, nomenclature, reactions 3. Electrical circuits 4. Elements, compounds, mixtures 5. Force and motions 6. Gravitation 7. Heat and work 8. Kinetic and potential energy 9. Magnetism 10. Momentum 11. The Periodic Table 12. Properties of solutions 13. Sound and light 14. States, classes, and properties of matter 15. Waves Earth & Space Science 1. Earthquakes and volcanoes 2. Earth s atmosphere 3. Earth s resources 4. Fossils and geological time 5. Geochemical cycles 6. Groundwater 7. Lakes, rivers, oceans 8. Mass movements 9. Plate tectonics 10. Rocks, minerals 11. Solar system 12. Stars, galaxies, and the universe 13. Water cycle 14. Weather and climate 15. Weathering and erosion