TELPAS Writing
Scoring Guide
Elementary
Sentence Rewrite
Fall 2022
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TELPAS Writing Scoring Guide
Elementary
Fall 2022
2
General Information
This guide provides information about scoring of the Texas English Language Proficiency
Assessment System (TELPAS) online writing assessment for elementary grades. Items
included in this guide are from the Spring 2022 TELPAS Writing Field Test.
The responses you see in this guide are student responses to a writing prompt administered
online in the spring of 2022. A variety of responses are included to show acceptable and
non-acceptable responses. The response images are as the students typed them.
The annotations focus on the specific responses. A response earns a point, based on the
rubric guidelines that were met in that particular response. The proficiency level of the
student is determined by the accumulated score across a series of multiple choice and
written responses. The annotation establishes the link between a response and the
associated score point. An individual response does not necessarily reflect a student’s
proficiency level but reflects one piece of data that contributes to the determination of the
student’s proficiency level.
The TELPAS proficiency level descriptors (PLDs) for writing and the writing rubric are
included in this guide for your reference.
3
ELPS-TELPAS Proficiency Level Descriptors
Grades 2–12 Writing
Beginning Intermediate Advanced
Advanced
High
Beginning English learners (ELs) lack the
English vocabulary and grasp of English
language structures necessary to address
grade-appropriate writing tasks meaningfully.
Intermediate ELs have enough English vocabulary
and enough grasp of English language structures
to address grade-appropriate writing tasks in a
limited way.
Advanced ELs have enough English vocabulary
and command of English language structures to
address grade-appropriate writing tasks,
although second language acquisition support is
needed.
Advanced high ELs have acquired the English
vocabulary and command of English language
structures necessary to address grade-appropriate
writing tasks with minimal second language
acquisition support.
These students:
!
have little or no ability to use the English
language to express ideas in writing and engage
meaningfully in grade-appropriate writing
assignments in content area instruction
!
lack the English necessary to develop or
demonstrate elements of grade-appropriate
writing (e.g., focus and coherence, conventions,
organization, voice, and development of ideas)
in English
Typical writing features at this level:
!
ability to label, list, and copy
!
high-frequency words/phrases and short, simple
sentences (or even short paragraphs) based
primarily on recently practiced, memorized, or
highly familiar material; this type of writing may
be quite accurate
!
present tense used primarily
!
frequent primary language features (spelling
patterns, word order, literal translations, and
words from the student’s primary language) and
other errors associated with second language
acquisition may significantly hinder or prevent
understanding, even for individuals accustomed
to the writing of ELs
These students:
!
have a limited ability to use the English
language to express ideas in writing and engage
meaningfully in grade-appropriate writing
assignments in content area instruction
!
are limited in their ability to develop or
demonstrate elements of grade-appropriate
writing in English; communicate best when
topics are highly familiar and concrete, and
require simple, high-frequency English
Typical writing features at this level:
!
simple, original messages consisting of short,
simple sentences; frequent inaccuracies occur
when creating or taking risks beyond familiar
English
!
high-frequency vocabulary; academic writing
often has an oral tone
!
loosely connected text with limited use of
cohesive devices or repetitive use, which may
cause gaps in meaning
!
repetition of ideas due to lack of vocabulary and
language structures
!
present tense used most accurately; simple
future and past tenses, if attempted, are used
inconsistently or with frequent inaccuracies
!
descriptions, explanations, and narrations
lacking detail; difficulty expressing abstract
ideas
!
primary language features and errors associated
with second language acquisition may be
frequent
!
some writing may be understood only by
individuals accustomed to the writing of ELs;
parts of the writing may be hard to understand
even for individuals accustomed to the writing of
ELs
These students:
!
are able to use the English language, with
second language acquisition support, to express
ideas in writing and engage meaningfully in
grade-appropriate writing assignments in
content area instruction
!
know enough English to be able to develop or
demonstrate elements of grade-appropriate
writing in English, although second language
acquisition support is particularly needed when
topics are abstract, academically challenging, or
unfamiliar
Typical writing features at this level:
!
grasp of basic verbs, tenses, grammar features,
and sentence patterns; partial grasp of more
complex verbs, tenses, grammar features, and
sentence patterns
!
emerging grade-appropriate vocabulary;
academic writing has a more academic tone
!
use of a variety of common cohesive devices,
although some redundancy may occur
!
narrations, explanations, and descriptions
developed in some detail with emerging clarity;
quality or quantity declines when abstract ideas
are expressed, academic demands are high, or
low-frequency vocabulary is required
!
occasional second language acquisition errors
!
communications are usually understood by
individuals not accustomed to the writing of ELs
These students:
!
are able to use the English language, with
minimal second language acquisition support, to
express ideas in writing and engage
meaningfully in grade-appropriate writing
assignments in content area instruction
!
know enough English to be able to develop or
demonstrate, with minimal second language
acquisition support, elements of grade-
appropriate writing in English
Typical writing features at this level:
!
nearly comparable to writing of native English-
speaking peers in clarity and precision with
regard to English vocabulary and language
structures, with occasional exceptions when
writing about academically complex ideas,
abstract ideas, or topics requiring low-frequency
vocabulary
!
occasional difficulty with naturalness of phrasing
and expression
!
errors associated with second language
acquisition are minor and usually limited to low-
frequency words and structures; errors rarely
interfere with communication
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TELPAS Sentence Rewrite Writing Rubric
As part of the TELPAS writing assessment, rubrics were developed to determine the points that should be ascribed to a student’s response based on the performance on a particular item. The
rubrics demonstrate the number of score points that students can achieve based on their performance on each writing test item. For Sentence Rewrite items, the rubric below was developed,
and scoring will follow these guidelines:
! Punctuation and capitalization will not count.
! The correction of all errors must be spelled correctly.*
! If the student introduces new errors, these will not count against them.
Score Description
1 The response is one or more complete sentences and corrects all the errors in the given text.
0 The response is not a complete sentence or does not correct all the errors in the given text.
*How errors are corrected may vary from student to student; however, as long as the correction is spelled correctly and is grammatically correct, the response will be acceptable.
Read
the
text.
The
text
has
one
or
more
errors.
Chris
lives
in
a
house
white
with
a
door
red.
In
the
space
provided,
rewrite
the
complete
text
to
make
the
text
correct
TELPAS Writing Scoring Guide
Elementary
Fall 2022
5
Elementary School Sentence Rewrite Question and Scored
Responses
Prompt
Chris
lives
in
a
house
with a
white
red
door
chirs
lives
in
a
house
that
the
door
is
red
his
house
was
a
white
and
red
door
Chris
lives
in
a
house
white
and
a
door
red.
TELPAS Writing Scoring Guide
Elementary
Fall 2022
6
Score Point 0s
Response 1
The rewritten sentence receives no credit. The writer attempts to move the adjectives into
the correct position but mistakenly puts both "white” and “red” in front of door, creating an
incorrectly written sentence.
Response 2
The rewritten sentence receives no credit. The writer attempts to correct the sentence by
using a new construction that allows for the phrase “the door is red” to work in the
sentence. The writer is unable to successfully construct such a sentence since “a house that
the door is red” is not grammatically correct.
Response 3
The rewritten sentence receives no credit. Substituting “his” for “Chris” is not a problem in
this sentence, but the sentence is grammatically incorrect and somewhat nonsensical
(“hishouse was a white and red door”).
Response 4
The rewritten sentence receives no credit. The writer did not change anything from the
original incorrect sentence and instead, rewrote the text, not correcting any of the original
errors.
Chris
lives
in
a
white
house
with
a
red
door
c
hris
lives
in
a
red
house
with
a
white
door
ch
ris
lives
on
a
white
house
with
a
red
door
ch
ris
lives
in
a
house
that
is
white
and
it
has
a
red
dor.
TELPAS Writing Scoring Guide
Elementary
Fall 2022
7
Score Point 1s
Response 1
The writer provides a correctly written sentence, placing the adjectives correctly with the
nouns. This is the simplest way to rewrite the original sentence and correct the errors.
Response 2
The writer offers a correctly written sentence but transposes the colors of the door and
house. However, this switch has no bearing on whether the resulting sentence is
grammatically correct or not. In the end, the writer corrects the original errors.
Response 3
The writer successfully addresses the original errors with the adjectives. However, the
writer introduces a new error by using “on” instead of “in” while stating where Chris lives.
This new error is not held against the writer since the original errors for this task were
corrected appropriately.
Response 4
The writer correctly identifies the errors and writes a new compound sentence that corrects
the placement of the adjectives and is grammatically correct.
