Grade 6
Common Paced Assessment
Quarter 3
SY 2024-2025
We are using the ELA Model Units (MU), developed by DoDEA and Catapult Learning from 2017-2019,
as the foundation for common paced assessments (CPA) in ELA. Teachers should review each CPA
well ahead of the assessment window in order to plan for instruction. Teachers who utilize the MU can
continue to do so, with the addition of the argumentative writing prompt. This performance task has
been adapted from Model Units 4 and 5 for Grade 6.
Argumentative Writing Task:
Teacher Note: Prior to the assessment date, students should review at least two of the texts from the
units. Students should also review the argumentative writing rubric, which is included in the resource
section.
Then, during the assessment, they apply the argumentative writing techniques they learned to support
an argument about the role characters or people played in the events that unfolded.
Students may have read/viewed the following texts and videos from Collections:
“The Ravine,” Graham Salisbury, HMH Collection 1 (short story)
“The Road Not Taken,” Robert Frost, HMH Collection 5 (poem)
“Community Hero: Chief Wilma Mankiller,” Susannah Abbey, HMH Collection 5 Close Reader,
(biography)
From Every Day Is a New Day, Wilma Mankiller, HMH Collection 5 Close Reader (autobiography)
“The First Day of School,” R.V. Cassill, HMH Collection 5 (short story)
“On Doomed Flight, Passengers Vowed to Perish Fighting,” Jodi Wilgoren and Edward Wong, HMH
Collection 5 (news article)
“Memorial is Unveiled for Heroes of Flight 93,” HMH Collection 5 (television newscast)
“The Light – Ah! The Light,” Joyce Sidman, HMH Collection 5 (poem)
Students may have read or viewed the following texts, images, or videos from the Model Units:
“The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882” (legislative manuscript)
“Memories of the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire,” Dewitt C. Baldwin (eyewitness account)
“Rescuing People,” About Education (photograph)
“The House of Mirth,” Yahoo News (photograph)
“The Big Decisions, “Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka,” Khan
Academy (nonfiction text)
“Joaquin Balaguer,” World History in Context (reference article)
Note: Links in the Model Units have been checked for accuracy. If a hyperlink changes during the year, the resource may be
available through a different link. Please contact your ELA ISS for assistance.
Students may have read the following novel:
Dragonwings, Laurence Yep
The Color of My Words, Lynn Joseph
If students have not read these texts, teachers will substitute other approved texts for study that align
with the CPA.
Part I: Before the assessment
Reviewing
Locate the texts that you have read in this unit of study. Choose two of the texts and review them. Jot
down notes about any significant details that would help you write an argumentative essay about a
character or person may or may not have contributed to a major event in the story. You will be using at
one of the texts to write your argumentative essay.
Part II: During the assessment
Planning
Think about the texts that you have read. You are going to write an essay about how characters or
people in the stories contributed to the events that happened. You may use a 3x3 writing frame to help
you draft your writing. You may also refer to the argumentative writing rubric, included in the resource
section below.
Part III: During the assessment
Writing
Choose a short story or a novel that you have read in which a major event happens. Imagine that you
are writing a letter to someone in the text who was part of that event. In your letter, write an argument
explaining how that person may or may not have contributed to the way the event happened. You must
choose a position and make a claim. Include evidence from the text to support your argument.
Part IV: After the assessment
Publishing
Review your argumentative essay, save it, and submit it to your teacher as directed.
Resources
