English Language study guides

A complete overview of composition, revising, and editing on STAAR English I: revising for clarity and organization, editing for grammar and usage, sentence boundaries and punctuation, word choice and precision, and the revising and editing question types. The same conventions are scored on the ECR.

A complete overview of STAAR English I exam strategy: the redesigned online format, the new technology-enhanced item types, navigating tech-enhanced items, pacing the assessment, and reading the task and rubrics. Knowing the format and rubrics is its own high-leverage skill.

A complete overview of reading informational and argumentative texts on STAAR English I: central ideas, analyzing argument and claims, author's purpose and craft, cross-curricular passages, synthesizing paired texts, and text evidence and inference. STAAR tests these with multiple choice, technology-enhanced items, and short constructed responses.

A complete overview of reading literary texts on STAAR English I: analyzing theme, plot and structure, character, poetry, and drama, and the figurative language and literary devices that run through every literary passage. STAAR tests these with multiple choice, technology-enhanced items, and short constructed responses.

A complete overview of the STAAR English I short constructed response (SCR): understanding the task, the answer-plus-evidence structure, the 2-point rubric, the common SCR types including the paired-text comparison, and the recurring mistakes that cost points.

A complete overview of the STAAR English I extended constructed response (the essay): understanding the evidence-based task, writing a controlling idea, using text evidence, organizing and developing ideas, refuting a counterargument, and scoring on the 5-point rubric (Development of Ideas plus Conventions).