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General Information

All students can participate in EL Civics instruction and assessment. However, only ESL students in WIOA II EL Civics education programs can earn payment points for passing COAAP assessments. ABE, ASE, and CTE students can earn CAEP Immigrant Integration Indicator (I3) outcome for CAEP but not payment points for WIOA II. Please see Successful Implementation of COAAPs for CAEP Agencies for a crosswalk for ABE/ASE/CTE student placement into ESL COAAP instructional levels.
Civic Objective#:	52	Program Year:	2025-2026
Civic Objective:	Research, identify and utilize workplace readiness or soft skills necessary to succeed in post-secondary education, training, career and community.
TOPSpro Form #:	522C	AAP #:	52.2
Assessment Type:	Oral, Written
Level Range
From:	Beginning Low	To:	Advanced

Language and Literacy Objectives

Language and literacy objectives with an asterisk (*) are suitable for beginning low level students.
2	*Identify customer care skills (e.g., satisfy customers’ expectations, active listening, empathy, problem-solving, etc.).
4	*Identify problems, devise solutions and implement a plan of action.
8	*Identify and demonstrate strategies to organize, plan and allocate resources including time, money, materials, facilities and human resources.
9	*Identify and demonstrate strategies to work well with others (e.g. communicate effectively, collaborate, teach others new skills, negotiate, resolve divergent interests, be diplomatic, work well with persons from diverse backgrounds, etc.).
12	*Read and write business communications including telephone messages.
13	*Demonstrate the ability to handle calls at the workplace.
14	*Identify and demonstrate appropriate workplace communication.

Additional Assessment Plan Tasks

Task: 1 Description: Respond to a Business Phone Call (24 points possible) Student will play the role of an employee in a place of business and will answer the telephone, identify the caller’s need, provide information, ask questions to clarify or to ascertain details, and take a message for the intended recipient. The assessor will play the role of the caller (supervisor, customer, or co-worker) with a problem. Content A (BL- A, 10 items, 20 points possible) Student will participate in a stimulated phone exchange including up to 10 interactions (BL=6, BH=7, IL-HI =8, A=10). Mandated components - all levels: • Answer phone and close phone conversation appropriately. • Apologize that intended recipient of call is not available and offer to take a message for intended recipient. • Initiate 2 questions to ascertain important details. • Utilize a clarification strategy to confirm understanding. Higher level tasks may also include: • Use appropriate register to greet caller (title + last name). • Restate/paraphrase caller’s problem using caller’s name. • Utilize a clarification strategy to confirm understanding. • Inform caller of next steps regarding message. • Respond to one additional question from caller. • Recap/summarize message notes in closing the phone conversation. Content B (Advanced only, 4 points possible) Student will participate in a role-play in which the student relays the message received in content A task to the intended recipient. The assessor plays the role of the intended recipient of the call. Student will respond to recipient’s request for messages, and relay key information such as caller’s name and contact information, reason for call, or action required and respond to clarification questions when asked. Points Possible: 24 Level: Beginning Low - Advanced Scoring Rubric Points Content A Utterance is appropriate, complete and delivered in a professional manner with appropriate register (formal or informal) situation. There may be errors, but they do not interfere with meaning. 2 Utterance is appropriate and has correct content. It may be partially complete. There may be errors that interfere with meaning, but the utterance can be understood with inference. 1 Utterance is inappropriate, incomprehensible, or incorrect, or there is no utterance. 0 Content B Information provided is correct, clear, complete, and delivered in a professional manner. There may be errors, but they do not interfere with meaning. 4 Information provided is mostly correct, appropriate. Some errors may require inference. 2 No information provided or information is incorrect or incomprehensible. 0

Task: 2 Description: Complete a Phone Message Student will complete an authentic (IL- Adv) or simplified (BL -BH) telephone message form during the role-play conducted in task one. Alternately, student may compose an email with the required information. Required components will increase in complexity according to level and may include: • Intended recipient’s name • Caller’s name • Contact information • Date/time • Level of urgency • Key message information • Signature Points Possible: 8 Level: Beginning Low - Advanced Scoring Rubric Points Content IL-Adv: 90% of the assigned items on the authentic phone message form are completed accurately and neatly with no errors that interfere with meaning. 8 IL-Adv: 75% of the assigned items on the authentic phone message form are completed accurately and neatly with no errors that interfere with meaning. 6 IL-Adv: 50% of the assigned items on the authentic phone message form are completed accurately and neatly with no errors that interfere with meaning. BH: 90% of the assigned items on the simplified message form are completed and are mostly correct and legible. 4 BH: 75% of the assigned items on the simplified message form assigned to BH students are completed and are mostly correct and legible. BL: 90% of the assigned items on the simplified message form assigned to BL students are completed and are mostly correct and legible. 3 BL-BH: 50% of the assigned items on the simplified message form are completed and are mostly correct and legible. 2 All levels: The phone message form is not completed and/or is not at all correct or is not comprehensible. 0

Task: 3 Description: Write a Business Communication Student will follow a picture prompt and write a business communication of four sentences (BL) or one-paragraph (BH) such as to report needs for supplies at a business, OR such as the student will follow information on a completed phone message form to write a one- paragraph (IL) or two- paragraph (IH) customer service email to respond to a client complaint, OR such as the student will assume the role of a business owner or company employee and write a 3-4 paragraph business letter to complain about a product or service another company has provided OR to promote a product or service his/her company offers (ADV). Optimally, this task would be completed on a computer and sent to the examiner electronically. Points Possible: 27 Level: Beginning Low - Advanced Scoring Rubric Points Content Adv: Addresses all parts of the task effectively. There are at least three paragraphs. The tone and vocabulary choices are appropriate. 18 Adv: Addresses all parts of the task adequately; some ideas may not be well stated; may require minimal interference; contains at least three paragraphs. IH: Addresses all parts of the task effectively in two paragraphs. Vocabulary choices are appropriate. 14 Adv: Addresses the task in general way but may have gaps; many ideas may not be well stated; may lack appropriate or sufficient vocabulary, requires some inference; may be loosely organized and/or fewer than three paragraphs. IH: Addresses the task adequately in two paragraphs. Some ideas require inference. Vocabulary choices are mostly appropriate. 12 Adv: Addresses the writing task minimally but relation to the task is evident; may be unfocused or unclear; may not demonstrate understanding of business communication IH: Addresses task in a general way but ideas require inference to understand, and some sentences may not be clearly related to topic; may be less than two paragraphs. Some appropriate vocabulary is used. IL: Addresses all parts of the task appropriately; ideas are comprehensible; The tone and vocabulary choices are appropriate. The writing may contain minor errors that do not distract the reader. 10 IH: Addresses the task minimally even though two paragraphs may not be identifiable. Sentences are comprehensible and related to topic, but lacks appropriate vocabulary. IL: Addresses all parts of the task adequately. The sentences are comprehensible and related to the topic, but lacks appropriate vocabulary. At least one paragraph is written. May contain minor errors that do not confuse comprehension. BH: Addresses all parts of the task adequately. The sentences are comprehensible and related to the topic. At least four sentences are written. May contain minor errors that do not confuse comprehension. 8 IL: Addresses the task in a general way. Some sentences may require inference to understand. The writing lacks topic sentence, supporting details and/or conclusion. At least one paragraph is identifiable, but lacks appropriate vocabulary. BH, BL: Addresses the task in a general way. Some sentences may require inferences to understand. At least four sentences are identifiable. 6 BH, BL: Addresses the task minimally but relationship to topic is evident. May lack appropriate or sufficient detail or focus. Many sentences require a substantial degree of inference to understand ideas. Less than one paragraph (BH) or fewer than four sentences are identifiable. 4 BL: Sentences may not be identifiable but some words are linked to topic. At least two sentences seem to have been attempted. 2 All Levels: Nothing written or content is incomprehensible or completely inappropriate. 0 Grammar, Structure and Mechanics Adv: Writing contains almost no errors in grammar, structure, spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. 6 Adv, IH: Writing contains only minor errors in grammar and/or structure that do not interfere with understanding and/or minor errors in spelling, capitalization, or punctuation that do not distract the reader. 5 Adv, IH, IL: Writing may contain some errors in grammar, structure, spelling, capitalization, and/or spelling that may slow comprehension and/or distract the reader but errors do not require inference for understanding. BH: Grammar e.g. verb tenses, word order, etc. is mostly correct; most of the words are spelled correctly. 4 Adv, IH, IL: Writing contains grammatical errors that require the reader to infer meaning. There may be spelling, capitalization and/or punctuation errors that slow comprehension. BH, BL: Writing contains some errors in grammar, structure, capitalization and/or spelling that may slow comprehension and/or distract the reader, but meaning can be understood. 3 IH, IL, BH, BL: The writing contains errors in grammar, structure, spelling, capitalization, or punctuation that require the reader to use significant inference to understand meaning. 2 IL, BH, BL: Errors in grammar, structure, spelling, capitalization, or punctuation make the writing difficult to comprehend even with inference. 1 All Levels: Writing is incomprehensible. 0 Format, Neatness and Legibility Adv, IH, IL, BH: Form is correct. Writing is neat and legible. BL: Writing is neat and legible. Most of the letters are correctly formed. 3 Adv, IH, IL, BH: Form is mostly correct. Writing is mostly neat and legible. BL: Writing is mostly neat and legible. Most of the letters are correctly formed. 2 Adv, IH, IL, BH: Form is minimally correct. Writing may be legible but is not neat. BL: Writing may be legible but is not neat. Letters are minimally correctly formed. 1 All Levels: Writing is not legible. 0

Rating Scale/Passing Scores

Total Points Possible:	59
Advanced:	50
Intermediate High:	35
Intermediate Low:	28
Beginning High:	20
Beginning Low:	16

View Civic Obj & AAP List

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