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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#: 11 Program Year: 2025-2026
Civic Objective: Research and describe the cultural backgrounds that reflect the local cross-cultural society and that may present a barrier to civic participation.
TOPSpro Form #: 110C AAP #: 11
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.
1 *Write and/or report personal information: name, place of birth, and native language, etc.
3 *Interview classmates about cultural information.
4 *Identify classmates’ countries of origin on a map.
8 Report orally or in writing about one's cultural background.
9 Interview someone regarding his/her cultural background; report orally or in writing about that person.
14 Ask questions about cultural information.
15 *Read stories about different cultures.
16 Search the Internet or other resources to find local or regional information that relates to cross-cultural and/or societal issues.

Additional Assessment Plan Tasks

Task: 1

Description: Identify and Describe a Special Day in a Culture
Content 6 items, 12 points possible)

Student will identify self a native country and locate native country on a world map, then will look at pictures to respond to questions presented by examiner about an important day in a country/culture other than one’s own and will locate that country on a world map

Sample questions:
What’s your name?
Where are you from? Show me on a map, please
What is this person’s name?
Where is he/she from? Show me on a map, please.
What is an important day in this culture?
What do people do on this day?

Points Possible:12Level:Beginning Low - Beginning Low
Scoring Rubric Points
Content A
Utterance/response is appropriate, clear, complete, and has correct content. There may be errors, but they do not interfere with meaning. 2
Utterance/response is appropriate and has correct content. It may be partially complete. There may be errors that interfere with meaning, but the statement can be understood with inference. 1
Utterance/response is inappropriate, incomprehensible, or incorrect, or there is no response. 0

Task: 2

Description: Present an oral report about an important day or event in a culture other than one’s own (BH-Advanced) or about own culture (optional for advanced only)
After interviewing a classmate from a different culture/country, the student will make an oral presentation about an important day or event in the classmate’s country/culture.
possible components:
1. Introduce self and native country and identify country on a world map.
2.Introduce the topic by stating the classmate’s name and the classmate’s country and identifying the location of the country on a world map
3. Identify a special day or event in that country
4. Present related details such as date, common activities or traditions and classmate’s or one’s own personal thoughts, feelings about the topic
5. Compare/contrast the celebration with a similar day/event in the United States or other country/culture (IH-A only)
6. Make an appropriate conclusion. (IL-A only)

Points Possible:24Level:Beginning High - Advanced
Scoring Rubric Points
Content
Advanced: The presentation is very clear and highly interesting. It has the required content components for advanced level. Ideas are well- stated, clearly expressed, well- organized and supported with concrete, relevant detail. No inference is required. There may be errors but they do not interfere with meaning or distract the listener. 18
Intermediate High, Advanced: The presentation is clear and interesting. It contains all or almost all of the required content components. Ideas are adequately organized, but some ideas/components may be weak or difficult to follow. Some details support the main ideas. There may be errors but they do not interfere with meaning. Minor inference may be required to understand a few ideas. 15
Beginning High - Advanced: The presentation is clear, has most of the required content, and demonstrates organization; some details are not clear or missing. Errors may slow comprehension and minor inference may be required to understand meaning of a few statements. 12
Beginning High - Advanced: The presentation is aligned to topic and partially meets content requirements. Many ideas may not be well- stated; may lack appropriate or sufficient organization and/or details. There are some errors that may require significant inference to understand 9
Beginning High - Intermediate Low: The presentation is loosely related to topic and contains at least a minimal amount of required content components. Ideas are unclear and organization is difficult to identify. There are very few recognizable details. Errors interfere with meaning and require a substantial degree of inference, but some meaning can be comprehended with effort. 6
All Levels: The presentation is inappropriate, incomprehensible, or there is no report. 0
Presentation
Advanced: Speech is fluent with few vocal pauses. Pacing, volume, and intonation are effective for the situation. Speaker makes effective eye contact with various people if more than one person in the audience. Gestures and facial expressions are effective, and posture is good. Speaker shows self-confidence and enthusiasm. 6
Intermediate High-Advanced: Speech is clear with few vocal pauses. Pacing, volume, and intonation are appropriate for the situation. Speaker makes eye contact most of the time, with various people if more than one person in the audience. Gestures and facial expressions are appropriate, and posture is good. 5
Intermediate Low- Advanced: Speech is mostly clear and somewhat fluent in parts. There may be some vocal pauses that don’t distract. Pacing and volume are appropriate to the situation. Eye contact, gestures, facial expressions, and posture are good. 4
Beginning High- Advanced: Speech is generally understandable. There are errors in pronunciation and/or intonation that may interfere with comprehension in parts of the presentation. The student’s voice projection, pacing, posture, body language and eye contact are mostly appropriate through most of the presentation. 3
Beginning High- Advanced: Speech is neither fluent nor clear, and frequent vocal pauses are distracting. Pacing and/or volume are not appropriate. Eye contact is weak. Facial expressions and/or gestures may be confusing or distracting. Posture is poor and/or nervousness is distracting. 2
Beginning High- Advanced: Only a minimal amount of speech can be understood with effort. There is little or no eye contact and/or facial expression. Posture and/ or nervousness interfere(s) with comprehension. 1
Beginning High- Advanced: Student cannot be understood and does not demonstrate appropriate posture, body language or eye contact. 0

Task: 3

Description: The student will write four sentences (L1/BL), one paragraph (BH, IL), a two-paragraph composition (IH) about a cultural event in his/her own culture. The student will write a three-paragraph composition (Advanced Low) or a four or five- paragraph essay (Advanced High) about an American cultural value and compare it to a value in one’s own culture in response to provided reading materials.
Sample writing topics:
BL, BH, IL, IH: A Holiday or Other Special Day (wedding, birthday, funeral) in another culture
Advanced: Individualism and Privacy, The Importance of Time and Productivity, Personal Control and the Self-made Man

Points Possible:27Level:Beginning Low - Advanced
Scoring Rubric Points
Content
Level Adv: Addresses all parts of the task effectively. There are at least four paragraphs, each with a clear topic sentence and supporting sentences with concrete examples. There are appropriate transition words and a relevant concluding paragraph. The essay shows good comprehension of the reading material. 18
Addresses all parts of the task adequately; contains some relevant detail; some ideas may not be well stated; may require minimal inference; written in adequately-organized paragraph(s); contains three (Adv low) or four (Adv High) or more paragraphs. Level IH: Addresses all parts of the task effectively in two paragraphs. The topic sentences, supporting details and conclusion of the composition are easily identified and clearly related to the topic. 14
Level Adv: Addresses the task in a general way but may have gaps; many ideas may not be well stated; may lack appropriate or sufficient detail or clear focus; may require some inference; may be loosely organized and/or may be fewer than required number of paragraphs. Level IH: Addresses the task adequately in two paragraphs. The topic sentences, supporting details and conclusion are identifiable. Some ideas require inference to understand, but are mostly related to topic. 12
Level Adv: Addresses the essay task minimally but relation to the task is evident; may be unfocused or unclear with few identifiable supporting details; does not demonstrate understanding of essay organization; fewer than required number of paragraphs. Level IH: Addresses task in a general way but ideas require inference to understand, and some sentences may not be clearly related to topic. The topic sentences, supporting details and/or conclusion are not present or can only be minimally identified even with effort; may be less than two paragraphs. Level IL: Addresses all parts of the task appropriately; ideas are comprehensible and clearly related to the topic; topic sentence, supporting details and concluding sentence are identifiable. The writing may contain minor errors that do not distract the reader. 10
Level IH: Addresses the task minimally even though two paragraphs may not be identifiable. Sentences are comprehensible and related to topic.Level IL: Addresses all parts of the task adequately. The sentences are comprehensible and related to the topic. At least four sentences are written. A topic sentence, details and concluding sentence are present but are not easily identified. May contain minor errors that do not confuse comprehension.Level 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
Level IL: Addresses the task in a general way. Some sentences may require inference to understand. The writing lacks topic sentence, supporting details and/or concluding sentence. At least four sentences are identifiable.Levels BH, BL: Addresses the task in a general way. Some sentences may require inference to understand. At least four sentences are identifiable. 6
Levels IL, BH, BL: Addresses the task minimally but relationship to topic is evident. May lack appropriate or sufficient detail or clear focus. Many sentences require a substantial degree of inference to understand ideas. Fewer than four sentences are identifiable. 4
Level 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
Format, Neatness and Legibility
Adv, IH, IL, BH: Paragraph(s) form (i.e. title, indentation, margins) 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: Paragraph(s) form (i.e. title, indentation, margins) 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: Paragraph(s) form (i.e. title, indentation, margins) 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
Grammar, Structure and Mechanics
Level Adv: Writing contains almost no errors in grammar, structure, spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. 6
Level 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
Level 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. Level BL: Grammar, e.g. verb tenses, word order, etc., is mostly correct; most of the words are spelled correctly. 4
Level 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. Level 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
Level 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
Level 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

Rating Scale/Passing Scores

Total Points Possible: 51
Advanced: 41
Intermediate High: 30
Intermediate Low: 22
Beginning High: 17
Beginning Low: 13
View Civic Obj & AAP List