Passage-Related Reading Items for Informational Text: "Escape North!"

Enhanced Assessment

NECAP Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) for Reading End of Grade 2

Passage-Related Reading Items for Informational Text: "Escape North!"

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This part of the book Escape North! The True Story of Harriet Tubman tells about how Harriet Tubman helped other slaves escape slavery in 1851. Read the passage and then answer the questions that follow.

Escape North!
By Monica Kulling

The night was dark. Cricket song filled the air. A woman hid outside a cabin. She whistled a song called “Go Down, Moses.” A line in the song said: “Let my people go.”

Inside the cabin, the slaves knew that Harriet Tubman had come to lead her people out of slavery.

It was 1851. Harriet Tubman was a conductor on the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad wasn’t a real railroad. It was the name people gave the route taking slaves north to freedom.

Years before, a slave had run off. He had seemed to disappear right in front of his owner’s eyes.

“He must have gone on an underground railroad,” said the owner.

The story spread. There was a way north to the free states! There were people who would help. They would hide you in their homes. These safe houses were stations on the Underground Railroad. Runaways ran from station to station until they reached a state where slavery was against the law.

That Saturday night, ten slaves answered Harriet’s call to freedom. Field slaves had Sundays off, so the bossman wouldn’t know they were gone until Monday. Then he and his dogs would come after them. If they were caught, they would be beaten...maybe to death.

Harriet was there to make sure that didn’t happen. She kept her eyes on one star in the sky—the North Star. She moved quickly, and the runaways followed.

Suddenly, clouds covered the star. Harriet had to make sure she was heading in the right direction. If she didn’t, they could end up back at the plantation!

Harriet ran her fingers over the bark of the tree nearest her. Daddy Ben had taught her that moss grew on the north side of trees.

I’ll have to find, north the way my daddy taught me, she thought.

Harriet closed her eyes and thought back to the lessons of long ago. She thought back to when she was a girl.

From Escape North!: The True Story Of Harriet Tubman, by Monica Kulling, illustrated by Teresa Flavin. Copyright (c) 2000 by Monica Kulling. Illustrations copyright (c) 2000 by Teresa Flavin. Used by permission of Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

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Passage-Related Reading Items for Informational Text: "Escape North!"

Sample Reading Items for End of Grade 2

Information about the Items

1. Which word matches the picture?

Picture of cabin

A. barn
B. slavery
C. cabin
D. cricket

Key: C

R-2-1.1 (open and closed syllable types)

Item Type: MC - related to passage

Alignment to GLE R-2-1.1: Applies word identification and decoding strategies by …Identifying regularly spelled multi-syllabic words, by using knowledge of sounds, syllable types, or word patterns

Depth of Knowledge: Level 1 - Read multi-syllabic words

2. Part 6 of the passage says, "Runaways ran from station to station until they reached a state where slavery was against the law." In this sentence runaways means

A. people who helped slaves.
B. escaped slaves.
C. people who did errands for other people.
D. conductors on the Underground Railroad.

Key: B

R-2-2.1 (use context)

Item Type: MC - related to passage

Alignment to GLE R-2-2.1: Students identify the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary by…
Using strategies to unlock meaning (e.g., knowledge of word structure, including common base words and suffixes or context clues)

Depth of Knowledge: Level 2 - Use context cues to identify the meaning of unfamiliar words; Make basic inferences or draw basic conclusions about information presented in text

3. Which word from the passage has a prefix (beginning) meaning not?

A. inside
B. conductor
C. disappear
D. nearest

Key: C

R-2-2.1 (prefix knowledge)

Item Type: MC - related to passage

Alignment to GLE R-2-2.1: Students identify the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary by…
Using strategies to unlock meaning (e.g., knowledge of word structure)

Depth of Knowledge: Level 1 - Use language structure (pre/suffix) to determine meaning of words

4. Which word from the passage is a compound word with one part meaning below?

A. inside
B. railroad
C. bossman
D. underground

Key: D

R-2-2.1 (word structure knowledge)

Item Type: MC - related to passage

Depth of Knowledge: Level 1 - Use language structure (pre/suffix) to determine meaning of words

5. When something escapes, it runs away.

Fill in the chart.

Can this escape?	Yes or no?
A. tree
B. horse
C. rainbow
D. dog

KEY: Scoring Guide

R-2-3.1 (categories)

Item Type: CR - related to passage

Alignment to GLE R-2-3.1: Shows breadth of vocabulary knowledge, demonstrating understanding of word meanings or relationships by … categorizing words

Depth of Knowledge: Level 2 - Recognizing appropriate generalizations about text

6. What is the MAIN reason slaves ran away on Saturday nights?

A. No one would look for them until Monday.
B. Less people were on the roads on Saturday nights.
C. They could hide easier during the nighttime.
D. The Underground Railroad opened on Saturdays.

Key: A

R-2-7.2 (explicitly stated information)

Item Type: MC - related to passage

Alignment to GLE R-2-7: Demonstrate initial understanding of informational texts (expository and practical texts) by… Using explicitly stated information to answer questions

Depth of Knowledge: Level 1 - Locate or recall facts or details explicitly presented in text

7. Harriet Tubman feels the moss on a tree because this

A. makes her feel calm.
B. tells her which way is north.
C. is a sign to the escaping slaves.
D. tricks the slave owners.

Key: B

R-2-7.2 (explicitly stated information)

Item Type: MC - related to passage

Alignment to GLE R-2-7: Demonstrate initial understanding of informational texts (expository and practical texts) by… Using explicitly stated information to answer questions

Depth of Knowledge: Level 1 - Locate or recall facts or details explicitly presented in text

8. Fill in the chart using details from the passage.

What did Harriet do to help the slaves escape?

Key: Scoring Guide

R-2.8.1 (connect information)

Item Type: CR - related to passage

Alignment to GLE R-2-8.1: Analyze and interpret informational text, citing evidence as appropriate by… Connecting information within a text

Depth of Knowledge: Level 2 - Locate information to answer questions related to explicit or implicit central ideas in informational texts

9. Explain what the Underground Railroad was. Use details from the passage to support your answer.

KEY: Scoring Guide

R-2-8.1 (connect information)

Item Type: CR - related to passage

Alignment to GLE R-2-8.1: Analyze and interpret informational text, citing evidence as appropriate by… Connecting information within a text

Depth of Knowledge: Level 3 - Explain, generalize, or connect ideas, using supporting evidence from the text

10. Based on this passage, Harriet Tubman MOST LIKELY will

A. lead the slaves north.
B. decide her work is too dangerous.
C. move to Canada.
D. visit the plantation where she was a girl.

Key: A

R-2-8.3 (draw basic conclusion)

Item Type: MC - related to passage

Alignment to GLE R-2-8.3: Analyze and interpret informational text, citing evidence as appropriate by… drawing basic conclusions

Depth of Knowledge: Level 2 - Make basic inferences or draw basic conclusions about information presented in text

11. Which word BEST describes Harriet Tubman in this passage?

A. brave
B. sad
C. tired
D. silly

Key: A

R-2-8.3 (make basic inference)

Item Type: MC - related to passage

Alignment to GLE R-2-8.3: Analyze and interpret informational text, citing evidence as appropriate by… Making basic inferences

Depth of Knowledge: Level 2 - Make basic inferences or draw basic conclusions about information presented in text

Supplemental Information about Text Passages Used for End of Grade 2
Title of Passage	Text Type	Text Descriptors
*"Escape North," from The Story of Harriet Tubman, by Monica Kulling*	Informational	Excerpt is from a longer selection - used here for providing historical and biographical information Varied vocabulary, but generally familiar; use of multi-syllabic words (e.g., bossman, runaways) and words with multiple meanings (e.g., railroad, station); Content-specific words defined or explained in context Sentence structure is simple; No dialogue, but some use of quotation marks Use of (narrator's) voice - told in third person Relatively straightforward (narrative) text structure; Text includes historical information (Underground Railroad, slavery) Story elements (plot, setting, characterization) provide support for both literal and interpretive meanings Uses narrative format; Text features include italicized phrases and illustrations; illustrations provide low to moderate support for understanding of content Range of punctuation used - period, exclamation mark, commas, quotation marks, ellipses, dash

For more information about "Increasing Text Complexity," see NECAP Reading GLEs Grades 3-8 - Appendix F. For more information about Suggested Informational and Literary Texts, see NECAP Reading GLEs Grades 3-8 - Appendix A

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© January 2005. Produced in partnership with New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont Departments of Education, Education Development Center, and the Center for Assessment. Permission to photocopy is granted for use in individual classrooms and professional development settings.