BCR Instruction for Standardized Test Prep

Teaching Students How to Write a Brief Constructed Response

Aug 17, 2009

Preparing students for standardized state tests begins early in the school year. Teaching students how to write a BCR is a vital part of that test preparation.

Brief Constructed Responses (BCR’s) provide valuable data as to the level of understanding a child has about a given topic. They are often difficult for students to write well, with only a handful of students in any class able to write a stellar response. As they are an important part of the No Child Left Behind standardized tests, preparing students to write them well is important. The RACE strategy can help teachers teach every student how to write a decent BCR.

Restate the Question as a Statement

When teaching students to write a decent BCR, the first step is to have them reword the question as a statement. The statement should be the first sentence in the response. This is the easiest part of a BCR response for children to get the hang of.

Answer the Question

The second sentence is the answer to the question. Whatever the BCR is asking, here is where the student answers that. This does require the student to understand the question and be able to write down an appropriate answer, something that should be learned through the daily lessons.

Cite Information from the Passage to Back up the Answer

Citing information from the passage can be difficult for many students. Students must be able to look back in the text to find an appropriate quote, a skill that should be practiced daily. Asking students to actually quote information from a passage instead of simply stating the page number is one method to help with this skill.

Explain How the Quoted Information Supports the Answer

Explaining how the quoted information supports the answer is the number one most difficult thing for students to learn how to do appropriately. Teachers need to focus on teaching students how to fill in the gaps in their writing. Hold class discussions around samples of writing that needs more details to help teach this skill.

Using the RACE strategy will provide every student the ability to write a great BCR. Standardized state tests utilize the BCR to assess students on a variety of levels. Test prep for these standardized tests must begin at the beginning of the school year in order for students to be thoroughly ready to answer the questions. Using strategies such as RACE, along with much practice, students will be able to answer BCR's and preform well on standardized state tests.

The copyright of the article BCR Instruction for Standardized Test Prep in New Teacher Support is owned by Jennifer Wagaman. Permission to republish BCR Instruction for Standardized Test Prep in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.