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Connecticut Mastery Test (Language Arts) and the Cognitive Strategies Promoted By Instrumental Enrichment

David S. Martin, Ph.D., for IC&TA November 2006
The following chart “maps” the skills assessed by the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) for Language Arts against the cognitive strategies that are explicitly taught in the Instrumental Enrichment (I.E.) thinking-skills program, for elementary and higher grade levels.

Objectives From CMT:
Cognitive Strategies Taught in I.E.:

A. Forming General Understanding

Find main idea
Systematic exploration; staying relevant

Identify important text elements (characters, events, etc.)
Labeling; projecting relationships; developing point-of-view ; developing temporal relationships
Selecting relevant information
Staying relevant
Make predictions
Finding relationships; hypothesizing 

Use context clues
Projecting relationships

B. Developing Interpretation

Infer author’s patterns
Finding patterns; hypothesizing

Draw conclusions
Using logic; analyzing

Support conclusions
Using logic to prove a point; definding opionion; using metacognition

C. Making Reader-Text Connections

Connection between text and outside experience
Applying strategies to life situations; “bridging”

Personally respond to text
Expressing individual viewpoints

D. Examining Content and Structure
Analysis of author’s craft
Analyzing; usijng two or more sources of information; understanding sequence

Synthesize information to evaluate the text 
Comparing; categorizing; judging explaining what makes sense and what does not

Be aware of author’s beliefs and character’s beliefs
Breaking egocentric communication; developing different points-of-view

E. Editing and Revising
Content and Organization
Making a plan; organizing unorganized data; sequencing

Syntax
Overcoming trial-and-error; labeling

Word Choice
Comparing; broadening mental field; being precise

Mechanical Corrections
Being precise; exploring systematically; following instructions

F. Writing Prompt

Describe
Using two or more sources of information; labeling

Explain
Elaborating; using logic

Use details
Being precise; projecting relationships

Organize
Organizing; creating patterns