The Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) is a criterion referenced test, meaning that scores are awarded based on a set of pre-determined criteria. It is comprised of primarily multiple choice questions and a few short answers. The multiple choice questions are graded by a computer. The short answers are subjectively graded by a test grader according to set of criteria. Kelly Services (an agency for temporary employment) is currently the temp agency who contracts to score CSAP tests. Below is an example from an actual eighth grade CSAP reading test which I will refer to later. Colorado students are tested in grades 3 through 10 in the areas of Reading, Mathematics, Writing, and in some grades, science.

Grade 8

Directions:

Read this poem by Judith Wright. Then do Numbers 21 through 24.

As I traveled through a quiet evening,

I saw a pool, jet-black and mirror still.

Beyond, the slender paperbarks stood crowding;

each on its own white image looked its fill,

and nothing moved but thirty egrets wading-

thirty egrets in a quiet evening.

Once in a lifetime, lovely past believing,

your lucky eyes may light on such a pool.

As though for many years I had been waiting,

I watched in silence, till my heart was full

of clear dark water, and white trees unmoving,

and, whiter yet, those egrets wading.

21) The phrase “mirror still” emphasizes that the pool is

0   A. dark and flowing.

0   B. flat and calm.

0   C. clean and transparent.

0   D. round and full.

22) What does the phrase “lovely past believing” mean in the poem?

0   A. impressive

0   B. gigantic

0   C. curious

0   D. lucky

23) The speaker of the poem states, "I watched in silence, till my heart was full of clear dark water." Write an explanation to tell what the speaker means.

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24) There are two stanzas in this poem. Why is this division appropriate for the poem?

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"Egrets" by Judith Wright from Collected Poems 1942-1970, copyright© by Judith Wright. Used by permission of Harper Collins Publishers, Australia. Used by permission of Atheneum Books for Young Readers, and imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division.