Texas Middle School Fluency Assessment (TMSFA)
Texas Education Code (TEC) §28.006(c-1) requires that students who do not meet the passing standard on the Grade 6 State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) reading test must be administered a reading assessment at the beginning of grade 7. The Texas Middle School Fluency Assessment (TMSFA) was developed with Texas students to be a valid and reliable instrument for determining students’ areas of instructional need.
The TMSFA is based on valid and reliable scientific research, thoroughly measures each domain of development, and is user-friendly. The following three domains of development are assessed using the TMSFA.
- Text Comprehension (Reading)
- Word Analysis
- Fluency
Explain the Influence of the Setting on Plot Development in Literary Text/Fiction (English 7 Reading)
You will learn how the setting in a story can influence the development of the plot.
Analyze Point of View in Literary Texts/Fiction (English 7 Reading)
You will learn how to analyze different points of view, including first person, third-person omniscient, and third-person limited.
Understanding Drama (English 7 Reading)
You will learn how to explain a playwright’s use of dialogue and stage directions.
Understanding Poetry (English 7 Reading)
You will learn the importance of graphical elements (e.g., capital letters, line length, word position) in the meaning of a poem.
Imagery and Figurative Language (English 7 Reading)
You will be able to identify figurative language and understand how it creates imagery, appeals to the senses, and suggests mood.
Make Connections Between and Across Literary Texts (English 7 Reading)
You will learn how to make connections between and across texts, including other media (e.g., film, play), and provide textual evidence.
Understanding Drama
You will learn how to explain a playwright’s use of dialogue and stage directions.
Explain the Influence of Setting on Plot Development in Literary Text/Fiction
You will learn how the setting in a story can influence the development of the plot.
Write an Expository and/or Procedural Text (English 6 Writing)
You will learn how to write an expository/procedural text with a variety of sentence structures, rhetorical devices, transitions, appropriate facts, and details.
Make Connections Between and Across Literary Texts
You will learn how to make connections between and across texts, including other media (e.g., film, play), and provide textual evidence.
Analyze (Describe) Point of View in Literary Texts/Fiction
You will learn how to analyze different points of view, including first-person, third-person omniscient, and third-person limited.
Understand New Vocabulary Using Roots and Affixes (English 6 Reading)
You will learn how to determine the meaning of grade-level academic English words derived from Latin, Greek, or other linguistic roots and affixes.
Understand New Vocabulary Within Context (English 6 Reading)
You will learn how to use context (e.g., cause and effect or compare and contrast organizational text structures) to determine or clarify the meaning of unfamiliar or multiple-meaning words.
Themes in Literary Texts (English 6 Reading)
You will learn how to infer the implicit theme in a work of fiction, distinguish theme from topic, and make complex inferences using textual evidence.
Imagery and Figurative Language
Using textual evidence, you will be able to explain how authors create meaning through stylistic elements and figurative language emphasizing the use of personification, hyperbole, and refrains in prose and poetry.
Using the Present Progressive Tense | No Nonsense Grammar
Present progressives describe an action in progress, or something that started in the past and is still happening. It is formed with the helping "to be" verb in the present tense and the present participle of the verb.
Edison: Boyhood and Teen Years
Find out how young Thomas Edison’s curiosity got him into trouble, and how, during his teen years, he lost his hearing but gained confidence as an aspiring inventor, in this video adapted from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: Edison.
Reflexive Pronouns and Subjects | No Nonsense Grammar
Reflexive pronouns reflect the subject of the sentence. A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that is preceded or followed by the noun, adjective, adverb, or pronoun to which it refers within the same clause.
Unforgettable Elephants
In this video segment from Nature, witness the joy an elephant family experiences when a new baby elephant is born. This birth was a celebration within elephant society.