Summary Tables of Texas Adult Education Content Standards & Benchmarks

Created by M.J. Ochoa, Far West GREAT Center
July 2008 (revised January 2009)

ABE/ASE CONTENT STANDARDS
LEVEL 4 – HIGH INTERMEDIATE BASIC EDUCATION

READ WITH UNDERSTANDING

• Determine the purpose for reading.
• Select reading strategies appropriate to the purpose.
• Monitor comprehension and adjust reading strategies.
• Analyze the information and reflect on its underlying meaning.
• Integrate new understanding with prior knowledge to address the reading purpose.

 CONVEY IDEAS IN WRITING

• Determine the purpose for communicating.
• Organize and present information to serve the purpose, context, and audience.
• Pay attention to conventions of English language usage, including grammar, spelling and sentence structure.
• Seek feedback and revise to enhance the effectiveness of the communication.

 USE MATH TO SOLVE PROBLEMS AND COMMUNICATE

• Understand, interpret, and work with pictures, numbers and symbolic information.
• Define and select data to be used in solving the problem.
• Determine the degree of precision required by the situation.
• Apply knowledge of mathematical concepts and procedures to figure out how to answer a question, solve a problem.
• Make a prediction or carry out a task that has a mathematical dimension using appropriate quantitative procedures, and verify the results are reasonable.
• Communicate results using a variety of mathematical representations, including graphs, charts, tables, and algebraic models.

Determine Purpose
(R1.4) Identify purpose (e.g., to be informed to be entertained, interpret) to focus reading.

Example: Reading a nutrition chart, a health clinic brochure.

Decode and Recognize Words
(R2.4) Recognize unfamiliar (some specialized) words and abbreviations by using knowledge of word parts and word relationships.

Example: State abbreviations: TX – Texas; M.D. – Medical Doctor; Mar – March

Vocabulary Development
(R3.4) Demonstrate familiarity with everyday and some specialized vocabulary (e.g., job related, health).

Example: Hygiene – needing to wash hands.

Locate Information
(R4.4) Locate important information from a variety of texts and graphs using appropriate strategies (e.g., using context cures and details, skimming, scanning).

Example: Auto owner’s manual.

Build Comprehension
(R5.4) Monitor and build comprehension using strategies (e.g., recalling, using simple examples, and adjusting reading rate).

Example: Sports stories, TV Guide

Analyze and Organize Information
(R6.4) Organize and analyze information in a variety of texts using some strategies such as, recall, restatement, simple sequencing, and simple categorization.

Example: Place orders by telephone based on review of printed materials.

Determine Purpose
(W1.4) Determine the purpose and audience for communicating in writing with support.
Example: Plan a TAKS writing considering purpose and audience, using a prompt from the TEA website.

Organize Information
(W2.4) Use multiple planning and prewriting strategies such as outlining, using graphic organizers, and categorizing ideas in order to:

• Identify and organize a limited number of ideas to support a single purpose (e.g., writing to inform, persuade others) to produce a legible and comprehensible draft.

Example: Plan a letter to the editor.

Present Information
(W3.4) Convey ideas with several supporting facts, details, and examples reflecting judgment by:

• Appropriately using both everyday and specialized vocabulary with attention to the suitable level of formality and
• Appropriately using a limited variety of simple and complex sentence structures a few well-constructed and linked paragraphs.

Example: Write a narrative.

Revise Writing
(W4.4) Review drafts (reading silently or aloud), revise writing to improve:

• Clarity and descriptiveness of ideas,
• Transitions between paragraphs, passages, and ideas,
• The appropriateness of text for the intended audience,
• Grammar, and
• Sentence structure (simple/compound/complex).

Edit Writing
(W5.4) Use appropriate tools such as dictionaries and grammar guides to undertake multiple re-readings of text in order to edit for:

• Grammar: verb tenses, including irregular past, present perfect, present perfect progressive, present real conditional habitual past,
• Punctuation: quotation marks and apostrophes,
• Capitalization: first word in a quotation, special events,
• Language usage: simple compound sentences, irregular plurals, pronoun/ antecedent agreement, and spelling and capitalization.

Recognize and Compare Numbers
(M1.4) Recognize and use equivalencies between fractions, decimals, and percents.

Example: Is ½ of a pizza the same as 50% of a pizza?

Mathematical Symbols
(M2.4) Identify and use mathematical symbols (≥, ≤) and words that represent those symbols.

Example: Decide which product to buy based on a comparison of nutritional information.

Number Line and Grids
(M3.4) Plot points in all four quadrants of a coordinate grid.

Example: Plot the path of hurricanes based on given coordinates.

Application of Mathematical Operations
(M4.4) Model and apply meanings of four basic math operations (i.e., addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) using whole numbers, fractions and decimals.

Example: Divide a restaurant check evenly for a group of 5 people.

Currency
(M5.4) Concept mastered

Measurements
(M6.4) Measure fractional unit with appropriate tools: length, weight, volume, time, and temperature.

Example: Read a fuel gauge.

Area, Perimeters, and Angles
(M7.4)

• Calculate the area of squares, rectangles, and triangles.
• Identify parallel lines, perpendicular lines, and intersecting lines.

Example: Determine the area of a rectangular room for carpeting or tile.

Using Ratios, Proportions, and Percents
(M8.4) Identify and write ratios and proportions within word problems.

Example: One minute is to 60 seconds as 60 minutes is to ___ seconds.

Probabilities
(M9.4) Determine simple probabilities.

Example: Flip a coin. What is the probability of landing heads?

Graphs and Charts
(M10.4) Collect and interpret data to construct more complex graphs, schedules, tables, and diagrams.

Example: Develop a yearly budget and illustrate expenses by creating a chart or graph.

Averages
(M11.4) Find mean, range, median, and mode.

Example: Track temperatures for one week and find the mean, median, mode, and range.

Order of Operations and Linear Equations
(M12.4)

• Solve linear equations with one variable using division, addition, subtraction, and distributive property.
• Write simple linear equations from the given word problems.

Example: Tom is twice as old as Tammy. Tammy is 6 years old. How old is Tom?

Patterns and Sequences
(M13.4) Construct patterns using geometric sequences.

Example: 3, 6, 12, 24, 48 …

Rounding and Estimation
(M14.4) Apply the concept of rounding and estimation to solve multi-step problems.

Example: Estimate the sum of 2.75 + 33.1 + 8.49 + 4.11 to the nearest tenth.