Grade 8
B.E.S.T. Writing
Sample Test Materials
The purpose of these sample test materials is to orient teachers and students
to the appearance of passages and prompts on paper-based accommodated
B.E.S.T. Writing tests. Each spring, students in grades 4–10 are administered
one text-based writing prompt for the B.E.S.T. Writing test. Students will
respond to either an expository prompt or to an argumentative prompt. An
example of a text-based writing prompt for each grade is available for
practice. To familiarize students with the response formats, teachers may
encourage students to practice with each type of prompt within a grade band.
The following B.E.S.T. Writing sample test materials are available on the
Florida Statewide Assessments Portal as shown below:
Elementary Grade Band
Grade 4 - Expository
Grade 5 - Argumentative
Middle Grade Band
Grade 6 - Expository
Grade 7 - Argumentative
Grade 8 - Expository
High School Grade Band
Grade 9 - Argumentative
Grade 10 - Expository
The sample test materials are not intended to guide classroom instruction.
To offer students a variety of texts on the B.E.S.T. Writing tests, authentic
and copyrighted stories, poems, and articles appear as they were originally
published, as requested by the publisher and/or author. While these
real-world examples do not always adhere to strict style conventions and/or
grammar rules, inconsistencies among sources should not detract from
students’ ability to understand and answer questions about the texts.
All trademarks and trade names found in this publication are the property
of their respective owners and are not associated with the publishers of this
publication.
Every effort has been made to trace the ownership of all copyrighted
material and to secure the necessary permissions to reprint selections.
Some items are reproduced with permission from Cambium Assessment, Inc.,
as copyright holder or under license from third parties.
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B.E.S.T. Writing Sample Items
Writing Prompt
Studies show that clothing affects people’s behavior.
Write an expository essay about how people’s thoughts and actions are
influenced by what they wear.
Your expository essay must be based on this prompt and topic, and it
must incorporate ideas and information found in the sources provided.
Use your best writing to complete an essay that
• is focused on your central idea;
• combines evidence from multiple sources with your own
elaboration to develop your ideas;
• is organized and includes transitions within and among ideas;
• provides citations for quoted material and source ideas; and
• demonstrates correct use of grammar and language
appropriate to the task.
Write your multiparagraph essay to an academic audience in the space
provided.
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B.E.S.T. Writing Sample Items
Read the “Dress for Success?” sources.
Dress for Success?
Source 1: You are what you DRESS: Clothing
has a significant effect on self-esteem and
confidence, claims expert
by Jonathan O’Callaghan
1 What’s the secret to being confident? . . .
2 [A]ccording to one researcher, the answer may in fact lie in what
we’re wearing.
3 Professor Karen Pine from the University of Hertfordshire said that
specific clothing—including even superhero T-shirts—can make people
more confident in all sorts of situations.
4 The research is outlined in her new book Mind What You Wear.
5 In the book she claims clothing affects a person’s mental processes
and perceptions.
6 And ultimately, what you wear could discern how confident you feel
about yourself.
7 “We know our clothes affect other people’s impressions of us,”
Professor Pine told the MailOnline.
8 “Now research shows what we wear affects us too.
9 “Putting on different clothes creates different thoughts and mental
processes.
10 “My book aims to make people more aware of this, to understand
how changing their clothes can change their mood and their thoughts.”
11 In the study, she gathered a group of students and asked some to
wear a Superman T-shirt.
12 She wanted to know if heroic clothing would change how students
thought.
13 Surprisingly, she found that not only did it make them more
confident, but it also made them actually think they were physically
stronger.
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B.E.S.T. Writing Sample Items
14 “When wearing a Superman T-shirt the students rated themselves
as more likeable and superior to other students,” she explained in a
release from the University of Hertfordshire.
15 “When asked to estimate how much they could physically lift, those
in a Superman T-shirt thought they were stronger than students in a
plain T-shirt, or in their own clothing.”
Excerpt from “You are what you DRESS: Clothing has a significant effect on self-esteem and confidence,
claims expert” by Jonathan O’Callaghan. Copyright © 2018 by the Daily Mail. Reprinted by permission of
the Daily Mail via Copyright Clearance Center.
Source 2: Lab coats help students see
themselves as future scientists
by Megan Ennes and M. Gail Jones
16 In order to encourage more of the nation’s young people to pursue
careers in science, it pays to help them dress the part.
17 That is the key finding of a study we conducted recently to
determine what kind of effect a simple article of clothing—in this case
white lab coats—have on students’ confidence in their ability to do
science. We also wanted to know if lab coats help students see
themselves as scientists and aspire to science careers.
18 We are science education researchers interested in understanding
how the symbols and tools of science can promote students’ interest in
studying science.
19 This is an important topic because jobs in science, technology,
engineering and math—or STEM jobs—are not only important for
the economy, but are also growing faster and pay more than many
other fields.
20 Although the number of jobs in STEM fields are increasing, the
number of people choosing to major in those fields remains below
what is needed to fill the positions.
The power of clothing
21 In order to encourage more young people to choose to major in
STEM fields and pursue STEM careers, we believe it is important to
help them see themselves as someone who can be successful in those
fields. One item often associated with scientists is the white lab coat.
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B.E.S.T. Writing Sample Items
22 Clothing can be a powerful tool for changing one’s self-image, as
seen in previous studies of the effects of suits and lab coats on adults.
23 In an effort to help students see themselves as scientists and as
individuals who can be successful in science, we conducted a study that
put students in lab coats for science instruction. . . .
Same lessons, different attire
24 For each teacher, students in one of the classes wore lab coats for
at least 10 class periods over the course of two months. The other
class did not wear lab coats. The teachers taught the same lessons
to each class to minimize the differences between teachers. The
participants were interviewed before and after the 10 lessons and also
took a pre- and post-survey that explored many factors, such as their
sense of self as a scientist, their confidence in their skills related to
science, and whether they had career goals related to STEM fields.
25 For the 110 youth in the group who didn’t wear lab coats, there
were no statistically significant changes in their responses from the
pretest to post-test for any question on the written survey. However,
for the students who wore the lab coats, there was a significant
increase in their perceptions of whether others see them as scientists.
26 More specifically, of the 72 students who wore lab coats, 47 percent
changed their responses on the post-survey to indicate they feel like
others see them as someone who likes science.
27 Also, of the 42 lab coat-wearing students who had low levels of
confidence in their science skills, 45 percent changed their responses
on the post-test to positive responses. . . .
Positive effects
28 To test for performance and competence in science, students were
asked questions such as “I think I am good at science” and “I am good
at using science tools like thermometers, rulers or magnifying glasses.”
The youth who wore lab coats but had low levels of self-confidence had
a significant increase in their responses to these questions. More
specifically, 60 percent of the students changed their answer from
disagree to agree.
29 To test for career aspirations, the students were asked questions
such as “I would like to have a job that uses science.” For the students
wearing the lab coats who had low confidence in their science skills,
50 percent changed their answers from disagree to agree.
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B.E.S.T. Writing Sample Items
A worthy investment
30 The bottom line is that for youth that initially had low levels of
confidence in their science skills, the lab coats had a significant
improvement in their beliefs in their abilities, their levels of recognition
and their science career aspirations.
Excerpt from “Lab coats help students see themselves as future scientists” by Megan Ennes and
M. Gail Jones from The Conversation. Licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0.
Source 3: Workers are dressing more
casually. Does that affect productivity?
by Cindy Krischer Goodman
31 [A]s office dress codes become more relaxed, some employers
worry that the work ethic will weaken. Will wearing polo shirts to the
office discourage employees from staying past 6 p.m.? Will dressing in
khakis instead of a power suit make a manager less likely to invite
clients to lunch? Will wearing sandals lessen someone’s motivation to
negotiate a deal?
32 Business consultant Andrew Jensen, who has studied the correlation
between office workwear and productivity, says that just as managers
disagree on the issue of attire, there also has been a lack of consensus
among researchers: “It comes down to office environment. In a more
relaxed environment, casual dress works and doesn’t have much
impact. In a more traditional environment, casual dress does have an
impact, especially when employees go too far.”
33 Jensen of the Sozo Firm in Pennsylvania says that in some
workplaces, bosses contend that the national trend toward business-
casual wear can boost morale and camaraderie and even increase
creativity by allowing workers to feel comfortable and happy. In others,
supervisors say that business-casual can easily be abused and lead to
sloppiness, laziness and a decrease in professionalism. “The dress code
really needs to be customized depending who your customers are and
how often you interact with them,” Jensen says.
34 On a given day, what we wear to work can affect our focus,
motivation and what we accomplish, says Mike Slepian, adjunct
assistant professor at Columbia Business School and author of “The
Cognitive Consequences of Formal Clothing.” He says casual clothing
makes workers think less abstractly and more concretely—useful for
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B.E.S.T. Writing Sample Items
completing tasks focusing on details such as writing code or planning
a product launch. He says that with formal dress, workers feel more
powerful and ready to tackle higher level abstract thinking. He says
that when workers need to think creatively about the bigger picture,
that’s when dressing formally will increase productivity.
35 In offices that have Casual Fridays, some employees see their
mood shift with the change in work attire. Georgi Pipkin, corporate
manager of marketing at Baptist Health South Florida, dresses for the
interactions planned for the day and finds that her outlook correlates
with her clothing: “If I’m wearing jeans on a Friday, I have a more
relaxed, less stressful day. If I’m wearing a dress, I might be meeting
with a vendor and there’s an expectation that I’m going to perform at
a different level.” . . .
36 Conservative businesses that have relaxed their dress code see the
results. Dorothy Eisenberg, a partner in Miami’s Gerson Preston, says
the transition into business-casual at her firm has created a workplace
culture that attracts young workers, the lifeblood of an accounting firm:
“It shows that we are not stuffy, that we are complying with what the
market is like, and that our people are more relaxed and happy.”
Eisenberg believes the positive atmosphere leads to happier clients,
too: “When the morale is high, it affects productivity.”
37 However, pushing the boundaries of business-casual too far can be
problematic in any workplace. As a corporate trainer and Dallas-based
business coach, Shontaye Hawkins works with companies across the
country and suggests they provide employees photos of exactly what
they consider business-casual. Dressing . . . too casually can adversely
affect the employee and employer, she says: “When you wear flip-flops
and shorts, you become less focused on work. It’s like you can’t wait to
get off, and you’re thinking about everything outside of the office
versus work that needs to get done.”
Excerpt from “Workers are dressing more casually. Does that affect productivity?” by Cindy Krischer
Goodman. Copyright © 2016 by the Miami Herald. Reprinted by permission of the Miami Herald via
Copyright Clearance Center.
1112
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B.E.S.T. Writing Sample Items
Writing Prompt
Studies show that clothing affects people’s behavior.
Write an expository essay about how people’s thoughts and actions are
influenced by what they wear.
Your expository essay must be based on this prompt and topic, and it
must incorporate ideas and information found in the sources provided.
Use your best writing to complete an essay that
• is focused on your central idea;
• combines evidence from multiple sources with your own
elaboration to develop your ideas;
• is organized and includes transitions within and among ideas;
• provides citations for quoted material and source ideas; and
• demonstrates correct use of grammar and language
appropriate to the task.
Write your multiparagraph essay to an academic audience in the space
provided.
15492
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