KPA - Kentucky Paraeducator Assessment Assisting with Writing Instruction Questions and Answers

Question 1

A student is assigned to write a story about their favorite holiday but is staring at a blank page, unsure how to begin.
What is the MOST appropriate first step for a paraeducator to take to assist this student?

Accepted Answer

Help the student brainstorm ideas by asking questions about their favorite holiday and webbing the answers.

Answer

Suggest the student write the first sentence for them to get started.

Answer

Tell the student to skip the introduction and start writing the middle of the story.

Answer

Provide the student with a completed story to use as a model and ask them to copy the structure.

Question 2

When assisting a student with the writing process, what is the primary focus during the REVISING stage?

Accepted Answer

Adding more descriptive words, clarifying ideas, and reorganizing sentences for better flow.

Answer

Correcting spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors.

Answer

Checking the formatting of the final copy, such as font and spacing.

Answer

Writing the initial draft of the text as quickly as possible.

Question 3

A paraeducator is working with a small group on editing their written work. Which of the following is the most effective strategy to support the students' development as independent writers?

Accepted Answer

Providing students with a simple checklist to look for specific errors like capitalization and end punctuation.

Answer

Correcting all the mistakes on each student's paper for them.

Answer

Giving each student a red pen to circle all the errors they can find on a peer's paper.

Answer

Reading the papers aloud and pointing out every mistake to the group.

Question 4

A fourth-grade student has written a draft about how to build a model airplane but the steps are out of order and confusing. The teacher asks the paraeducator to help the student organize their ideas more clearly. Which tool would be most helpful for the paraeducator to introduce?

Accepted Answer

A graphic organizer, such as a sequence chart or flowchart.

Answer

A dictionary to look up difficult words.

Answer

A thesaurus to find better adjectives.

Answer

A spelling and grammar checker on the computer.

Question 5

According to the Kentucky Paraeducator Assessment (KPA) guidelines, what is the primary role of a paraeducator when assisting with writing instruction?

Accepted Answer

To support and reinforce the instruction provided by the certified teacher.

Answer

To introduce new writing concepts and assign grades to student work.

Answer

To provide primary writing instruction when the teacher is absent.

Answer

To create and design the writing curriculum for the classroom.

Question 6

During a one-on-one writing conference with a student, which of the following actions by a paraeducator would be considered INAPPROPRIATE?

Accepted Answer

Rewriting a student's sentence to make it sound better and telling the student to copy it.

Answer

Asking open-ended questions like, 'What are you trying to say in this paragraph?'

Answer

Praising the student's effort and pointing out something they did well.

Answer

Using a checklist to gently guide the student to find a punctuation error.

A student is assigned to write a story about their favorite holiday but is staring at a blank page, unsure how to begin.What is the MOST appropriate first step for a paraeducator to take to assist this student?

A student is assigned to write a story about their favorite holiday but is staring at a blank page, unsure how to begin.
What is the MOST appropriate first step for a paraeducator to take to assist this student?