Excerpt (about 165 words): On the night the storm knocked out the town's power, Leo followed the creek to the mouth of Miller's Cave, a place his grandmother called a knot in the earth. The rain had rinsed the air clean; even the bats kept quiet. Inside, the passages bent like question marks. Leo snapped a glow stick and clipped it to his backpack so he wouldn't vanish into his own shadow. He had brought his father's roll of neon surveyor's tape—a bright, flat ribbon—and, at the entrance, he tied one end to a gnarled root. As he edged deeper, he let the tape whisper from the roll, brushing the damp walls, marking his path. When the ceiling dropped low, he ducked and laughed nervously at the drip, drip, drip. The cave did not roar; it listened. Far in, a gust stole his breath, and Leo paused, feeling how small he was. Then he turned, fingers finding the ribbon, and followed that thin, steady line toward light.

Student draft: The author reworks the myth of the labyrinth by giving Leo a modern "thread" that helps him escape. [ADD EVIDENCE HERE].

Which sentence best adds evidence from the passage to support the student's claim?

Excerpt: Every school day, cafeterias serve hundreds of meals—and send too much to the trash. Food scraps, napkins, and paper trays are heavy, so schools pay to haul what could become soil. In one district pilot, after a middle school introduced clear sorting stations and a composting pickup, the volume of trash bags fell by 48 percent in six weeks, according to the facilities report. The program cost less than two dollars per student per month and cut cafeteria odors; sealed bins were removed daily instead of sitting overnight. Students learned quickly: with color-coded lids and simple pictures, contamination dropped, and volunteers needed only to guide the line for the first few days. Composting doesn't solve everything—uneaten, packaged items still go to donation or recycling—but it keeps what's natural in a natural cycle. When schools treat food as a resource, they save money on hauling, reduce methane from landfills, and give science classes real-world material to study.

Student draft: Our school should adopt composting because it's affordable and proven to reduce waste. [ADD EVIDENCE HERE].

Which revision best blends evidence smoothly into the paragraph?

Excerpt: By late afternoon the market tents sagged under a sky the color of tin. Mina counted the coins in Grandmother's shawl, barely enough for carrots and a knob of butter. They turned toward home when an old man, his basket empty but for a sprig of parsley, stopped at their table. He blinked at the last sweet roll on the cloth and smiled sadly. Without a word, Grandmother wrapped the roll and pressed it into his hands. "For your walk," she said. He bowed and went on, humming a tune that sounded like rain. That evening, wind shouldered the windows. Mina's stomach ached with hunger and worry. Then came a knock. Their neighbor stood soaking wet, holding a covered pot. "We made too much stew today," she said. "Share with us." Steam rose like a blessing. Mina thought of the old man's empty basket and Grandmother's open hands, and how the tune had followed them all the way home.

Student draft: The story suggests that generosity creates a circle of care in the community. [ADD EVIDENCE HERE].

Which sentence best adds evidence from the passage to support the claim?

Excerpt: In cities, sun-baked streets and roofs store heat long after sunset, raising temperatures in ways that are not evenly shared. A recent study mapped one-mile grids and found that blocks with less than ten percent tree canopy measured up to seven degrees hotter than nearby park areas at midday. Heat pools where shade is scarce. The good news is that trees change that pattern quickly. In one neighborhood coalition project, volunteers planted fifty curbside trees along south-facing blocks. Within two summers, satellite thermographs showed afternoon surface temperatures up to four degrees lower on those streets, and residents reported cooler sidewalks and more people walking. While reflective roofs and lighter pavements also help, trees provide shade, habitat, and evaporative cooling. Young trees need watering and time to grow, but even saplings cast meaningful shade on narrow sidewalks. For neighborhoods prioritizing relief within a few years, adding trees is a practical first step that yields multiple benefits.

Student draft: Planting street trees can lower neighborhood temperatures in the near term, not just decades from now. [ADD EVIDENCE HERE].

Which revision best blends precise evidence with commentary?

Text Excerpt: The courier pushed through the late-afternoon traffic, the city pulsing with horn bursts and the new soda jingle that floated from stoops and shop doors. The tune hooked the back of his mind and tugged; for a heartbeat his front wheel drifted toward the bright billboard swaying above the avenue. He shook himself, twisted his earbuds in, and tuned to a channel of gentle static—white noise like a curtain—and fixed his eyes on the route, a thin blue thread he refused to let snap.

Student Draft: This modern scene echoes the ancient Sirens: a tempting song threatens to pull a traveler off his course, but he survives by blocking the sound and focusing on his path. The author doesn't just copy the myth, though; he updates it to the noise of advertising and urban life. [ADD EVIDENCE] This shows how a traditional danger is remade into something familiar to readers today.

Which sentence best adds evidence from the passage to support the student's analysis?

Text Excerpt: At the makerspace, Lina's stepsiblings hovered over the soldering station, shooing her to the bin of stripped wires. "You can organize those," they said, while they glowed under club lights, presenting their bot to the mentor. At home, a retired engineer from down the hall saw Lina's sketches and offered a battered tub of spare parts. They met quietly, building evenings after homework. On the night of the regional showcase, the submission portal would close at midnight; Lina's code compiled with seconds to spare, and she hurried out so no one would see her name on the leaderboard. In the rush, one glove slipped from her pocket and fell beneath a workbench.

Student Draft: The story borrows the pattern of Cinderella but makes it new with technology and a neighbor instead of a fairy godmother. [ADD EVIDENCE] The familiar outline remains, yet the details feel grounded in real clubs and deadlines.

Which revision best blends evidence smoothly into the paragraph?

Text Excerpt: In arguing that middle schools should start later, the author states research: "A 2019 study of three high schools that shifted start times by 50 minutes found absences dropped by 15 percent and first-period tardiness by nearly a third." The author adds that adolescents' circadian rhythms make early waking biologically difficult. Addressing costs, the piece admits that adjusting bus routes could be expensive but counters that "healthier, more alert students" would "reduce costs tied to nurse visits and disciplinary referrals." The column concludes that the community should pilot a later start for one year, collect data, and expand if results hold.

Student Draft: The reasoning is mostly sound because it uses specific data and anticipates a counterargument about transportation. However, the argument would be stronger if it showed results from more than one district. [ADD EVIDENCE] That would help readers judge whether the evidence is sufficient.

Which sentence best adds relevant evidence and evaluation to the student's paragraph?

Text Excerpt: Proponents of community gardens often claim they make neighborhoods safer. In Cedar Heights, volunteers cleared a vacant lot and planted rows of greens last spring. According to police reports, in the six blocks surrounding the lot, reported vandalism fell by 12 percent between May and September compared with the same months the year before. The garden coordinator also noted that on harvest nights "you see people talking across the fence who never spoke before." While a few store owners argued that "crime is about policing, not plants," the article concludes that gardens reduce crime by bringing neighbors together and "reclaiming" neglected spaces.

Student Draft: The article presents a clear claim, but some evidence is limited or off-topic. The vandalism statistic might be relevant, yet the reasoning jumps from a correlation to a firm cause. [ADD EVIDENCE] The piece would benefit from broader data or a comparison neighborhood.

Which sentence best strengthens the student's evaluation by integrating evidence from the article?

Excerpt: At Brookfield Middle, lunch used to end in an avalanche of trash bags. This semester, the green team tried a simple fix: three bins at the exit—recycling, compost, and landfill—monitored by student volunteers. The first week was messy, and a few students rolled their eyes. But after a quick demonstration in science classes, sorting sped up. "We went from seven bags a day to about four," said custodian Mr. Lee, "and they're lighter." Cafeteria manager Ms. Torres noticed something else: the sour smell faded once food scraps were diverted. After six weeks, the team weighed the bags and found that the volume of trash fell by nearly half. They also collected comments from classmates who liked seeing leftovers become soil for the school garden. Some worried the system would slow the line, yet in practice the color-coded lids and clear posters kept students moving. The change wasn't flashy, but the numbers—and the cleaner air—were hard to ignore.

Student Draft: The author argues that composting reduces waste at school, and the claim is supported by relevant, sufficient evidence. [ADD EVIDENCE FROM THE PASSAGE HERE] This makes the recommendation credible rather than just a feel-good idea.

Which sentence best adds evidence from the passage?

Excerpt: By the time the chain snapped, Eli had memorized every crack in the delivery route—and every excuse. He wheeled his bike into the narrow repair shop on Cedar, where the bell chimed and dust glowed in a shaft of light. An older man looked up from a truing stand. "Long day?" he asked, taking the warped wheel into his hands. Eli shrugged. "I keep getting lost," he said, hearing how small it sounded. The man's fingers moved calmly, plucking at spokes like strings. "Maps help," he said, "but so does listening." He showed Eli how to sight along the rim and tighten in pairs. Then, as they worked, he added, "You already know the route; trust your legs." When the wheel was true, he felt something inside click as well—like the man had fixed more than spokes. He turned to thank the man, but the stool by the stand was empty. The bell chimed again, although the door hadn't opened. On the counter lay a note—no, only a grease thumbprint in shape of an arrow.

Student Draft: The story updates the "wise guide" archetype by giving Eli brief, transformative help from the shopkeeper. [ADD EVIDENCE FROM THE PASSAGE HERE] The mentor appears just long enough to teach a lesson and then vanishes, which is a classic pattern.

Which revision best blends evidence smoothly into the paragraph?