English Language Arts: Informational Essays (TEKS.ELA.9-12.11.B)
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Texas High School ELA › English Language Arts: Informational Essays (TEKS.ELA.9-12.11.B)
Texas's power system is discussed in terms of winter failures, summer peaks, and long-range goals. Weatherization requirements appear beside conversations about wind and solar growth, as if timelines were interchangeable. Some point to scarcity pricing and market incentives, while others mention interregional ties and control. Battery storage enters the story, but duration, siting, and economics complicate claims about firm capacity. Meanwhile, data centers and LNG facilities are mentioned as new loads, and demand response as a flexible resource, without clarifying scale. The legislature alternates between subsidies and penalties, and regulatory jurisdiction is sometimes conflated. Historical isolation of most of the state on a separate grid matters, but so do transmission congestion and investment cycles. Public narratives invoke self-sufficiency and innovation, though it is not always clear how those themes translate into reliability. Altogether, the conversation becomes a catalog of factors, leaving readers to decide which matter most.
Which revision best establishes a clear, sophisticated controlling idea and provides strong, relevant advanced supporting evidence while enhancing the overall effectiveness of the informational writing?
Reframe the essay to survey how energy systems have evolved worldwide and then add anecdotes about famous blackouts and innovations to keep readers engaged.
Center the controlling idea that Texas can improve reliability and affordability by coupling targeted interconnection with firming resources and weatherization, and support it with ERCOT generation-mix trends, NERC reliability assessments, comparative evidence from neighboring markets, and cost–benefit analyses organized by causes, policy tools, and trade-offs.
Narrow the piece to argue that cryptomining alone drives grid volatility in Texas, offering colorful descriptions of server warehouses and a few interviews to illustrate the point.
Lean into the cultural narrative of self-sufficiency by foregrounding stories of individual Texans during storms, then conclude that independence is the best guarantor of resilience without adding technical analysis.
Explanation
Choice B articulates a focused controlling idea and outlines an evidence plan (reliability data, regulatory comparisons, cost–benefit analysis) organized by causes, policy instruments, and trade-offs, strengthening coherence and support. The other options are too broad, too narrow, or rely on interesting but irrelevant material.
CRISPR is framed as precise yet ethically fraught. Some argue genome editing could reduce disease burdens, while others emphasize consent and equity. Regulatory pathways diverge across countries; harmonization is mentioned but undefined. Technical concerns include off-target effects, mosaicism, and delivery vectors, alongside questions about trial design and endpoints. Media narratives oscillate between breakthroughs and dystopia, and patient advocates voice urgency. Comparisons to recombinant DNA conferences and IVF debates appear, but the relevance to today's institutions is uneven. Agricultural applications and human germline interventions are often mentioned together despite different risk profiles. Funding sources shape incentives, and insurance coverage will influence access, but the relationships among these forces are not mapped. Calls for stakeholder engagement exist without specifying scope or authority. As sequencing costs fall, expectations for personalized medicine shift, yet it is unclear how these shifts should affect oversight. The discussion spreads laterally without a guiding throughline.
Which revision best establishes a clear, sophisticated controlling idea and provides strong, relevant advanced supporting evidence while enhancing the overall effectiveness of the informational writing?
Expand the essay to cover all major biotechnologies from IVF to synthetic biology, contrasting public perceptions with a few historical vignettes to show how society changes over time.
Focus tightly on off-target mutation rates in one landmark CRISPR study, critiquing the methodology in detail and omitting policy implications to avoid speculation.
Organize the discussion around how media narratives shape scientific agendas, using headline analyses and interviews with journalists to show the flow of information.
Advance the controlling idea that legitimate CRISPR governance should link precautionary clinical pathways to equitable access, and develop it with WHO guidance, FDA precedents on somatic therapies, case studies of early trials (e.g., sickle-cell disease), and comparative regulatory analysis, structured from ethical principles to mechanisms to distributional impacts.
Explanation
Choice D provides a focused controlling idea and specifies advanced, relevant evidence with a logical structure from principles to mechanisms to equity impacts. The other options are either too broad, too narrow for the topic's civic stakes, or interesting but misaligned with the central informational purpose.
Along the Texas Gulf Coast, ports, petrochemical complexes, and communities confront overlapping pressures. Some datasets suggest shoreline retreat; channel deepening proceeds under separate mandates. Hurricanes leave debris but also drive code changes; subsidence interacts with relative sea-level rise in uneven patterns. Wetlands buffer surges, though dredging has altered hydrology. Proposals span levees, surge gates, and living shorelines, each with different time horizons and financing tools. Insurance markets respond, but affordability varies. Councils coordinate across jurisdictions, yet authority fragments along bayous and county lines. Cultural attachments to place persist alongside job and tax-base concerns. Buyouts appear in some neighborhoods; elevation in others. Energy exports depend on continuous operations, while redundancies differ by facility. Tourism and habitat restoration add further values. The mosaic suggests many possibilities but offers little prioritization, and readers are left to infer which strategies match which risks.
Which revision best establishes a clear, sophisticated controlling idea and provides strong, relevant advanced supporting evidence while enhancing the overall effectiveness of the informational writing?
Advance the controlling idea that protecting the Texas Gulf Coast's industrial corridor and communities requires combining nature-based defenses with targeted relocation of the most exposed assets, and support it with tide-gauge and subsidence trends, FEMA loss data, hydrodynamic modeling, and case studies of Galveston Bay projects, organized by risk zones and intervention tiers.
Discuss climate change globally with examples from several continents, then return to Texas briefly to illustrate that the same lessons probably apply everywhere.
Focus exclusively on one beach nourishment project, providing construction details and project timelines but leaving out regional interdependencies and industrial risks.
Add more scientific citations about sea-level projections but keep the current catalog format, letting readers choose which interventions seem best for them.
Explanation
Choice A presents a clear controlling idea tied to the Texas context and specifies relevant advanced evidence, using a risk-tiered structure that enhances coherence. The other choices are too broad, too narrow, or add facts without improving organization.
Cities apply algorithms to inspections, dispatching, and risk scores, but practices differ. A vendor model may be piloted in one department while another team builds in-house. Seemingly strong accuracy can mask disparate error rates. Procurement often overlooks audit rights and documentation. Open records requests sometimes yield code fragments, sometimes redactions. Residents want speed and fairness. Scholars emphasize validation and monitoring; advocates stress due process, explainability, and appeal pathways. Budget and procurement cycles shape adoption, as do charters and state law. Some use cases are low-stakes routing; others affect liberty or livelihoods. Standards groups write frameworks; adoption is uneven. Staff report usability and data-quality issues. Narratives invoke innovation and efficiency alongside concerns about accountability. Altogether, the picture is patchy and hard to compare, and the piece shifts between examples without a unifying line of argument.
Which revision best establishes a clear, sophisticated controlling idea and provides strong, relevant advanced supporting evidence while enhancing the overall effectiveness of the informational writing?
Survey how artificial intelligence will transform every sector of government in the next decade, highlighting visionary predictions and a few high-profile pilots to inspire readers.
Concentrate solely on traffic-signal timing algorithms, describing queueing models in detail while omitting legal and equity considerations to keep the scope manageable.
Advance the controlling idea that municipal algorithms should be governed by risk-tiered auditability and transparency requirements, and develop it with empirical findings on error disparities, case studies of public algorithm registries and procurement audits, and validation standards, organized from risk classification to governance tools to implementation steps.
Frame the essay around philosophical debates about determinism and free will to show why algorithmic decision-making challenges human notions of agency, leaving policy specifics for future work.
Explanation
Choice C articulates a precise controlling idea and pairs it with appropriate advanced evidence in a coherent structure from risk to governance to implementation. The other options are overly broad, too narrow, or interesting but not aligned with the informational task.
Cities are getting hotter, and many factors contribute, such as concrete, traffic, and how neighborhoods grew. People propose planting trees, but also reflective roofs and new materials for streets that supposedly cool surfaces. Historically, different communities have had unequal shade and park access, which affects health and comfort; some areas report rising summer electricity use, while others focus on outdoor labor safety. There are also public works considerations, like stormwater and maintenance budgets, and even building codes. Some programs track temperature with sensors, and nonprofits host volunteer mapping days. Businesses care because of worker productivity and customer foot traffic. Some students compare this to weather patterns and climate topics in class. There is also the question of whether new technologies like sensors or coatings are cost effective. In the end, a range of options exist, but implementation varies, and it is worth considering how all these ideas might play out in different places.
Which revision best establishes a clear, sophisticated controlling idea and provides strong, relevant advanced supporting evidence while enhancing the overall effectiveness of the informational writing?
Reframe the topic as comprehensive urban resilience by discussing flooding, air quality, transit redesign, housing affordability, and heat in equal measure, emphasizing that every city should create a wide range of programs.
Argue that next generation reflective nanoceramic roof coatings alone will solve urban heat, briefly noting that they are promising and that more research is needed, without comparing costs or impacts to other options.
Advance the controlling idea that the most effective urban heat strategy is targeted shade equity plus surface albedo upgrades in the hottest, most vulnerable tracts, organizing the essay to define urban heat islands, present meta analysis findings that street tree canopy reduces ambient temperatures by 1 to 2 degrees Celsius and cool pavements cut surface temperatures by 10 to 15 degrees, and synthesize case studies from Phoenix and Los Angeles that link interventions to energy savings and heat illness reductions.
Center the essay on how volunteer temperature mapping and school projects raise awareness about heat, using anecdotes from community events and describing how citizen science can inspire future careers in environmental monitoring.
Explanation
Choice C articulates a focused controlling idea, specifies a comparative cost impact framework, and draws on advanced, relevant evidence and case studies to organize the piece. A is too broad to sustain coherence. B is too narrow and underdeveloped. D privileges interesting but tangential awareness activities over the main informational purpose.
Texas faces population growth, changing precipitation patterns, and regional supply constraints, which make water planning a recurring topic. Some point to desalination, while others say conservation and reuse will matter more. Coastal communities consider seawater plants, but inland areas think about brackish groundwater, aquifer storage and recovery, and capturing more stormwater. There are also questions about energy costs, permitting, and how local utilities manage rate structures. In past droughts, different cities used a range of strategies, and some temporary measures attracted headlines. Agricultural users, industrial facilities, and households have different needs, and river compacts and environmental flows affect choices too. Reports describe the potential to diversify supplies, but also financial barriers and limited public understanding. Universities and consultants publish studies, and state agencies issue plans, yet implementation depends on local capacity. Overall, it appears that no single answer exists and that communities will continue exploring a variety of tools.
Which revision best establishes a clear, sophisticated controlling idea and provides strong, relevant advanced supporting evidence while enhancing the overall effectiveness of the informational writing?
Situate Texas in a global freshwater crisis by examining international river treaties, geopolitical tensions, and polar ice melt, arguing that Texas should simply learn from other countries without delving into state specific constraints.
Claim that a statewide culture of conservation is the main solution and narrate household tips with brief references to public service announcements, leaving out comparative costs or regulatory pathways for utilities.
Propose that Gulf Coast seawater desalination should be the exclusive strategy for all regions of Texas, highlighting ocean abundance while omitting feasibility issues for inland basins and brackish sources.
Advance the controlling idea that Texas can close a significant mid century supply gap most efficiently by combining brackish groundwater desalination and direct potable reuse in fast growing basins, organizing the essay to summarize Texas State Water Plan projections of regional shortfalls, compare case evidence from San Antonio's brackish groundwater desalination and Wichita Falls' drought emergency direct potable reuse, and evaluate cost per acre foot and energy tradeoffs alongside state financing mechanisms that can scale projects.
Explanation
Choice D offers a clear, focused controlling idea aligned to Texas conditions, integrates relevant advanced evidence from state planning and case studies, and presents an effective compare evaluate structure. A is too broad and internationalized. B improves tone but lacks advanced evidence and organization. C is overly narrow and ignores regional realities.
Automated tools are increasingly used to screen applicants and schedule interviews, and some vendors advertise efficiency and objectivity. Critics note that algorithms may be trained on past patterns and therefore might repeat them, while defenders say better data will fix problems. Some policies require notices to applicants, but others suggest transparency could expose proprietary methods. There are also ideas about anonymizing names or colleges, as well as using skills tests to reduce reliance on resumes. Large cities and states are experimenting with rules, and professional organizations publish guidelines. Startups market audit services, but adoption varies. Some research looks at fairness across different groups, yet other studies focus on productivity predictions. Many employers still rely on human judgment and informal referrals, and unions and advocacy groups comment during public hearings. Overall, there are tensions between innovation, privacy, and equity, and stakeholders are still debating what an appropriate balance might look like.
Which revision best establishes a clear, sophisticated controlling idea and provides strong, relevant advanced supporting evidence while enhancing the overall effectiveness of the informational writing?
Broaden the essay to evaluate the ethics of artificial intelligence across medicine, warfare, education, and employment, using brief examples to show that AI can be both helpful and harmful.
Advance the controlling idea that regulating automated hiring should center on auditability and disparate impact testing, organizing the essay to define fairness metrics, synthesize peer reviewed findings that resume screening models can reproduce gender and racial disparities, analyze a jurisdictional example such as New York City's requirement for annual bias audits of automated employment decision tools, and propose a staged framework for pre deployment validation, periodic audits, and applicant disclosures.
Suggest that blockchain credentials and virtual reality interviews will modernize hiring, describing future scenarios without addressing current evidence on bias or existing regulatory models.
Focus the thesis on anonymized resumes as the sole fix, briefly describing how names can be removed, while leaving out validation, audits, legal standards, or multi step governance.
Explanation
Choice B presents a precise controlling idea, marshals advanced and relevant evidence, and structures the discussion around definitions, empirical findings, policy precedent, and a concrete framework. A is far too broad. C introduces interesting but tangential technology. D is too narrow and does not organize complex information.
Texas has expanded wind and solar generation, and discussions include grid reliability, market design, and weather related risks. Some people emphasize transmission lines, while others suggest storage and demand flexibility. There are also references to winter disruptions and summer peaks, and how these events affect public confidence. Power plants differ in how they respond to extreme temperatures, and there are ongoing debates about how to pay for upgrades. Regional grids organize dispatch differently, and Texas has a unique setup, which shapes choices. Industry groups, consumer advocates, and local governments raise different priorities, and studies talk about curtailment, congestion, and planning horizons. Technology costs are changing, and developers respond to price signals. Overall, the topics range from infrastructure to policy to engineering, and the results could shape economic development as well as household bills. The conversation is complicated by the pace of growth and the timing of investments across regions.
Which revision best establishes a clear, sophisticated controlling idea and provides strong, relevant advanced supporting evidence while enhancing the overall effectiveness of the informational writing?
Advance the controlling idea that ERCOT can reliably integrate rising wind and solar by coupling targeted transmission expansion modeled on Competitive Renewable Energy Zones with weatherization, fast ramping resources, and demand response, organizing the essay to document Texas leadership in installed wind capacity, synthesize studies showing that additional transmission reduces curtailment and congestion, and evaluate a portfolio of grid services that addresses both winter and summer risk profiles.
Argue that utility scale batteries are the single decisive solution, briefly noting falling costs and cycle efficiency, without analyzing transmission constraints, demand flexibility, or seasonal reliability needs.
Reframe the piece as a national debate over energy policy, comparing federal incentives and other states, while minimizing the specific market structure and operational features that shape choices within Texas.
Conclude that rooftop solar adoption will change consumer behavior so much that utility planning becomes obsolete, focusing on household habits rather than system level reliability evidence.
Explanation
Choice A provides a clear, Texas specific controlling idea and organizes advanced, relevant evidence about transmission, curtailment, and complementary grid services to enhance coherence. B is too narrow. C drifts into broad national generalities. D shifts to consumer behavior and loses the informational focus on system planning.