Write a clear claim or thesis

Grade 8 Reading Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Free Student Fares in Brandt (source-based argument draft)

   [1] Brandt's bus system, which lost 18 percent of its riders after fares rose in 2018, has let students ride free for a year as a pilot.

   [2] The city should make free student fares permanent, because the pilot raised student ridership, improved attendance and eased family budgets. [3] Transit data show student boardings rising from 9,200 to 14,600 a month, a gain of about 59 percent. [4] Because student fare cards count only student boardings, the rise cannot come from adults or from the new crosstown bus route that opened the same year. [5] Attendance at Lowell and Hartley Middle Schools rose by 1.9 students per hundred after the pilot began. [6] Principal Joanne Reeves, who supplied the figures, noted that both schools also started a morning check-in program that year. [7] A survey of 150 pilot households found that the typical family saved about $34 a month, which matches the fares it would have paid.

   [8] Councilman Victor Dahl objects that the pilot costs $410,000 a year, money that could buy more frequent buses for everyone. [9] Frequent service has real value for riders, yet the pilot's cost equals about 1.4 percent of the transit budget. [10] Dahl also warns that free fares will crowd buses at school hours, but the transit office found crowding on only 2 of 31 routes. [11] Neither side can yet say whether the gains will last after the novelty fades.

   [12] Making the program permanent is a reasonable bet, if the city reviews ridership and attendance each year.

2. 1.

   Noah wants sentence [2] to acknowledge Councilman Dahl's cost figure in [8] and still keep the claim. Which sentence should replace it?

   • Because Councilman Dahl is right that the pilot costs $410,000 a year, the city should probably end free student fares.
   • Although Councilman Dahl is right that the pilot costs $410,000 a year, the city should still make free student fares permanent.
   • Although the pilot costs $410,000 a year, free student fares could be considered at some point, if the council wishes.
   • The city should make free student fares permanent, because student ridership rose by about 59 percent in the pilot year and the months after it.
3. 2.

   Pia is marking up the draft. Which choice names the claim, the counterclaim and the writer's answer to it?

   • Claim: [2]. Counterclaim: [8]. Answer: [9].
   • Claim: [7]. Counterclaim: [8]. Answer: [9].
   • Claim: [8]. Counterclaim: [2]. Answer: [9].
   • Claim: [2]. Counterclaim: [9]. Answer: [8].
4. 3.

   Ren wants sentence [2] to state the claim, acknowledge the opposing claim, and preview the reasons the sources support. Which sentence should replace it?

   • Although the pilot costs $410,000 a year, the city should make free student fares permanent, because they raised ridership, eased family budgets and reduced downtown traffic near the schools and bus stops.
   • Although the pilot costs $410,000 a year, the city should make free student fares permanent, because they raised student ridership, eased family budgets and may have helped attendance.
   • The city should make free student fares permanent, because they raised student ridership, eased family budgets and may have helped attendance.
   • Although the pilot costs $410,000 a year, the city should make free student fares permanent, because they raised student ridership.
5. 4.

   Tala wants sentence [2] to acknowledge the crowding warning in [10] and still keep the claim. Which sentence should replace it?

   • Although free fares may crowd buses at school hours, the city should make them permanent, since crowding appeared on only 2 of 31 routes.
   • Because free fares may crowd buses at school hours, the city should probably end them.
   • Although free fares may crowd buses at school hours, the city could possibly try them again at a later date.
   • Although some riders dislike the new crosstown route, the city should make free student fares permanent.
6. 5.

   Zee is marking up the draft. Which choice names the claim and the strongest direct evidence that the pilot raised student ridership?

   • Claim: [7]. Direct evidence: [3].
   • Claim: [2]. Direct evidence: [3].
   • Claim: [2]. Direct evidence: [10].
   • Claim: [2]. Direct evidence: [5].

7. Phone Lockers at Eastbrook (source-based argument draft)

   [1] Last fall, Eastbrook Middle School began requiring students to keep their phones in lockers all day. [2] Parents and teachers have debated the policy since.

   [3] The district should extend the locker policy to its other three middle schools, because it improved attention, reduced conflicts and cost almost nothing. [4] In a teacher survey, 31 of the 38 teachers who replied said students were "noticeably more attentive." [5] Impressions are not test results, however, and the teachers knew the policy was an experiment. [6] Discipline records are more objective: conflicts in the halls and lunchroom fell from 64 the autumn before the policy to 41 the autumn after. [7] Counselor Priya Nair thinks much of the drop reflects the policy, but the school also hired a second hall monitor that year. [8] Researchers at Calder State studied 19 schools and found that test scores rose a little where phones were restricted. [9] Those schools chose the policy themselves, so they may have differed from other schools in ways no one measured.

   [10] Some parents object that students need phones in an emergency and that lockers stand far from classrooms. [11] The school lets parents call the office, which passes messages along within minutes, and the principal reported no emergency delays this year. [12] One school's single year cannot prove that delays will not occur, but it is the only direct evidence either side has.

   [13] Lockers already stood in the hallways, so the policy added no cost beyond a few hours of staff time. [14] Extending the policy is therefore sensible, if each school reports conflicts and attention each term.

8. 6.

   Esme is marking up the draft. Which choice names the claim, the counterclaim and the writer's answer to it?

   • Claim: [3]. Counterclaim: [10]. Answer: [11].
   • Claim: [10]. Counterclaim: [3]. Answer: [11].
   • Claim: [13]. Counterclaim: [10]. Answer: [11].
   • Claim: [3]. Counterclaim: [11]. Answer: [10].
9. 7.

   Jun wants sentence [3] to state the claim, acknowledge the opposing claim, and preview the reasons the sources support. Which sentence should replace it?

   • Although some parents worry that students need phones in an emergency, the district should extend the locker policy, because it appears to have improved attention and reduced conflicts, and it cost almost nothing.
   • Although some parents worry that students need phones in an emergency, the district should extend the locker policy to its other three middle schools, and students will probably adjust.
   • Although some parents worry that students need phones in an emergency, the district should extend the locker policy, because it improved attention, cut conflicts in half and proved that phones harm learning in classrooms.
   • Although some parents worry that students need phones in an emergency, the district should extend the locker policy, because it reduced conflicts and cost almost nothing.
10. 8.

    Kira wants sentence [3] to acknowledge the limit the writer states in [12] and still keep the claim. Which sentence should replace it?

    • The district should extend the locker policy to its other three middle schools, since no emergency delays occurred this year.
    • Although some teachers say lockers waste class time, the district should extend the locker policy to its other three middle schools.
    • Although one school's single year cannot prove that emergency delays will not occur, the district should extend the locker policy to its other three middle schools.
    • Because one school's single year cannot prove that emergency delays will not occur, the district should probably let students keep their phones.
11. 9.

    Luz is marking up the draft. Which choice names the claim and the strongest direct evidence that conflicts fell?

    • Claim: [3]. Direct evidence: [4].
    • Claim: [13]. Direct evidence: [6].
    • Claim: [3]. Direct evidence: [6].
    • Claim: [3]. Direct evidence: [10].
12. 10.

    Milo wants sentence [3] to state the claim, acknowledge the limit in [12], and preview the reasons the sources support. Which sentence should replace it?

    • Although one school's single year cannot prove that emergency delays will not occur, the district should extend the locker policy, because lockers cut conflicts by a third and proved that phones hurt learning.
    • Although one school's single year cannot prove that emergency delays will not occur, the district should extend the locker policy to its other three middle schools, and families will probably accept it.
    • Although one school's single year cannot prove that emergency delays will not occur, the district should extend the locker policy, because conflicts fell, the cost was small and attention appears to have improved.
    • Although one school's single year cannot prove that emergency delays will not occur, the district should extend the locker policy, because conflicts fell, the cost was small and Eastbrook's test scores rose that year.