Access a Guide to Constructed Response Success

Understanding Constructed Response Questions

5 Skills Students Need to Tackle Constructed Response Questions

5 Science-Backed Strategies for Tackling Constructed Response Questions

6 Steps to Teaching Students to Master Constructed Responses

Plus... An easy-to-reference cheat sheet!

Download a printable PDF of all of the strategies and steps!

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RACE Constructed Response Strategy Toolkit

This free RACE resource is a great way to get students started! With both printable and digital tools, it walks them through each step of the strategy so they can learn how to organize their answers and back them up with evidence. Once they get the hang of it, you can build on these resources to match their growing skills and confidence.

Color Code Your Answer

The "Color-Code Your Response" resource isn’t just a visual aid—it’s a built-in accountability tool! With red for the answer, blue for evidence, and green for the explanation, students can instantly see if they’re missing a key part of their response. No more guessing or skipping steps—if a color is missing, so is part of their answer!

Restate the Question Presentation, Posters, and Puzzles

Restating the question is one of those skills that seems simple—until students try it on their own! This resource includes teaching slides, interactive puzzles, and printables to make it clear and easy. With plenty of practice, students will start restating questions naturally and confidently—without overthinking it!

Text Evidence Posters and Organizers

As if answering the question wasn’t hard enough—now students have to find and cite text evidence too?! This free resource makes it easier with printables that guide students step by step through gathering, quoting, and paraphrasing evidence—so they can back up their answers with confidence (instead of frustration!).

Explain Your Evidence Posters and Sentence Stems

Sentence stems can work wonders when students are just learning a skill— and this is no exception! If your students struggle to explain their evidence in constructed responses, this "Explain Your Evidence" poster set has you covered. It gives them simple, effective sentence stems to guide their thinking and help them build well-supported answers with confidence.

Text Evidence Task Cards

Finding text evidence can be a struggle for students, but these FREE task cards make it easier! Each card gives students a clear, focused task—they read the short passage, identify the specific evidence needed, and summarize it. The mix of informational texts and realistic news-style passages keeps practice engaging while helping students build this essential skill.

I NEED THESE RESOURCES!

I still vividly remember when we transitioned from all-multiple-choice tests to constructed response questions—and it was… rough.

I had students turning in blank work because they didn’t even know how to start. They’d stare at the question, completely stuck. I knew I had my work cut out for me.

Over the years, I’ve created a lot of resources to help me and my students.

And we’ve compiled them into a collection to make them easy to share.