Text Connections Probes Editable

About this resource

Everything inside: 25 pages · 6 original silent-reading passages, each paired with an invented reader's note, with 24 questions · 6 equivalent probe forms across three connection types (self, text, world) · a shared answer-key and scoring page for all six forms · a data log and scaled trend graph · a caseload summary · a ready-to-send family update · a classroom teacher check-in (a second setting) · a 17-starter phrase bank · a binder cover and 4-section binder map · a worked, invented example.

The store already had probes that test comprehension of a passage's structure, point of view, character traits and compare/contrast relationships, but nothing that asks a student to sort a reader's own connection to a passage into one of the three kinds every classroom reading-strategy unit teaches. This file hands the student six original, invented passages, each about 70–110 words, about an everyday school-or-home moment (a missing library book, learning to ride without training wheels, a new student at lunch, a class garden bed, a neighborhood power outage, a school food drive), each paired with a short invented “Reader's Note” that makes one connection to the passage using the kind of sentence a classroom reading-strategy unit teaches — “this reminds me of a time when I…” for a self connection, “a book/story I read called…” for a text connection, “I know that in real life…” for a world connection. Scoring, the rubric and the answer key live on separate adult-only pages, never in the student's hands. Because the word or phrase that proves the connection type is always printed in the reader's note itself, every accepted clue on the key page is a literal quote from that form's own note, so a scorer can check any accepted answer against the text itself without taking the file's word for it.

WHAT IS INCLUDED — 25 pages, 467 type-in fields

Prepare To Give The Probes

• Binder Cover and Section Map — a spine/cover card, a 4-box section reference (not a cutting page), and an 8-row "where to find things" index
• How This Pack Works — how the six forms share one rubric and one key page, plus a 3-row table comparing what each of the file's three tools measures
• Text Connections Goal, Rubric and Directions — a sample IEP-style goal (invented, every bracket editable), a baseline table (median of the first three probes), a rubric defining correct/incorrect (a clue counts only if it is quoted on the key page for that form), and a 2-row benchmark table

Take The Data

• Six Probe Forms (A–F) — each a clean, student-facing page: a "My name" line, one kid-worded instruction with a book icon, the passage, the invented reader's note, and four numbered questions with real write-in lines each (1 question naming the connection type from a closed list of three, 1 on what that connection type does for a reader, 2 asking for a different clue word or phrase from the note each) — nothing scored, no goal text, no marks on this page. Connection types covered: self connection (Forms A and B), text connection (Forms C and D), world connection (Forms E and F) — two forms each.
• Answer Keys and Scoring — one shared adult-only page with all six forms' accepted connection-type name, "what it does for a reader" phrasing and two quoted clue words/phrases (the connection-type and "what it does" answers are each one of a short closed list; the two clue answers accepted in either box) and a Score /4 field per form

Track, Report And Share

• Text Connections Accuracy Data Log — 12 dated rows, one form per row
• Text Connections Accuracy Trend Graph — a scaled 0–100% grid plus a 12-row log table
• Caseload Summary — 12 students by 8 probes, baseline and criterion percent, trend and decision columns
• Family Update — Reading at Home — a ready-to-send communication page: what was read, how it went in plain words, a practice idea, and a 7-day practiced table
• Classroom Text Connections Check-In — two half-page notes per sheet, cut apart: a checkbox, one sentence, no codes, for the general education teacher or paraprofessional during regular class reading (a different setting from the six probe forms)
• Progress Note Phrase Bank — 17 observable-language starters across 5 groups (connection-type accuracy, clue-identification accuracy, pattern across probes, next steps, the quarterly-report sentence), every one ending in a blank pulled from a data sheet in the file
• A Filled-In Probe Set and Log — a worked, invented example (Jordan K., fourth grade) with a 4-row weekly log and a 2-row answer-key excerpt, every number cross-checked against the arithmetic behind it

Plus a Start Here quick-start, a 3-section contents page with real page thumbnails, 3 section dividers, and a "what's next" back page.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

It is a fillable PDF. Open it in a PDF reader, click a field, type, save. It works offline with no account or subscription. It is NOT a Google Sheets file, a Google Doc, or an Excel workbook, and it does not calculate a percent for you. The six probe forms print cleanly for the student to write directly on.

It is not a norm-referenced or standardized reading test, and it is not a Lexile or grade-level placement tool. It does not set a passing criterion or sort a student into any category — that is a blank line for your team. It is not Text Structure, Point of View, Character Traits and Motivation, or Compare and Contrast Reading Comprehension Probes, each of which measures comprehension within or about one already-known structure or lens; this file is the one place in the family where the question is which KIND of connection a reader made to the text, checked against the signal words the reader's note actually uses.

No age, eligibility or IDEA-timeline claim anywhere; no health data is pre-filled, and the example student (Jordan) is invented and named as such on page 24. Every reader's note on every form is also invented and labeled as such — never the real student's own experience pre-filled.

Who This Is For

Special education teachers, reading interventionists and case managers who need text-connection identification measured with the student's own written answers as the evidence, scored from an answer key in under a minute a form.

If You Want More

Text Structure, Point of View, Character Traits and Motivation, and Compare and Contrast Reading Comprehension Probes are the sibling comprehension-passage probes, the same six-form shape, each scoring a different reading skill.