Explicit Constructed Response – SchoolCity

This lesson provides step-by-step guidance on creating an Explicit Constructed Response item in the Item Bank. This item type requires students to enter an exact answer to a question. This question type can be administered online or on paper, offers partial scoring, and is automatically scored. Answers must match the provided response exactly to be counted as correct.

Before You Begin

This lesson begins assuming that users have the permissions to create new Item Bank items, and are familiar with the item creation process. To learn more about creating Item Bank items, take a look at the Create Items article.

Create Explicit Constructed Response Item

General Item Settings and Question Creation

An example Explicit Constructed Response item creation screen, with the Item Type labeled as step 1, Passage labeled as step 2, Include Teacher Instructions labeled as step 3, Question labeled as step 4, the options to add and delete XCR fields labeled as step 5, Partial Credit labeled as step 6, Total Possible Points labeled as step 7, and the Generate Options button labeled as step 8.

Select the Explicit Constructed Response item type.
(Optional) Choose one or more passages by selecting Link Passage.
- Passages must be published and located in the same Work Space to be available for linking.
Use the slider to determine if the item should Include Teacher Instructions.
- If the slider is set to Yes, enter teacher instructions into the text box.
Enter the Question in the text box.
- The Question may also include audio, video, images, equations, or tables, as shown in the CKEditor formatting tools. Take a look at CKEditor Formatting Tools for Staff Users for more details.
In the CKEditor formatting toolbar, select XCR to insert a student response field at the current location of the cursor. Select Clear XCR to remove the selected student response field.
Use the Partial Credit slider to enable or disable partial credit.
Enter the maximum Total Possible Points students can earn. If Partial Credit has been enabled, Total Possible Points will display the sum of the points entered in the Student Response setup.
Select Generate Options. Student Response setup options will generate for each XCR Option that has been added to the Question field.

Student Response Setup

An example Explicit Constructed Response item creation screen, with the Update Options button labeled as step 9, Group Student Responses labeled as step 10, Include Rationale labeled as step 11, Response Text Entry labeled as step 12, Points labeled as step 13, the Student Response field labeled as step 14, Add Student Response labeled as step 15, the trashcan icon labeled as step 16, the Rationale field labeled as step 17, the Incorrect field labeled as step 18, Add Student Response and Delete Group labeled as step 19, Add Group labeled as step 20, the options for XCR Option 2 labeled as step 21, Preview labeled as step 22, and the Save and Next buttons labeled as step 23.

Once generated, the Generate Options button will update to display Update Options. Select Update Options to update the Student Response setup after adding or removing XCR fields in the Question.
For each XCR Option, Group Student Responses can be enabled or disabled using the slider.
- Enabling Group Student Responses sets up the XCR item option to have a correct set of responses and incorrect set(s) of responses.
- Incorrect student responses can be specified and grouped together.
- Rationale can be added for a group of student responses.
Use the slider to Include Rationale as desired.
- Enabling Rationale populates a text box for the correct group of responses, and one for each incorrect response group, if applicable.
Select the Response Text Entry to be Plain Text, Special Characters, or Equation Editor, as appropriate for the question.
- The Response Text Entry selection determines what type of response can be entered into the Response text box by staff in item authoring, and students within the Student Portal.
- Plain Text allows any characters generated by a keyboard.
- Special Characters generates a special character keyboard for French/Spanish that can be utilized in addition to Plain Text.
- Equation Editor generates an option to use the Equation Editor tool, in addition to Plain Text.
If Partial Credit has been enabled, enter how many Points should be awarded for each XCR Option.
Enter the Correct Student Response for each XCR Option.
Select Add Student Response to add other acceptable Correct Student Responses.
Select the trashcan icon to delete Correct Student Response fields.
If Rationale has been enabled, enter rationale into the fields for each group of correct and incorrect student responses, as applicable.
If Group Student Responses has been enabled, enter an Incorrect Student Response into the field.
Select Add Student Response to add further fields to the same Incorrect Student Response group, and select Delete Group to remove that Incorrect Student Response group.
Select Add Group to add another Incorrect Student Response group.
Repeat steps 10-20 to complete setup for each XCR Option that has been added to the Question.
Select Preview to view how the item will appear in the Student Portal, with correct answers displayed.
Select Save to save the item progress, or select Next to save and continue to the next step.

Next Steps

To learn more about creating different item types, take a look at the other articles in the Item Types manual.