What is the best approach to assess students' ability to support an idea with evidence from a text?

• A. As a class, brainstorm main ideas, topics, or concepts from a text. Allow students to choose a select number of these ideas and copy them onto separate index cards. The students then should individually review the text, recording any supporting evidence on the notecard with the applicable main idea.
• B. Have students memorize quotes from the text.
• C. Ask students to write a persuasive essay about the text's main idea.
• D. Give a true/false quiz on the text.

Answer: (A)

Identifying and organizing evidence to support a specific idea from a text is about tying a clear claim to precise, text-based proof and keeping those proofs connected to the idea they support. The approach here guides students to first surface main ideas from the text as a group, then give them a way to link each idea with relevant evidence they find in the text. By having students copy ideas onto index cards and pair each card with supporting evidence they record on a separate card, they build a concrete, visible connection between what the idea is and what in the text backs it up. This supports close reading because students must locate specific passages and decide why those passages count as evidence for that idea. It also promotes independent work and organized thinking, since each idea has its own space to collect its supporting quotes or details, making it easier to review, discuss, or use in writing.

Memorizing quotes encourages recall without requiring students to show how those quotes actually support a particular idea, and it can lead to quoting out of context rather than demonstrating understanding of why the evidence matters. Writing a persuasive essay about the text’s main idea focuses on argumentation and writing skills, but it doesn’t guarantee that students practice linking each claim to precise textual evidence in a structured, itemized way. A true/false quiz checks recognition rather than the ability to select and connect evidence to specific ideas, so it doesn’t reveal how well a student can ground a claim in the text.