4-Point

Informative-Explanatory
Performance Task Writing Rubric (Grades 3-5)
Score 4 3 2 1 NS
The response has a clear and The response has an evident The response has an inconsistent The response has little or no Unintelligible
effective organizational structure, organizational structure and a organizational structure, and discernible organizational In a language
creating a sense of unity and sense of completeness, though flaws are evident. The response structure. The response may be other than
completeness. The response is there may be minor flaws and is somewhat sustained and may related to the topic but may English
fully sustained, and consistently some ideas may be loosely have a minor drift in focus: provide little or no focus: Off-topic
and purposefully focused: connected. The response is Copied text
adequately sustained and Off-purpose
generally focused:

controlling or main idea of a controlling or main idea of a controlling or main idea of a controlling or main idea may
topic is clearly topic is clear, and the focus topic may be somewhat be confusing or ambiguous;
communicated, and the focus is mostly maintained for the unclear, or the focus may be response may be too brief or
is strongly maintained for the purpose, audience, and task insufficiently sustained for the focus may drift from the
purpose, audience, and task the purpose, audience, and purpose, audience, or task
Purpose/Organization

task

consistent use of a variety of adequate use of transitional inconsistent use of few or no transitional
transitional strategies to strategies with some variety transitional strategies and/or strategies are evident
clarify the relationships to clarify the relationships little variety
between and among ideas between and among ideas

effective introduction and adequate introduction and introduction or conclusion, if introduction and/or
conclusion conclusion present, may be weak conclusion may be missing

logical progression of ideas adequate progression of uneven progression of ideas frequent extraneous ideas
from beginning to end; strong ideas from beginning to end; from beginning to end; may be evident; ideas may
connections between and adequate connections and/or formulaic; be randomly ordered or have
among ideas with some between and among ideas inconsistent or unclear an unclear progression
syntactic variety connections between and
among ideas
 4-Point
Informative-Explanatory
Performance Task Writing Rubric (Grades 35)
Score 4 3 2 1 NS
The response provides thorough The response provides adequate The response provides uneven, The response provides minimal Unintelligible
and convincing support/evidence support/evidence for the cursory support/evidence for the support/evidence for the In a language
for the controlling idea and controlling idea and supporting controlling idea and supporting controlling idea and supporting other than
supporting idea(s) that includes idea(s) that includes the use of idea(s) that includes uneven or idea(s) that includes little or no English
the effective use of sources, facts, sources, facts, and details. The limited use of sources, facts, and use of sources, facts, and details. Off-topic
and details. The response clearly response adequately elaborates details. The response elaborates The response is vague, lacks Copied text
and effectively elaborates ideas, ideas, employing a mix of precise ideas unevenly, using simplistic clarity, or is confusing: Off-purpose
using precise language: and more general language: language:
evidence from the source
comprehensive evidence adequate evidence from some evidence from sources material is minimal or
Evidence/Elaboration

from sources is integrated; sources is integrated; some may be weakly integrated, irrelevant; references may be
references are relevant and references may be general imprecise, or repetitive; absent or incorrectly used
specific references may be vague
minimal, if any, use of
effective use of a variety of adequate use of some weak or uneven use of elaborative techniques
elaborative techniques* elaborative techniques elaborative techniques;
development may consist
primarily of source summary

vocabulary is limited or
vocabulary is clearly vocabulary is generally vocabulary use is uneven or ineffective for the audience
appropriate for the audience appropriate for the audience somewhat ineffective for the and purpose
and purpose and purpose audience and purpose

little or no evidence of
effective, appropriate style generally appropriate style is inconsistent or weak attempt
appropriate style
enhances content evident to create appropriate style
*Elaborative techniques may include the use of personal experiences that support the controlling idea.
 2-Point
Informative-Explanatory
Performance Task Writing Rubric (Grades 35)
Score 2 1 0 NS
The response demonstrates an adequate The response demonstrates a partial command The response demonstrates little or no Unintelligible
command of conventions: of conventions: command of conventions: In a language
other than
adequate use of correct sentence limited use of correct sentence formation, infrequent use of correct sentence
Conventions

English
formation, punctuation, capitalization, punctuation, capitalization, grammar usage, formation, punctuation, capitalization, Off-topic
grammar usage, and spelling and spelling grammar usage, and spelling Copied text

(Off-purpose
responses will still
receive a score in
Conventions.)

Holistic Scoring:

Variety: A range of errors includes formation, punctuation, capitalization, grammar usage, and spelling
Severity: Basic errors are more heavily weighted than higher-level errors.
Density: The proportion of errors to the amount of writing done well. This includes the ratio of errors to the length of the piece.
 4-Point
Informative-Explanatory
Performance Task Writing Rubric (Grades 6-11)
Score 4 3 2 1 NS
The response has a clear and The response has an evident The response has an inconsistent The response has little or no Unintelligible
effective organizational structure, organizational structure and a organizational structure, and discernible organizational In a language
creating a sense of unity and sense of completeness, though flaws are evident. The response structure. The response may be other than
completeness. The response is there may be minor flaws and is somewhat sustained and may related to the topic but may English
fully sustained, and consistently some ideas may be loosely have a minor drift in focus: provide little or no focus: Off-topic
and purposefully focused: connected. The response is Copied text
adequately sustained and Off-purpose
generally focused:

controlling or main idea of a controlling or main idea of a controlling or main idea of a controlling or main idea may
topic is clearly topic is clear, and the focus topic may be somewhat be confusing or ambiguous;
communicated, and the focus is mostly maintained for the unclear, or the focus may be response may be too brief or
is strongly maintained for the purpose, audience, and task insufficiently sustained for the focus may drift from the
Purpose/Organization

purpose, audience, and task the purpose, audience, and purpose, audience, or task
task

consistent use of a variety of adequate use of transitional inconsistent use of few or no transitional
transitional strategies to strategies with some variety transitional strategies and/or strategies are evident
clarify the relationships to clarify the relationships little variety
between and among ideas between and among ideas

effective introduction and adequate introduction and introduction or conclusion, if introduction and/or
conclusion conclusion present, may be weak conclusion may be missing

logical progression of ideas adequate progression of uneven progression of ideas frequent extraneous ideas
from beginning to end; strong ideas from beginning to end; from beginning to end; may be evident; ideas may
connections between and adequate connections and/or formulaic; be randomly ordered or have
among ideas with some between and among ideas inconsistent or unclear an unclear progression
syntactic variety connections between and
among ideas
 4-Point
Informative-Explanatory
Performance Task Writing Rubric (Grades 6-11)
Score 4 3 2 1 NS
The response provides thorough The response provides adequate The response provides uneven, The response provides minimal Unintelligible
and convincing support/evidence support/evidence for the cursory support/evidence for the support/evidence for the In a language
for the controlling idea and controlling idea and supporting controlling idea and supporting controlling idea and supporting other than
supporting idea(s) that includes idea(s) that includes the use of idea(s) that includes uneven or idea(s) that includes little or no English
the effective use of sources, facts, sources, facts, and details. The limited use of sources, facts, and use of sources, facts, and details. Off-topic
and details. The response clearly response adequately elaborates details. The response elaborates The response is vague, lacks Copied text
and effectively elaborates ideas, ideas, employing a mix of precise ideas unevenly, using simplistic clarity, or is confusing: Off-purpose
using precise language: and more general language: language:

comprehensive evidence adequate evidence from some evidence from sources evidence from the source
Evidence/Elaboration

from sources is integrated; sources is integrated; some may be weakly integrated, material is minimal or
references are relevant and references may be general imprecise, or repetitive; irrelevant; references may be
specific references may be vague absent or incorrectly used

effective use of a variety of adequate use of some weak or uneven use of minimal, if any, use of
elaborative techniques* elaborative techniques* elaborative techniques*; elaborative techniques*
development may consist
primarily of source summary

vocabulary is clearly vocabulary is generally vocabulary use is uneven or vocabulary is limited or

effective, appropriate style generally appropriate style is inconsistent or weak attempt little or no evidence of
enhances content evident to create appropriate style appropriate style
*Elaborative techniques may include the use of personal experiences that support the controlling idea.
 2-Point
Informative-Explanatory
Performance Task Writing Rubric (Grades 6-11)
Score 2 1 0 NS
The response demonstrates an adequate The response demonstrates a partial command The response demonstrates little or no Unintelligible
command of conventions: of conventions: command of conventions: In a language
other than
adequate use of correct sentence limited use of correct sentence formation, infrequent use of correct sentence
Conventions

English
formation, punctuation, punctuation, capitalization, grammar usage, formation, punctuation, capitalization, Off-topic
capitalization, grammar usage, and and spelling grammar usage, and spelling Copied text
spelling
(Off-purpose
responses will still
receive a score in
Conventions.)

Holistic Scoring:

Variety: A range of errors includes formation, punctuation, capitalization, grammar usage, and spelling.
Severity: Basic errors are more heavily weighted than higher-level errors.
Density: The proportion of errors to the amount of writing done well. This includes the ratio of errors to the length of the piece.