middle school essay writing rubric

Choose an Account to Log In

Notifications

Middle school writing rubrics.

Use these standards-based rubrics to assess your middle school students’ writing skills. This set features rubrics for argument writing, informational writing, and narrative writing for sixth-grade, seventh-grade, and eighth-grade students. Each rubric covers the major standards of the grade and type of writing and uses a 3-point scale to help you indicate whether students have a beginning, developing, or proficient grasp of individual writing skills. Use these rubrics as a tool for final assessment of student writing or as a self-reflection tool for students to grade their own writing. 

Click on a worksheet in the set below to see more info or download the PDF.

Argument Writing Rubric for 6th grade

Informational writing rubric for 6th grade, narrative writing rubric for 6th grade, argument writing rubric for 7th grade, informational writing rubric for 7th grade, narrative writing rubric for 7th grade, argument writing rubric for 8th grade, informational writing rubric for 8th grade, narrative writing rubric for 8th grade, want to download this whole set as a single pdf, unlock worksheet sets.

Become a Premium member to get unlimited workbooks and independent study packs, along with:

• Unlimited downloads
• Progress tracking for math and reading skills
• Guided Lessons to cultivate a joy for learning

Add to collection

Create new collection, new collection, new collection>, sign up to start collecting.

Bookmark this to easily find it later. Then send your curated collection to your children, or put together your own custom lesson plan.

Writing Rubrics [Examples, Best Practices, & Free Templates]

Writing rubrics are essential tools for teachers.

Rubrics can improve both teaching and learning. This guide will explain writing rubrics, their benefits, and how to create and use them effectively.

What Is a Writing Rubric?

Table of Contents

A writing rubric is a scoring guide used to evaluate written work.

It lists criteria and describes levels of quality from excellent to poor. Rubrics provide a standardized way to assess writing.

They make expectations clear and grading consistent.

Key Components of a Writing Rubric

• Criteria : Specific aspects of writing being evaluated (e.g., grammar, organization).
• Descriptors : Detailed descriptions of what each level of performance looks like.
• Scoring Levels : Typically, a range (e.g., 1-4 or 1-6) showing levels of mastery.

Example Breakdown

Benefits of Using Writing Rubrics

Writing rubrics offer many advantages:

• Clarity : Rubrics clarify expectations for students. They know what is required for each level of performance.
• Consistency : Rubrics standardize grading. This ensures fairness and consistency across different students and assignments.
• Feedback : Rubrics provide detailed feedback. Students understand their strengths and areas for improvement.
• Efficiency : Rubrics streamline the grading process. Teachers can evaluate work more quickly and systematically.
• Self-Assessment : Students can use rubrics to self-assess. This promotes reflection and responsibility for their learning.

Examples of Writing Rubrics

Here are some examples of writing rubrics.

Narrative Writing Rubric

Persuasive Writing Rubric

Best Practices for Creating Writing Rubrics

Let’s look at some best practices for creating useful writing rubrics.

1. Define Clear Criteria

Identify specific aspects of writing to evaluate. Be clear and precise.

The criteria should reflect the key components of the writing task. For example, for a narrative essay, criteria might include plot development, character depth, and use of descriptive language.

Clear criteria help students understand what is expected and allow teachers to provide targeted feedback.

Insider Tip : Collaborate with colleagues to establish consistent criteria across grade levels. This ensures uniformity in expectations and assessments.

2. Use Detailed Descriptors

Describe what each level of performance looks like.

This ensures transparency and clarity. Avoid vague language. Instead of saying “good,” describe what “good” entails. For example, “Few minor grammatical errors that do not impede readability.”

Detailed descriptors help students gauge their performance accurately.

Insider Tip : Use student work samples to illustrate each performance level. This provides concrete examples and helps students visualize expectations.

3. Involve Students

Involve students in the rubric creation process. This increases their understanding and buy-in.

Ask for their input on what they think is important in their writing.

This collaborative approach not only demystifies the grading process but also fosters a sense of ownership and responsibility in students.

Insider Tip : Conduct a workshop where students help create a rubric for an upcoming assignment. This interactive session can clarify doubts and make students more invested in their work.

4. Align with Objectives

Ensure the rubric aligns with learning objectives. This ensures relevance and focus.

If the objective is to enhance persuasive writing skills, the rubric should emphasize argument strength, evidence quality, and persuasive techniques.

Alignment ensures that the assessment directly supports instructional goals.

Insider Tip : Regularly revisit and update rubrics to reflect changes in curriculum and instructional priorities. This keeps the rubrics relevant and effective.

5. Review and Revise

Regularly review and revise rubrics. Ensure they remain accurate and effective.

Solicit feedback from students and colleagues. Continuous improvement of rubrics ensures they remain a valuable tool for both assessment and instruction.

Insider Tip : After using a rubric, take notes on its effectiveness. Were students confused by any criteria? Did the rubric cover all necessary aspects of the assignment? Use these observations to make adjustments.

6. Be Consistent

Use the rubric consistently across all assignments.

This ensures fairness and reliability. Consistency in applying the rubric helps build trust with students and maintains the integrity of the assessment process.

Insider Tip : Develop a grading checklist to accompany the rubric. This can help ensure that all criteria are consistently applied and none are overlooked during the grading process.

7. Provide Examples

Provide examples of each performance level.

This helps students understand expectations. Use annotated examples to show why a particular piece of writing meets a specific level.

This visual and practical demonstration can be more effective than descriptions alone.

Insider Tip : Create a portfolio of exemplar works for different assignments. This can be a valuable resource for both new and experienced teachers to standardize grading.

How to Use Writing Rubrics Effectively

Here is how to use writing rubrics like the pros.

1. Introduce Rubrics Early

Introduce rubrics at the beginning of the assignment.

Explain each criterion and performance level. This upfront clarity helps students understand what is expected and guides their work from the start.

Insider Tip : Conduct a rubric walkthrough session where you discuss each part of the rubric in detail. Allow students to ask questions and provide examples to illustrate each criterion.

2. Use Rubrics as a Teaching Tool

Use rubrics to teach writing skills. Discuss what constitutes good writing and why.

This can be an opportunity to reinforce lessons on grammar, organization, and other writing components.

Insider Tip : Pair the rubric with writing workshops. Use the rubric to critique sample essays and show students how to apply the rubric to improve their own writing.

3. Provide Feedback

Use the rubric to give detailed feedback. Highlight strengths and areas for improvement.

This targeted feedback helps students understand their performance and learn how to improve.

Insider Tip : Instead of just marking scores, add comments next to each criterion on the rubric. This personalized feedback can be more impactful and instructive for students.

4. Encourage Self-Assessment

Encourage students to use rubrics to self-assess.

This promotes reflection and growth. Before submitting their work, ask students to evaluate their own writing against the rubric.

This practice fosters self-awareness and critical thinking.

Insider Tip : Incorporate self-assessment as a mandatory step in the assignment process. Provide a simplified version of the rubric for students to use during self-assessment.

5. Use Rubrics for Peer Assessment

Use rubrics for peer assessment. This allows students to learn from each other.

Peer assessments can provide new perspectives and reinforce learning.

Insider Tip : Conduct a peer assessment workshop. Train students on how to use the rubric to evaluate each other’s work constructively. This can improve the quality of peer feedback.

6. Reflect and Improve

Reflect on the effectiveness of the rubric. Make adjustments as needed for future assignments.

Continuous reflection ensures that rubrics remain relevant and effective tools for assessment and learning.

Insider Tip : After an assignment, hold a debrief session with students to gather their feedback on the rubric. Use their insights to make improvements.

Check out this video about using writing rubrics:

Common Mistakes with Writing Rubrics

Creating and using writing rubrics can be incredibly effective, but there are common mistakes that can undermine their effectiveness.

Here are some pitfalls to avoid:

1. Vague Criteria

Vague criteria can confuse students and lead to inconsistent grading.

Ensure that each criterion is specific and clearly defined. Ambiguous terms like “good” or “satisfactory” should be replaced with concrete descriptions of what those levels of performance look like.

2. Overly Complex Rubrics

While detail is important, overly complex rubrics can be overwhelming for both students and teachers.

Too many criteria and performance levels can complicate the grading process and make it difficult for students to understand what is expected.

Keep rubrics concise and focused on the most important aspects of the assignment.

3. Inconsistent Application

Applying the rubric inconsistently can lead to unfair grading.

Ensure that you apply the rubric in the same way for all students and all assignments. Consistency builds trust and ensures that grades accurately reflect student performance.

4. Ignoring Student Input

Ignoring student input when creating rubrics can result in criteria that do not align with student understanding or priorities.

Involving students in the creation process can enhance their understanding and engagement with the rubric.

5. Failing to Update Rubrics

Rubrics should evolve to reflect changes in instructional goals and student needs.

Failing to update rubrics can result in outdated criteria that no longer align with current teaching objectives.

Regularly review and revise rubrics to keep them relevant and effective.

6. Lack of Examples

Without examples, students may struggle to understand the expectations for each performance level.

Providing annotated examples of work that meets each criterion can help students visualize what is required and guide their efforts more effectively.

7. Not Providing Feedback

Rubrics should be used as a tool for feedback, not just scoring.

Simply assigning a score without providing detailed feedback can leave students unclear about their strengths and areas for improvement.

Use the rubric to give comprehensive feedback that guides students’ growth.

8. Overlooking Self-Assessment and Peer Assessment

Self-assessment and peer assessment are valuable components of the learning process.

Overlooking these opportunities can limit students’ ability to reflect on their own work and learn from their peers.

Encourage students to use the rubric for self and peer assessment to deepen their understanding and enhance their skills.

What Is a Holistic Scoring Rubric for Writing?

A holistic scoring rubric for writing is a type of rubric that evaluates a piece of writing as a whole rather than breaking it down into separate criteria

This approach provides a single overall score based on the general impression of the writing’s quality and effectiveness.

Here’s a closer look at holistic scoring rubrics.

Key Features of Holistic Scoring Rubrics

• Single Overall Score : Assigns one score based on the overall quality of the writing.
• General Criteria : Focuses on the overall effectiveness, coherence, and impact of the writing.
• Descriptors : Uses broad descriptors for each score level to capture the general characteristics of the writing.

Example Holistic Scoring Rubric

Advantages of Holistic Scoring Rubrics

• Efficiency : Faster to use because it involves a single overall judgment rather than multiple criteria.
• Flexibility : Allows for a more intuitive assessment of the writing’s overall impact and effectiveness.
• Comprehensiveness : Captures the overall quality of writing, considering all elements together.

Disadvantages of Holistic Scoring Rubrics

• Less Detailed Feedback : Provides a general score without specific feedback on individual aspects of writing.
• Subjectivity : Can be more subjective, as it relies on the assessor’s overall impression rather than specific criteria.
• Limited Diagnostic Use : Less useful for identifying specific areas of strength and weakness for instructional purposes.

When to Use Holistic Scoring Rubrics

• Quick Assessments : When a quick, overall evaluation is needed.
• Standardized Testing : Often used in standardized testing scenarios where consistency and efficiency are priorities.
• Initial Impressions : Useful for providing an initial overall impression before more detailed analysis.

Free Writing Rubric Templates

Feel free to use the following writing rubric templates.

You can easily copy and paste them into a Word Document. Please do credit this website on any written, printed, or published use.

Otherwise, go wild.

Expository Writing Rubric

Descriptive Writing Rubric

Analytical Writing Rubric

Final Thoughts: Writing Rubrics

I have a lot more resources for teaching on this site.

Check out some of the blog posts I’ve listed below. I think you might enjoy them.

Read This Next:

• Narrative Writing Graphic Organizer [Guide + Free Templates]
• 100 Best A Words for Kids (+ How to Use Them)
• 100 Best B Words For Kids (+How to Teach Them)
• 100 Dictation Word Ideas for Students and Kids
• 50 Tricky Words to Pronounce and Spell (How to Teach Them)

Interactive Writing Rubric

Middle School

How to use the achievement first middle school writing rubric to drive instruction.

The Achievement First Middle School Writing Rubric is a powerful and complex tool to drive excellent instruction. Aligned to the Common Core State Standards and modeled after the Achievement First High School Writing Rubric, it provides a vertical continuum to college and career ready writing. How can teachers use it to drive classroom instruction and units? How can the writing rubric clarify and simplify writing instruction?

While the interactive middle school writing rubric sets a clear vision for excellence and names what excellence looks like, at first glance it can seem a bit overwhelming. In order for teachers to effectively use this tool to drive their instruction, it is important to consider three tenets:

• Cyclical: By design, the Process Based Assessment writing system is cyclical. Teachers cannot and should not teach every strand of the rubric during one essay cycle.
• Depth Over Breadth: Lessons become sticky and writing is mastered when you emphasize depth over breadth in your instruction. It is better to spend one lesson focusing on the difference between a 4 and a 5 in Position than the entire Position row. It is also better to spend more than one day on Position than to jump between multiple strands. Depth over breadth makes learning cohesive and sticky.
• Prioritization: One of the most powerful aspects of the Achievement First Middle School Writing Rubric is its ability to name what students need next. At a whole-class level, teachers can prioritize certain strands and criteria based on scholar need. If scholars are not selecting pertinent evidence yet, it will be futile to focus on interpretation, so a teacher can prioritize evidence selection and save the quality of interpretation for the next cycle. For every scholar, there is a tangible next step to focus (progress goal), regardless of ability. Scholars meeting all of the thresholds from the middle school rubric can be pushed further with strands from the high school rubric. Even though the rubric may seem overwhelming at first, knowing that scholars have multiple at-bats with this type of writing and four years to master these thresholds should free teachers to prioritize what each class and each scholar needs to move to the next tangible step.

While the above are helpful caveats, there is still a lot to consider. In order to simplify the play book, it is helpful to think of writing instruction as a cyclical process rotating through the same three core focus strands: Position , Selection , and Interpretation . This cycle is grounded in Ideas , which is at the heart of all writing and the heart of the Common Core.

The Base of All Writing: IDEAS

The Ideas strand is at the core of this diagram for two reasons:

• Ideas are a product of reading. Strong reading and thinking results in accurate and insightful ideas. Reading is thus the foundation for all academic writing in that it forces scholars into text as they analyze and make claims based on evidence. Students must grapple with complex texts and ideas to generate their own, text-based conclusions. High-quality reading instruction, including the close reading of complex texts, riddled with rigorous text-dependent questions and supported with thoughtfully planned and executed discussions, grounds students in reading, analysis, and ideas.
• Ideas develop when you focus on Position , Selection , and Interpretation . The Ideas strand is not a skill you regularly teach explicitly to the whole class in writing; rather, students’ ideas will grow when you focus on the right things, including grappling with texts. That being said, writing teachers frequently support individual scholars still struggling with the ideas about which they are writing.

The Core Instruction Cycle: Position , Selection , and Interpretation

The above cycle is apparent in reading, thinking, and writing:

• As a reader, one makes an argument about the meaning of a passage ( Position ), goes back to the text to look for evidence of that meaning ( Evidence ), then analyzes syntax, word choice, and author’s craft to determine if that original meaning was accurate ( Interpretation ). A great reader then revises their understanding of the passage ( Position ), determines the best evidence to support that meaning ( Evidence ) and develops logical links from evidence to meaning ( Interpretation ).
• As a thinker, one hypothesizes an argument ( Position ), collects evidence to support that argument ( Evidence ) and examines that evidence to clarify meaning ( Interpretation ). Great thinkers then revise and qualify their argument ( Position ), re-evaluate the evidence ( Evidence ) and justify how their evidence supports their argument ( Interpretation ).

To be clear, one of the most powerful aspects of the Process Based Assessment writing system is its collaborative structure. The prompts and texts that drive the final essay are frequently explicitly taught and discussed in literature, history or science classes, and then move to writing class where the cross-content unit culminates in an expository, thesis-driven essay.

While this Position , Selection , and Interpretation cycle oversimplifies the writing cycle, it provides teachers with a great place to start. After gaining proficiency with the basic cycle, teachers layer on mini-lessons focused on transitions ( Organization ), active verbs ( Word Choice and Sentence Fluency ), and appropriate background information ( Contextualization ), just to name a few.

Element: Argument

Strand: Position

Criteria: Thesis

Criteria: Assertions

Strand: Ideas

Criteria: Quality

Strand: Organization

Criteria: Structure

Criteria: Flow

Element: Evidence

Strand: Contextualization

Criteria: Framing

Criteria: Context

Strand: Selection

Criteria: Choice

Criteria: Presentation

Strand: Interpretation

Criteria: Analysis

Element: Language

Strand: Style

Criteria: Register

Criteria: Craft

Strand: Sentence Fluency

Criteria: Fluency

Criteria: Concision

Strand: Word Choice

Criteria: Range and Quality

Strand: Conventions

Criteria: Spelling

Criteria: Grammar

Element: Process

Strand: Revising

Criteria: Feedback

Criteria: Drafting

Strand: Publishing

Criteria: Professionalism

Criteria: MLA Formatting

Criteria: Document

Position 

This strand encompasses the argument in the essay – the key sentences that state what you are proving and how you are proving it.

Thesis: The sentence(s) explicitly or implicitly stated early in the paper that outline the argument being made in the paper.

Assertions: The assertion is the sentence at the paragraph level that is the written articulation of the subargument.

Ideas 

This strand evaluates at the holistic and synthesis level. The Ideas strand seeks to evaluate not only the accuracy of the ideas presented but also how well the Position is proven and how well the ideas are synthesized and interwoven. This strand is broader than the Interpretation strand – it encompasses the essay as a whole.

Quality: Quality evaluates the correctness of ideas, the complexity of ideas, and the integration of ideas across a full spectrum.

Organization 

Organization is a crucial aspect of the argumentation. This strand addresses the overall structure of a paper. Does the organization support and encourage logical order? Do ideas flow smoothly?

Structure: This criterion addresses the overall architecture of the essay, both at the body paragraph and the essay level. Is the paper ordered in a way that supports the position?

Flow: Do ideas flow smoothly within sentences in a paragraph and between sentences and paragraphs?

Contextualization 

There are two primary criteria that make up Contextualization:

Framing: The framing criterion is the broader umbrella within contextualization. Framing often occurs within the introduction and thesis statement. Framing incorporates any information relevant to the entire paper, versus context, relevant to a specific evidence chunk. Does the author include only the basic frame (novel, historical event) or is the argument framed within the greater discourse of historical ideas and movements?

Context: Context is more specific and concrete than framing; it refers to the background information around the evidence chunks. Does the author set up the reader with enough background information for the paragraphs to be read smoothly and cohesively?

Selection 

Selection primarily evaluates evidence selection – relevance, persuasiveness, and concision. Included in this strand is evidence presentation – how smoothly the argument is incorporated into the paragraph.

Choice: When we evaluate choice, we are analyzing the type of evidence selected – is it pertinent, is it relevant, is it credible?

Presentation:  Evidence must be presented clearly within an essay; this criterion addresses the blending, chunking, and overall weaving of evidence into an argument.

Interpretation 

Interpretation deals with logic, analysis, and reasoning. The Ideas strand within Argument is comprehensive and evaluates the synthesis of ideas. The interpretation strand is much more specific to the paragraph level.

Analysis: Analysis evaluates the discussion of evidence. At the lower level, is the interpretation explaining the evidence accurately? At a higher level, students are expected to analyze thoughtfully, linking the evidence explicitly to the assertion.

Style 

Formal essay writing style is more limited than its creative counterparts. The style strand evaluates the formal register, or formal style, of the author’s writing as well as their craft.

Register: This criterion addresses the appropriateness of the style and language for the task and audience. For academic writing pieces assessed using this rubric, we strive for formal register.

Craft: Craft refers to the specific writer’s moves in expository writing.

Sentence Fluency 

Sentence Fluency focuses on the type, fluidity, and effect of sentences within the essay. Strong sentence fluency leads to natural, active, and concise writing.

Fluency: Fluency is the ability to deliver information quickly, naturally, and correctly.

Concision: Concision is marked by effective and efficient communication: it is free of superfluous information and requires a strong command of language and a dedication to revision.

Word Choice 

This strand evaluates one’s ability to select the best word to communicate an idea and utilize a broad range of dynamic, striking, and sophisticated words.

Range & Quality: This criterion refers to the breadth and depth of words used correctly, the author’s vocabulary.

Conventions 

Authors need to understand and apply grammatical rules; they also need to spell correctly.

Grammar: These are Standard English rules of communication.

Spelling: This criterion evaluates spelling in an essay.

Revising 

David Conley clearly articulates that “self-management behaviors” are one of the four key levers to ensure college and career readiness. Revision evaluates the changes made from the rough draft to final draft, including the depth of those changes, the incorporation of feedback from peers and teachers, and the effect of the changes on the essay. In middle school, this revision is scaffolded over the course of four years to help scholars begin to learn self-management behaviors in order to improve their writing.

Feedback: This criterion evaluates to what extent the scholar has independently incorporated feedback to substantially improve his writing. Additionally, when applicable, this also assesses the scholar’s mastery of his independent progress goal as a way to measure both growth and self-management behaviors.

Drafting: Drafting refers to both the number of revisions made and the quality of those revisions to the final product. Scholars should begin to internalize that writing is a process and that revisions lead to stronger final products.

Publishing 

This strand encompasses the final product, from completion, timeliness, and presentation to MLA formatting guidelines.

Professionalism: This includes completion, timeliness, attention to the details of the assignment, and final product presentation.

MLA Formatting: Does the paper follow MLA evidence citation guidelines?

Document: Does the paper follow the formatting guidelines, including the heading, spacing, and title?

Click Numbers to View Standard Bearers

• 1 Position 1 
• 2 Position 2 

3 Position 3 (Set 1) Position 3 (Set 2)

4 Position 4 (Set 1) Position 4 (Set 2) Position 4 (Set 3) Position 4 (Set 4)

5 Position 5 (Set 1) Position 5 (Set 2) Position 5 (Set 3) Position 5 (Set 4) Position 5 (Set 5)

6 Position 6 (Set 1) Position 6 (Set 2) Position 6 (Set 3)

7 Position 7 (Set 1) Position 7 (Set 2)

8 Position 8 (Set 1) Position 8 (Set 2)

• Thesis is an opinion stated in the first person , and may or may not be a statement directly in response to the prompt.
• Thesis is written in the third person , and may just be a topic sentence that restates the prompt. It may only address half the prompt (i.e. theme but no attempt to name craft move, or vice versa; in a two-text prompt, students may only write about one text).
• Thesis is written in the third person, and may just be a topic sentence that restates the prompt. It attempts to answer the whole prompt, but may be too unclear to assess defensibility. This statement does not need to be accurate.
• If the prompt demands it, the defensible thesis is written as an argument/inference that can be supported with evidence (rather than a restatement of prompt or summary of the text/issue). This statement must answer all parts of a multi-part question. This statement does not need to be accurate.
• The defensible claim that the thesis makes represents a broad argument that could be made for all texts or all sides of the issue involved in the prompt ( comprehensive ). This statement must answer all parts of a multi-part question. This statement does not need to be accurate. Attempt at counterclaim present, if needed.
• A focused thesis is one with strong, precise language that clearly conveys strong, precise ideas in response to a prompt. Thesis statements are often not focused when the language is imprecise, thus keeping the ideas at a level that is too broad. This statement must answer all parts of a multi-part question. This statement does not need to be accurate. Counterclaim is focused.
• An analytical thesis is a response that incorporates the deepest meaning of the text in response to the prompt OR most meaningful level of an argument. It is the teacher exemplar in terms of language & level of interpretation. It does NOT list assertions . This statement must answer all parts of a multi-part question. This statement does not need to be accurate. Counterclaim is analytical.
• A nuanced response shares the relevant complexities or nuances of an argument based on what took place in the text/what comes up in the scope of the argument–it does not overlook or not recognize these complexities for the sake of an answer. Goes beyond the “answering the whole prompt” and thinking about the text and/or author influences in responding to the prompt. This statement must answer all parts of a multi-part question. This statement does not need to be accurate. Counterclaim is nuanced.
• Generally body paragraphs contain topic sentences that frame each paragraph. Some topic sentences are related to the topic of the paper.
• Most topic sentences are relevant to the topic of the paper.
• All topic sentences are directly relevant to the topic of the paper.
• Each topic sentence is directly relevant to the thesis statement and some topic sentences are assertions. Sequence of assertions may be random.
• Each topic sentence is directly relevant to the thesis and most topic sentences are assertions.
• Sequence of assertions is attempted.
• Each topic sentence is an assertion that supports the thesis statement.
• Sequence of assertions is mostly intentional but may not effectively advance the argument.
• Each assertion provides defensible and relevant support for the larger argument of the thesis statement. Some assertions are clarified in scope .
• Sequence of assertions is intentional and sometimes advances the argument.
• Each assertion provides defensible and relevant support for the larger argument of the thesis statement. Assertions are mostly clarified in scope.
• Sequence of assertions is intentional and mostly advances the argument.
• 1 Ideas 1 
• 2 Ideas 2 

3 Ideas 3 (Set 1) Ideas 3 (Set 2)

4 Ideas 4 (Set 1) Ideas 4 (Set 2)

5 Ideas 5 (Set 1) Ideas 5 (Set 2)

• 6 Ideas 6 

7 Ideas 7 (Set 1) Ideas 7 (Set 2)

• 8 Ideas 8 
• Ideas show some understanding of the text/content and the task;   includes a significant misunderstanding. Significant misunderstanding of task: The response is on-topic, but in the wrong mode (i.e. the prompt asks students to defend use of cell phones in schools & scholar writes a story about cell phones); OR the response demonstrates a significant misunderstanding of a text (i.e. student thought a character lived when he/she actually died – it’s like the scholar read a different text).
• Some understanding: The response is on-topic and in the right mode but the response is missing an important element like text evidence (i.e. the essay is just interpretation of the text with no support); OR the ideas contain many misunderstandings that impact the argument (the scholar seems to have read the same text, but has very different & inaccurate ideas about it).
• Basic/literal understanding: Scholar’s ideas are accurate, but do not move beyond summary or “right there” evidence. There may be a few small inaccuracies that do not impact the argument being made and/or one larger inaccuracy (i.e. wrong craft move). The response is on topic and in the right format. If scholars do not answer part of a question (i.e. never address a craft move demanded by the prompt), they should probably land here.
• Scholar’s ideas are accurate, and there is evidence of inferential/”deeper” thinking present in some (i.e. less than half) of the elements of the essay. There may be some vague, but not inaccurate, language. There may be a few small inaccuracies that do not impact the argument being made. The response is on topic and in the right mode.
• Scholar’s ideas are accurate, and most of the elements of the essay (thesis, assertions, evidence, analysis) are aligned to an inferential/deeper meaning. There may be some vague, but not inaccurate, language. There can be one small inaccuracy that does not impact the argument being made. The response is on topic and in the right mode. Counterclaim is named somewhere in the essay.
• Scholar’s ideas are accurate, and all elements of the essay are aligned to an inferential/deeper meaning. The language used to describe that deeper meaning is precise and accurate. There can be one small inaccuracy that does not impact the argument being made. The response is on topic and in the right mode. Counterclaim is named somewhere in the essay with an attempt at disproving it.
• Scholar’s ideas are accurate, and all elements of the essay are aligned to ideas that reflect the deepest meaning of the text OR most meaningful level of the argument. It is the teacher exemplar in terms of depth of thinking. There may be 1-2 small inaccuracies that do not impact the argument. The response is on topic and in the right mode. Accurate refutation of counter-claim.
• Scholar’s ideas are accurate, and all elements of the essay are aligned to ideas that discuss relevant complexities or nuances of the argument (i.e discussing text or author influences). There may be 1-2 small inaccuracies that do not impact the argument. The response is on topic and in the right mode. Refutation of counter-claim is logical & dismissed fairly (nothing makes you say “hmmm” or remain unconvinced)

1 Organization 1 (Set 1) Organization 1 (Set 2) Organization 1 (Set 3)

2 Organization 2 (Set 1) Organization 2 (Set 2)

3 Organization 3 (Set 1) Organization 3 (Set 2)

4 Organization 4 (Set 1) Organization 4 (Set 2)

5 Organization 5 (Set 1) Organization 5 (Set 2) Organization 5 (Set 3) Organization 5 (Set 4) Organization 5 (Set 5)

6 Organization 6 (Set 1) Organization 6 (Set 2) Organization 6 (Set 3)

• 7 Organization 7 

8 Organization 8 (Set 1) Organization 8 (Set 2)

• Paragraphs are absent yet ideas and information relate to each other.
• Groups related ideas and information logically. May provide a concluding statement or section that connects to the topic.
• Groups related ideas and information logically. Organizes ideas into separate and distinct body paragraphs. Provides a concluding statement or section that connects to the topic.
• Organizes ideas into separate and distinct body paragraphs.
• Content of paragraphs is generally appropriate.
• Concluding statement or section links to introduction.
• Reasonable essay structure .
• Content of paragraphs is mostly appropriate.
• Concluding section links to thesis.
• Reasonable essay structure.
• Body paragraphs include appropriate content in a logical internal structure .
• Introduction and conclusion are appropriately structured and conclusion supports thesis.
• Well-developed essay has logical internal structure, building to become more convincing and complete.
• Introduction is sophisticated and the conclusion provides closure .
• Well-developed essay has logical internal structure to enhance the understanding of the reader, building to become more convincing and complete.
• Sophisticated introduction draws readers in and insightful conclusion provides closure and eclipses thesis .
• Uses 1-2 word transitions to link some ideas.
• Generally uses 1-2 word transitions to clarify relationships among claims and reasons.
• Uses transition words and phrases to clarify relationships among most claims and reasons.
• Uses appropriate transitions to clarify the relationships among most claims and evidence chunks.
• Uses some appropriate words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationship among claims and evidence chunks. There are some awkward or stilted transitions between ideas.
• Uses appropriate words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationship among claims and evidence chunks. Limited awkward or stilted transitions between ideas.
• Uses a variety of appropriate words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationship among claims, interpretations, and evidence chunks.
• Almost no awkward or stilted transitions between ideas.
• There are no awkward or stilted transitions between ideas.
• 1 Contextualization 1 

2 Contextualization 2 (Set 1) Contextualization 2 (Set 2) Contextualization 2 (Set 3) Contextualization 2 (Set 4)

3 Contextualization 3 (Set 1) Contextualization 3 (Set 2)

4 Contextualization 4 (Set 1) Contextualization 4 (Set 2) Contextualization 4 (Set 3) Contextualization 4 (Set 4)

5 Contextualization 5 (Set 1) Contextualization 5 (Set 2) Contextualization 5 (Set 3) Contextualization 5 (Set 4)

• 6 Contextualization 6 
• 7 Contextualization 7 
• 8 Contextualization 8 
• Makes no attempt to frame the text or content.
• Provides one piece of framing about the text or content (eg title, author, or setting).
• Provides some general framing about the text or the content (eg title, author, or setting).
• Attempts to provide reasonable background of the text and content.
• Provides mostly reasonable background of the text and content.
• Provides primarily accurate, general background of the text and content.
• Provides primarily accurate, general background of text/ content.
• Attempts to frame the larger argument .
• Provides clear, sufficient background information of text/content.
• Presents the larger frame of the argument.
• May attempt to provide context that is inaccurate, random, or confusing.
• Provides accurate context to at least one piece of evidence.
• Provides necessary context to some evidence although it may be rough or missing in some places.

6th and 7th Grade

• Provides necessary context to most evidence presented, although it may be rough in some places.
• Smoothly and mostly judiciously incorporates accurate basic background information about almost all of evidence.
• Smoothly and judiciously incorporates accurate basic background information about almost all evidence.
• Context may hint at interpretation.

Presentation

1 Selection 1 (Set 1) Selection 1 (Set 2) Selection 1 (Set 3)

2 Selection 2 (Set 1) Selection 2 (Set 2)

3 Selection 3 (Set 1) Selection 3 (Set 2) Selection 3 (Set 3)

4 Selection 4 (Set 1) Selection 4 (Set 2) Selection 4 (Set 3) Selection 4 (Set 4)

5 Selection 5 (Set 1) Selection 5 (Set 2) Selection 5 (Set 3)

6 Selection 6 (Set 1) Selection 6 (Set 2) Selection 6 (Set 3)

7 Selection 7 (Set 1) Selection 7 (Set 2)

• 8 Selection 8 
• Some evidence selected is connected to the main idea of the paper.
• Most evidence selected is connected to the main idea of the paper.
• Most evidence selected is connected to the topic of the paragraph.
• All evidence selected is connected to the topic of the paragraph.
• Almost all evidence selected is connected to assertion, although some may not be directly relevant .
• Evidence is adequate in amount and when applicable, drawn from multiple sources .
• Almost all evidence selected is directly relevant to assertion; Some evidence strongly supports assertion; attempts to create a progression of evidence .
• Evidence is adequate in amount, and when applicable, drawn from multiple sources.
• Almost all evidence selected strongly supports assertion, generally creating a purposeful progression of evidence; .
• Evidence is adequate in amount and drawn from multiple sources and parts of the text(s). Attempts to persuade the audience by incorporating two different rhetorical appeals.
• Almost all evidence selected strongly and accurately supports assertion and creates a purposeful progression of evidence.
• Evidence is appropriate in amount and drawn from multiple sources and varied parts of the text(s). Successfully persuades audience through incorporating multiple rhetorical appeals.
• Evidence is recognizable (i.e. the reader knows when the writer is referencing the text) and mostly paraphrased correctly.
• Evidence selected is used correctly indirectly (paraphrased) and directly (quotations) when appropriate.
• Student may choose to only paraphrase (as a natural precursor to direct quotations).
• Evidence selected is used indirectly (paraphrased) and directly (quotations) when appropriate.
• Student attempts to use both paraphrased evidence and direct quotations.
• Some direct evidence selected is roughly incorporated into sentences (i.e., quotations are grammatically incorporated into other sentences.). While there are no isolated quotes , some generic blends are used. Attempts to use both paraphrased and direct quotations.
• Most direct evidence selected is roughly incorporated into sentences (i.e., quotations are grammatically incorporated into other sentences.) Few generic blends are used. Paraphrased evidence is generally accurate and used appropriately.
• All direct evidence selected is roughly presented (i.e., quotations are grammatically incorporated into other sentences.), and no generic blends are used. Paraphrased evidence is primarily accurate and mostly used appropriately.
• Most direct evidence selected is correctly presented (i.e. colons following independent clauses, commas in blends) with effective blends . Paraphrased evidence is concise , accurate and properly used. Chunking may be used.
• Momentum of writing is enhanced by effective and strategic choice of type of evidence (direct, paraphrased, chunked). Direct evidence selected is correctly presented with effective blends. Paraphrased evidence is concise, accurate and properly used

1 Interpretation 1 (Set 1) Interpretation 1 (Set 2)

• 2 Interpretation 2 
• 3 Interpretation 3 

4 Interpretation 4 (Set 1) Interpretation 4 (Set 2)

5 Interpretation 5 (Set 1) Interpretation 5 (Set 2)

• 6 Interpretation 6 
• 7 Interpretation 7 
• 8 Interpretation 8 
• Analysis consists entirely of repetition of the assertion/topic sentence.
• The analysis is mostly repetitive of the assertion/topic sentence, but there is an attempt at summary of the evidence.
• The analysis is mostly summary of the evidence, but does not simply repeat the evidence or assertion.
• Analysis goes beyond summary, but explanation of how/why evidence proves assertion may be unconvincing (i.e. not plausible and logical ).
• The analysis is generally effective in explaining how or why the evidence proves the assertion (e.g. generally plausible and logical).
• The analysis is mostly effective in explaining how or why the evidence proves the assertion (e.g. mostly plausible and logical).
• The analysis is 100% plausible and logical.
• The analysis is 100% plausible and logical. The analysis enhances the efficiency and momentum of the argument via strong language and logic choices.
• 2 Style 2 

3 Style 3 (Set 1) Style 3 (Set 2)

4 Style 4 (Set 1) Style 4 (Set 2) Style 4 (Set 3)

5 Style 5 (Set 1) Style 5 (Set 2) Style 5 (Set 3)

• 6 Style 6 

7 Style 7 (Set 1) Style 7 (Set 2)

• 8 Style 8 
• Uses mostly an informal tone in writing. Could include slang, symbols, or text speak. Writes in first person
• Attempts to incorporate a formal tone into writing.
• Attempts to establish and maintain a formal tone in writing.
• Writes primarily in third person ; limited use of 1st person pronouns and 1st and 2nd person phrasing.
• Limited use of contractions .
• Almost always writes in 3rd person plural; appropriate verb tense;
• Establishes and maintains an appropriate distance with regard to purpose and audience;
• Limited use of contractions.
• Almost always writes with 3rd person plural phrasing with an appropriate distance ;
• Appropriate verb tense , and clear pronoun use .
• Limited use of vague pronoun reference ; almost no use of colloquialisms and contractions.
• Almost always writes with an appropriate distance, with regard to audience and purpose, maintaining consistent style and tone . Almost no vague pronouns.
• Consistently writes with an appropriate distance, with regard to audience and purpose, maintaining consistent style and tone.
• N/A 5th and 6th
• Attempts to use rhetorical device (i.e., rhetorical questions, analogies, figurative language, parallel structure) to engage reader.
• Attempts to use multiple rhetorical devices to engage reader.
• Attempts to use multiple rhetorical devices to engage reader. Use of varied syntax attempts to engage the reader.
• Effectively uses multiple rhetorical devices to engage reader.
• 1 Sentence Fluency 1 
• 2 Sentence Fluency 2 

3 Sentence Fluency 3 (Set 1) Sentence Fluency 3 (Set 2) Sentence Fluency 3 (Set 3) Sentence Fluency 3 (Set 4) Sentence Fluency 3 (Set 5)

4 Sentence Fluency 4 (Set 1) Sentence Fluency 4 (Set 2) Sentence Fluency 4 (Set 3)

5 Sentence Fluency 5 (Set 1) Sentence Fluency 5 (Set 2) Sentence Fluency 5 (Set 3)

6 Sentence Fluency 6 (Set 1) Sentence Fluency 6 (Set 2) Sentence Fluency 6 (Set 3)

7 Sentence Fluency 7 (Set 1) Sentence Fluency 7 (Set 2)

8 Sentence Fluency 8 (Set 1) Sentence Fluency 8 (Set 2)

• Mostly uses complete sentences .
• Mostly free of obvious fragments and run-ons .
• Mostly uses complete sentences.
• Simple and compound sentence types are used.
• Sentences are free of obvious fragments and run-ons.
• Almost all sentences complete.
• Simple and compound sentence types are used. Sentence beginnings vary yet are mostly routine, generic .
• Sentences are free of obvious fragments and run ons.
• Some sentences are varied in length and structure. Although easy to read aloud, writing may have some choppiness.
• Sentence beginnings vary, but sometimes they are routine, generic.
• Sometimes writes in the active voice.
• Generally, sentences are varied in length and structure. Although easy to read aloud, writing may have some choppiness.
• Sentence beginnings vary yet are routine, generic. Uses simple, compound and some complex sentence structures that are clear.
• Generally writes in the active voice.
• Some sentences are rhythmic and flowing. When read aloud sentence structure flows well and moves reader through the piece.
• Sentence beginnings are varied and generally add interest and energy; four sentence types (simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex ) are effective.
• Mostly writes in the active voice.
• Sentences are generally varied and well built ( parallel structure , some appositives , gerunds , etc.). They have flow, rhythm, and cadence that invites expressive oral reading.
• Varied sentence beginnings help strengthen the piece, adding interest and energy; four sentence types (simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex) create appropriate balance and variety.
• Writes primarily in the active voice.
• Sentences are varied and well built. They have flow, rhythm, and cadence that invites expressive oral reading.
• Writing includes some extraneous expressions (i.e.. “this shows,” “maybe,” “the quote is,” etc.).
• Writing is generally free of extraneous expressions (i.e.. “this shows,” “maybe,” “the quote is,” etc.).
• Writing is largely free of extraneous expressions. 1-2 exceptions may exist.
• Writing is largely free of extraneous expressions and generally free of unnecessary repetition of ideas .
• Writing is free of extraneous expressions and generally free of unnecessary repetition of ideas.
• Writing is free of extraneous expressions and generally free of unnecessary repetition of ideas; unnecessary fat is completely trimmed from writing.

Range and Quality

• 1 Word Choice 1 
• 2 Word Choice 2 

3 Word Choice 3 (Set 1) Word Choice 3 (Set 2) Word Choice 3 (Set 3)

• 4 Word Choice 4 
• 5 Word Choice 5 
• 6 Word Choice 6 
• 7 Word Choice 7 
• 8 Word Choice 8 
• Limited vocabulary;
• Generally content language is used accurately.
• Attempts to use non-prompt academic or sophisticated language show willingness to stretch and grow, yet sometimes go too far and obscure intended meaning .
• Attempts to incorporate active verbs (e.g., “runs,” “chooses,” “rejects,” not “to be” variations, “to have” variations, or continuous tense (“is running”). However, verbs are not always used accurately or naturally.
• Prompt language is used correctly. Attempts to use academic or sophisticated language.
• Rough use of active verbs. Most active verbs are used appropriately.
• Generally words convey intended meaning.
• Prompt and non-prompt academic and content language is used accurately and precisely.
• Rough use of active verbs adds a sense of engagement and voice.
• In most cases, words are “ just right ” and clearly communicate intended meaning.
• Prompt and non-prompt, varied academic and content language is used accurately, precisely, and effectively.
• Varied use of active verbs gives a sense of individuality and voice .
• Varied use of active verbs gives a sense of individuality and voice. Almost all words are necessary and contribute to meaning.
• Non-prompt, varied academic and content language is engaging and used powerfully .
• Varied use of active verbs gives a sense of individuality and voice.
• Words convey intended meaning in a precise, interesting, and natural way .
• Non-prompt, varied academic and content language is engaging and used powerfully. Varied use of active verbs gives a sense of individuality and voice.
• Connotation of words convey intended meaning and tone in a precise, interesting, and natural way.

1 Conventions 1 (Set 1) Conventions 1 (Set 2) Conventions 1 (Set 3)

2 Conventions 2 (Set 1) Conventions 2 (Set 2)

3 Conventions 3 (Set 1) Conventions 3 (Set 2) Conventions 3 (Set 3)

4 Conventions 4 (Set 1) Conventions 4 (Set 2)

5 Conventions 5 (Set 1) Conventions 5 (Set 2)

6 Conventions 6 (Set 1) Conventions 6 (Set 2) Conventions 6 (Set 3) Conventions 6 (Set 4)

7 Conventions 7 (Set 1) Conventions 7 (Set 2)

8 Conventions 8 (Set 1) Conventions 8 (Set 2) Conventions 8 (Set 3)

• Numerous errors in spelling hinder comprehension.
• Any spelling errors are still decipherable and do not inhibit overall comprehension, although some sentences may be hard to understand.
• Any spelling errors are still decipherable and do not inhibit overall comprehension. Almost all words from prompt and text (names of characters/ places) spelled correctly. Generally, homophones are spelled correctly.
• Spelling is mostly correct. Mostly, homophones are spelled correctly. Almost all words from prompt/text are spelled correctly.
• Almost all homophones are spelled correctly. All words from prompt/text are spelled correctly.
• Spelling is overwhelmingly correct; spelling errors do not hinder comprehension of essay.
• Almost no mistakes in spelling. Almost all mistakes are a result of risk taking with above grade-level vocabulary (SAT words).
• All words, including above grade-level vocabulary, spelled correctly.
• Numerous errors in grammar hinder comprehension.
• Almost all capitalization and end punctuation correct. Titles written correctly.
• Additionally, almost all commas in compound sentences, commas in a series, and commas after introductory phrases correct.
• Additionally, almost all quotations are punctuated correctly and almost all verbs agree.
• Additionally, almost all complex sentences are punctuated correctly, and almost all verbs are in a consistent tense.
• Additionally, almost all pronouns are used correctly (agreement, case, no vague pronouns), and almost all possessives are written correctly. Generally, complex punctuation (semi-colon/ colon) is used accurately.
• Additionally, almost all direct evidence is grammatically and correctly presented (ellipses, brackets). Generally, appositives and gerunds are correctly punctuated. Strong command of grammar allows for clear and effective communication of ideas with minimal disruption.
• Strong command of grammar supports and enhances ideas presented.

Professionalism

MLA Formatting

• Paper does not follow most of the guidelines of the assignment.
• All the necessary documents are turned in more than one school day after the deadline.
• Paper is complete and follows most of the guidelines of the assignment.
• All the necessary documents are turned in within one school day after the deadline.
• Paper is complete and follows almost all the guidelines of the assignment.
• All the necessary documents are turned in on time.
• Paper is crisp, neat, complete and follows all the guidelines of the assignment.
• All the necessary documents are turned in as specified and on time or early.
• Attempts at MLA formatting are not consistent and/or primarily lacking.
• Generally, attempts to cite evidence using parentheses, quotation marks, and periods. (Meets standard in 5th grade only)
• Almost always cites evidence correctly uses parentheses, quotation marks, commas, and periods. When applicable, mostly correct MLA Works Cited Page.
• Correctly cites evidence using parentheses, quotation marks, commas, and periods. When applicable, overwhelmingly correct MLA Works Cited Page.
• Header mostly provides correct information.
• Header, title, and text are mostly formatted (MLA) and spaced correctly
• Header, title, and text are overwhelmingly properly formatted (MLA) and spaced.
• Header, title, and text are properly formatted and spaced. If applicable, visual information is integrated and displayed effectively.

• Chess (Gr. 1-4)
• TV (Gr. 1-4)
• Metal Detectors (Gr. 2-6)
• Tetris (Gr. 2-6)
• Seat Belts (Gr. 2-6)
• The Coliseum (Gr. 2-6)
• The Pony Express (Gr. 2-6)
• Wintertime (Gr. 2-6)
• Reading (Gr. 3-7)
• Black Friday (Gr. 3-7)
• Hummingbirds (Gr. 3-7)
• Worst Game Ever? (Gr. 4-8)
• Carnivorous Plants (Gr. 4-8)
• Google (Gr. 4-8)
• Honey Badgers (Gr. 4-8)
• Hyperinflation (Gr. 4-8)
• Koko (Gr. 4-8)
• Mongooses (Gr. 5-9)
• Trampolines (Gr. 5-9)
• Garbage (Gr. 5-9)
• Maginot Line (Gr. 5-9)
• Asian Carp (Gr. 5-9)
• Tale of Two Countries (Gr. 6-10)
• Kevlar (Gr. 7-10)
• Tigers (Gr. 7-11)
• Statue of Liberty (Gr. 8-10)
• Submarines (Gr. 8-12)
• Castles (Gr. 9-13)
• Gutenberg (Gr. 9-13)
• Author's Purpose Practice 1
• Author's Purpose Practice 2
• Author's Purpose Practice 3
• Fact and Opinion Practice 1
• Fact and Opinion Practice 2
• Fact and Opinion Practice 3
• Idioms Practice Test 1
• Idioms Practice Test 2
• Figurative Language Practice 1
• Figurative Language Practice 2
• Figurative Language Practice 3
• Figurative Language Practice 4
• Figurative Language Practice 5
• Figurative Language Practice 6
• Figurative Language Practice 7
• Figurative Language Practice 8
• Figurative Language Practice 9
• Figurative Language of Edgar Allan Poe
• Figurative Language of O. Henry
• Figurative Language of Shakespeare
• Genre Practice 1
• Genre Practice 2
• Genre Practice 3
• Genre Practice 4
• Genre Practice 5
• Genre Practice 6
• Genre Practice 7
• Genre Practice 8
• Genre Practice 9
• Genre Practice 10
• Irony Practice 1
• Irony Practice 2
• Irony Practice 3
• Making Inferences Practice 1
• Making Inferences Practice 2
• Making Inferences Practice 3
• Making Inferences Practice 4
• Making Inferences Practice 5
• Main Idea Practice 1
• Main Idea Practice 2
• Point of View Practice 1
• Point of View Practice 2
• Text Structure Practice 1
• Text Structure Practice 2
• Text Structure Practice 3
• Text Structure Practice 4
• Text Structure Practice 5
• Story Structure Practice 1
• Story Structure Practice 2
• Story Structure Practice 3
• Author's Purpose
• Characterizations
• Context Clues
• Fact and Opinion
• Figurative Language
• Grammar and Language Arts
• Poetic Devices
• Point of View
• Predictions
• Reading Comprehension
• Story Structure
• Summarizing
• Text Structure
• Character Traits
• Common Core Aligned Unit Plans
• Teacher Point of View
• Teaching Theme
• Patterns of Organization
• Project Ideas
• Reading Activities
• How to Write Narrative Essays
• How to Write Persuasive Essays
• Narrative Essay Assignments
• Narrative Essay Topics
• Persuasive Essay Topics
• Research Paper Topics
• Rubrics for Writing Assignments
• Learn About Sentence Structure
• Grammar Worksheets
• Noun Worksheets
• Parts of Speech Worksheets
• Punctuation Worksheets
• Sentence Structure Worksheets
• Verbs and Gerunds
• Examples of Allitertion
• Examples of Hyperbole
• Examples of Onomatopoeia
• Examples of Metaphor
• Examples of Personification
• Examples of Simile
• Figurative Language Activities
• Figurative Language Examples
• Figurative Language Poems
• Figurative Language Worksheets
• Learn About Figurative Language
• Learn About Poetic Devices
• Idiom Worksheets
• Online Figurative Language Tests
• Onomatopoeia Worksheets
• Personification Worksheets
• Poetic Devices Activities
• Poetic Devices Worksheets
• About This Site
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use
• Understanding CCSS Standards
• What's New?

Ereading Worksheets

Free reading worksheets, activities, and lesson plans., site navigation.

• Learn About Author’s Purpose
• Author’s Purpose Quizzes
• Character Types Worksheets and Lessons
• List of Character Traits
• Differentiated Reading Instruction Worksheets and Activities
• Fact and Opinion Worksheets
• Irony Worksheets
• Animal Farm Worksheets
• Literary Conflicts Lesson and Review
• New Home Page Test
• Lord of the Flies Chapter 2 Worksheet
• Lord of the Flies Chapter 5 Worksheet
• Lord of the Flies Chapter 6 Worksheet
• Lord of the Flies Chapter 10 Worksheet
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
• Sister Carrie
• The Count of Monte Cristo
• The Odyssey
• The War of the Worlds
• The Wizard of Oz
• Mood Worksheets
• Context Clues Worksheets
• Inferences Worksheets
• Main Idea Worksheets
• Making Predictions Worksheets
• Nonfiction Passages and Functional Texts
• Setting Worksheets
• Summarizing Worksheets and Activities
• Short Stories with Questions
• Story Structure Activities
• Story Structure Worksheets
• Tone Worksheets
• Types of Conflict Worksheets
• Reading Games
• Figurative Language Poems with Questions
• Hyperbole and Understatement Worksheets
• Simile and Metaphor Worksheets
• Simile Worksheets
• Hyperbole Examples
• Metaphor Examples
• Personification Examples
• Simile Examples
• Understatement Examples
• Idiom Worksheets and Tests
• Poetic Devices Worksheets & Activities
• Alliteration Examples
• Allusion Examples
• Onomatopoeia Examples
• Onomatopoeia Worksheets and Activities
• Genre Worksheets
• Genre Activities
• Capitalization Worksheets, Lessons, and Tests
• Contractions Worksheets and Activities
• Double Negative Worksheets
• Homophones & Word Choice Worksheets
• ‘Was’ or ‘Were’
• Simple Subjects & Predicates Worksheets
• Subjects, Predicates, and Objects
• Clauses and Phrases
• Type of Sentences Worksheets
• Sentence Structure Activities
• Comma Worksheets and Activities
• Semicolon Worksheets
• End Mark Worksheets
• Noun Worksheets, Lessons, and Tests
• Verb Worksheets and Activities
• Pronoun Worksheets, Lessons, and Tests
• Adverbs & Adjectives Worksheets, Lessons, & Tests
• Preposition Worksheets and Activities
• Conjunctions Worksheets and Activities
• Interjections Worksheets
• Parts of Speech Activities
• Verb Tense Activities
• Past Tense Worksheets
• Present Tense Worksheets
• Future Tense Worksheets
• Point of View Activities
• Point of View Worksheets
• Teaching Point of View
• Cause and Effect Example Paragraphs
• Chronological Order
• Compare and Contrast
• Order of Importance
• Problem and Solution
• Text Structure Worksheets
• Text Structure Activities

Essay Writing Rubrics

• Narrative Essay Topics and Story Ideas
• Narrative Essay Worksheets & Writing Assignments
• Persuasive Essay and Speech Topics
• Persuasive Essay Worksheets & Activities
• Writing Narrative Essays and Short Stories
• Writing Persuasive Essays
• All Reading Worksheets
• Understanding Common Core State Standards
• Remote Learning Resources for Covid-19 School Closures
• What’s New?
• Ereading Worksheets | Legacy Versions
• Online Figurative Language Practice
• Online Genre Practice Tests
• Online Point of View Practice Tests
• 62 School Project Ideas
• 2nd Grade Reading Worksheets
• 3rd Grade Reading Worksheets
• 4th Grade Reading Worksheets
• 5th Grade Reading Worksheets
• 6th Grade Reading Worksheets
• 7th Grade Reading Worksheets
• 8th Grade Reading Worksheets
• 9th Grade Reading Worksheets
• 10th Grade Reading Worksheets
• Membership Billing
• Membership Cancel
• Membership Checkout
• Membership Confirmation
• Membership Invoice
• Membership Levels
• Your Profile

Want Updates?

43 comments.

I’m a teacher and I find very good materials here. I suggest it to everybody, particularly in education field.

Your materials are of great help. Thanks so much for helping other teachers with your knowledge and experience.

Seggie Mainawa

I am so happy about the information that you have been given. Thank you very much for the information.

Thank you so much sir! Its my first time as an online English teacher for primary level and I come across your site while groping for ideas on how and what to teach…Your site is really of great help and it is much appreciated. I learned a lot and this could help me improve on my teaching resources. Thank you so very much!!! More power and God bless!

This website is super helpful! Great resources for practicing.

Thank you for taking time to share all the resources. They are very helpful in many ways to students and to educators. I have visited it many times during my web search for various topics and I will continue visiting. Job well done to say the least!

I have used this site numerous times and find the worksheets and power points so perfectly crafted. You drive the points home, with clarity and ease of understanding.

jerusha gooden

Essay long about slavery and sugar plantion everything to do please help me need you about you need l want to ok

Thank you so much. It a great blessing to see them and have.them in my phone. Great blessings

I totally appreciate all your resources; saves me a lot of time. Thanks

Dear Sir, I am so happy to have found this site! It is quite comprehensive. I stumbled across it looking for help in tutoring English to elementary students and I find myself completing your worksheets just to stay sharp! Thank you for all your hard work. It is most appreciated.

Thank you for visiting and taking the time to comment!

BRAVO! I found your site when I was looking for parts of speech resources and am absolutely blown away. THANK YOU for this gift in ELA resources that are spot on and ready to use. I think this is the first site I have found that I can actually use the resource confidently without having to recreate the wheel on my own. I’ve been exploring for over an hour and am seriously ‘geeked out’ by everything. Bless you!

Thank you for the kind words. I’m glad you like the site. Please come back again!

Dominic Potter

Thank you so much,well appreciated.

Pru Claassen

Good day I require rubrics for Grade 8 and 9 English First Additional Language please… Essays as well as transactional writing.

What a gift — helping teachers teach. Praying that your generosity of spirit in sharing what you have created is multiplied hundred fold.

Your website is very generous with information.

Thank you! Ms Simmons

I was in search of such site for our teacher Dr Imran khan wants us to write a research paper in Linguistics

I want a resource about cause and effect essay and about compare and contrast essay but this site is actually awesome and I had a lot to do with this amazing site

Simple and accurate, thank you. Very useful to teach students.

Just want to say thank you. This website is truly a gem!!! So many fantastic resources all in one place – and all for free. I cannot thank you enough for your dedication. You have helped me many nights this past year as I have scrambled through my first year of teaching. All of your materials are straightforward, ready-for-use, and engaging for students. What more could I ask for??

That’s exactly what I was going for. Thank you for the kind words and for visiting my site. Best wishes!

Thank you very much for sharing these with us. It is very very helpful!

Thank you so much for these resources.They are so helpful..Can you please include one sample essay if possible. Thanks, Lavanya.

very interesting resource!

Thank you so much for the wonderful work that you are producing.

You are most welcome. Thank you for visiting.

Edward Elmer

I am a teacher with the Sacramento County Office of Education in Sacramento California. I just want to say how thankful I am for discovering your site. You have my utmost admiration for your material. Are you developing more in the future?

Thanks again, Edward Elmer

Thank you kindly.

I am working on more materially. This site is my life’s work. I will continue to update it and improve it as my time allows.

Thank you for the kind words.

Your web page is AWESOME! Thank you for sharing all these wonderful activities!!

You are most welcome. Thank you for visiting!

it is really good

gino coronado

i learned a lot upon browsing some of the sample of rubrics hope you can put as many sample you can have

I’m happy to hear it. I have more that I will add soon.

mr. morton, love you…not because you shared these great ws, but to see how amazingly your thinking and teaching is crystal clear.lucky your students must be and making big in life with LA skills accquired from a superb mentor like you. its just not only fun to teach but also to solve your sheets. thats the best part of it! 😉

I am honored by your comments.

I hope to return your kindness by continuing to add more content in the years to come.

Best wishes.

Very useful information loved teaching my students theme using your resources!! Thank you!!

Thank u so much for the resources, checking essay are quiet easy than before, this is such a great help for us teachers.

Wow!! What an incredible resource. Thank you very much.

thanks… helpful for my composition class!

ladymacbeth

Thanks for everything Mr. Morton. I am a high school teacher of both enthusiastic readers/writers, and very nonenthusiastic readers/writers. How nice to find your resources. I’m sure I will be able to entice even the most reluctant to do some writing with the help of your prompts. Thanks for sharing!

I’m happy to hear it. I’d love to add more writing resources soon.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe Now

Popular content.

• Author's Purpose Worksheets
• Characterization Worksheets
• Common Core Lesson and Unit Plans
• Online Reading Practice Tests
• Plot Worksheets
• Reading Comprehension Worksheets
• Summary Worksheets
• Theme Worksheets

New and Updated Pages

• Capitalization Worksheets
• Contractions Worksheets
• Double Negatives Worksheets
• Homophones & Word Choice Worksheets

BECOME A MEMBER!

Persuasion Rubric

About this printout

Use this rubric to assess the effectiveness of a student's essay, speech, poster, or any type of assignment that incorporates persuasion.

Teaching with this printout

More ideas to try, related resources.

Grading rubrics can be of great benefit to both you and your students. For you, a rubric saves time and decreases subjectivity. Specific criteria are explicitly stated, facilitating the grading process and increasing your objectivity. For students, the use of grading rubrics helps them meet or exceed expectations, to view the grading process as being “fair,” and helps them set goals for future learning. In order to help your students meet or exceed expectations of the assignment, be sure to discuss the rubric with your students when you assign a persuasion project. It is helpful to show them examples of pieces that meet and do not meet the expectations. As an added benefit, because the criteria are explicitly stated in the rubric, the use of it decreases the likelihood that students will be confused about the grade they receive. The explicitness of the expectations helps students know exactly why they lost points on the assignment and aids them in setting goals for future improvement.  Use the Visuals/Delivery category to grade audio and visual elements in speeches, PowerPoint presentations, blogs, posters, skits, podcasts, or any other assignment where visuals and delivery play roles. If your assignment does not require speech or visuals, simply disregard this part of the rubric.

• Routinely have students score peers’ work using the rubric as the assessment tool. This increases their level of awareness of the traits that distinguish successful persuasive projects from those that fail to meet the criteria.
• Alter some expectations or add additional traits on the rubric as needed. For example, if the assignment is to create a persuasive podcast, criteria such as articulation, communication, sound effects, and audio clarity may be added. You may also adapt the criteria to make it more rigorous for advanced learners and less stringent for lower level learners. In addition, you may want to include content-specific criteria for your subject area.
• After you and your students have used the rubric, have them work in groups to make suggested alterations to the rubric to more precisely match their needs or the parameters of a specific persuasive assignment. For example, if you wanted them to work in cooperative groups to write and present persuasive skits, possible criteria could include teamwork and the length of the skit.
• Lesson Plans
• Student Interactives
• Strategy Guides

Through a classroom game and resource handouts, students learn about the techniques used in persuasive oral arguments and apply them to independent persuasive writing activities.

The Persuasion Map is an interactive graphic organizer that enables students to map out their arguments for a persuasive essay or debate.

• Print this resource

Explore Resources by Grade

• Kindergarten K

• Grades 6-12
• School Leaders

Win a personal laminator for your classroom! ✨

15 Helpful Scoring Rubric Examples for All Grades and Subjects

In the end, they actually make grading easier.

When it comes to student assessment and evaluation, there are a lot of methods to consider. In some cases, testing is the best way to assess a student’s knowledge, and the answers are either right or wrong. But often, assessing a student’s performance is much less clear-cut. In these situations, a scoring rubric is often the way to go, especially if you’re using standards-based grading . Here’s what you need to know about this useful tool, along with lots of rubric examples to get you started.

What is a scoring rubric?

In the United States, a rubric is a guide that lays out the performance expectations for an assignment. It helps students understand what’s required of them, and guides teachers through the evaluation process. (Note that in other countries, the term “rubric” may instead refer to the set of instructions at the beginning of an exam. To avoid confusion, some people use the term “scoring rubric” instead.)

A rubric generally has three parts:

• Performance criteria: These are the various aspects on which the assignment will be evaluated. They should align with the desired learning outcomes for the assignment.
• Rating scale: This could be a number system (often 1 to 4) or words like “exceeds expectations, meets expectations, below expectations,” etc.
• Indicators: These describe the qualities needed to earn a specific rating for each of the performance criteria. The level of detail may vary depending on the assignment and the purpose of the rubric itself.

Rubrics take more time to develop up front, but they help ensure more consistent assessment, especially when the skills being assessed are more subjective. A well-developed rubric can actually save teachers a lot of time when it comes to grading. What’s more, sharing your scoring rubric with students in advance often helps improve performance . This way, students have a clear picture of what’s expected of them and what they need to do to achieve a specific grade or performance rating.

Learn more about why and how to use a rubric here.

Types of Rubric

There are three basic rubric categories, each with its own purpose.

Holistic Rubric

Source: Cambrian College

This type of rubric combines all the scoring criteria in a single scale. They’re quick to create and use, but they have drawbacks. If a student’s work spans different levels, it can be difficult to decide which score to assign. They also make it harder to provide feedback on specific aspects.

Traditional letter grades are a type of holistic rubric. So are the popular “hamburger rubric” and “ cupcake rubric ” examples. Learn more about holistic rubrics here.

Analytic Rubric

Source: University of Nebraska

Analytic rubrics are much more complex and generally take a great deal more time up front to design. They include specific details of the expected learning outcomes, and descriptions of what criteria are required to meet various performance ratings in each. Each rating is assigned a point value, and the total number of points earned determines the overall grade for the assignment.

Though they’re more time-intensive to create, analytic rubrics actually save time while grading. Teachers can simply circle or highlight any relevant phrases in each rating, and add a comment or two if needed. They also help ensure consistency in grading, and make it much easier for students to understand what’s expected of them.

Learn more about analytic rubrics here.

Developmental Rubric

Source: Deb’s Data Digest

A developmental rubric is a type of analytic rubric, but it’s used to assess progress along the way rather than determining a final score on an assignment. The details in these rubrics help students understand their achievements, as well as highlight the specific skills they still need to improve.

Developmental rubrics are essentially a subset of analytic rubrics. They leave off the point values, though, and focus instead on giving feedback using the criteria and indicators of performance.

Learn how to use developmental rubrics here.

Ready to create your own rubrics? Find general tips on designing rubrics here. Then, check out these examples across all grades and subjects to inspire you.

Elementary School Rubric Examples

These elementary school rubric examples come from real teachers who use them with their students. Adapt them to fit your needs and grade level.

Reading Fluency Rubric

You can use this one as an analytic rubric by counting up points to earn a final score, or just to provide developmental feedback. There’s a second rubric page available specifically to assess prosody (reading with expression).

Learn more: Teacher Thrive

Reading Comprehension Rubric

The nice thing about this rubric is that you can use it at any grade level, for any text. If you like this style, you can get a reading fluency rubric here too.

Learn more: Pawprints Resource Center

Written Response Rubric

Rubrics aren’t just for huge projects. They can also help kids work on very specific skills, like this one for improving written responses on assessments.

Learn more: Dianna Radcliffe: Teaching Upper Elementary and More

Interactive Notebook Rubric

If you use interactive notebooks as a learning tool , this rubric can help kids stay on track and meet your expectations.

Learn more: Classroom Nook

Project Rubric

Use this simple rubric as it is, or tweak it to include more specific indicators for the project you have in mind.

Learn more: Tales of a Title One Teacher

Behavior Rubric

Developmental rubrics are perfect for assessing behavior and helping students identify opportunities for improvement. Send these home regularly to keep parents in the loop.

Learn more: Teachers.net Gazette

Middle School Rubric Examples

In middle school, use rubrics to offer detailed feedback on projects, presentations, and more. Be sure to share them with students in advance, and encourage them to use them as they work so they’ll know if they’re meeting expectations.

Argumentative Writing Rubric

Argumentative writing is a part of language arts, social studies, science, and more. That makes this rubric especially useful.

Learn more: Dr. Caitlyn Tucker

Role-Play Rubric

Role-plays can be really useful when teaching social and critical thinking skills, but it’s hard to assess them. Try a rubric like this one to evaluate and provide useful feedback.

Learn more: A Question of Influence

Art Project Rubric

Art is one of those subjects where grading can feel very subjective. Bring some objectivity to the process with a rubric like this.

Source: Art Ed Guru

Diorama Project Rubric

You can use diorama projects in almost any subject, and they’re a great chance to encourage creativity. Simplify the grading process and help kids know how to make their projects shine with this scoring rubric.

Learn more: Historyourstory.com

Oral Presentation Rubric

Rubrics are terrific for grading presentations, since you can include a variety of skills and other criteria. Consider letting students use a rubric like this to offer peer feedback too.

Learn more: Bright Hub Education

High School Rubric Examples

In high school, it’s important to include your grading rubrics when you give assignments like presentations, research projects, or essays. Kids who go on to college will definitely encounter rubrics, so helping them become familiar with them now will help in the future.

Presentation Rubric

Analyze a student’s presentation both for content and communication skills with a rubric like this one. If needed, create a separate one for content knowledge with even more criteria and indicators.

Learn more: Michael A. Pena Jr.

Debate Rubric

Debate is a valuable learning tool that encourages critical thinking and oral communication skills. This rubric can help you assess those skills objectively.

Learn more: Education World

Project-Based Learning Rubric

Implementing project-based learning can be time-intensive, but the payoffs are worth it. Try this rubric to make student expectations clear and end-of-project assessment easier.

Learn more: Free Technology for Teachers

100-Point Essay Rubric

Need an easy way to convert a scoring rubric to a letter grade? This example for essay writing earns students a final score out of 100 points.

Learn more: Learn for Your Life

Drama Performance Rubric

If you’re unsure how to grade a student’s participation and performance in drama class, consider this example. It offers lots of objective criteria and indicators to evaluate.

Learn more: Chase March

How do you use rubrics in your classroom? Come share your thoughts and exchange ideas in the WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook .

Plus, 25 of the best alternative assessment ideas ..

You Might Also Like

25 Formative Assessment Options Your Students Will Actually Enjoy

Get them excited to show you what they know! Continue Reading

Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. 5335 Gate Parkway, Jacksonville, FL 32256

• Our Mission

Resources for Using Rubrics in the Middle Grades

Looking for help with rubrics? With a focus on the middle grades, we’ve compiled tips, sample rubrics, and resources to help you design and implement rubrics for assessment.

Designing and Using Rubrics

This article from Edutopia’s Assessment Professional Development Guide explains the benefits of using rubrics, describes different types of rubrics, and offers tips on getting started.

Blogger Andrew Miller shares his experiences and suggestions for creating and using rubrics that will make students' -- and teachers' -- lives much easier.

Math teacher Lauren Hobbs describes factors to take into account in designing rubrics and the benefits of having students work together to do a mid-project rubric review, a strategy that can be useful for students in all grades.

In this book chapter, Susan M. Brookhart breaks down what rubrics can be used to assess, the advantages and disadvantages of different types of rubrics, and why rubrics are important. Tracey Muise’s review of Brookhart’s book on MiddleWeb includes specific takeaways for teachers of the middle grades.

Grant Wiggins discusses the ins and outs of creating quality rubrics and suggests that while bad rubrics shut down creativity, good rubrics have the potential to free up student creativity and initiative.

Jennifer Gonzalez has put together an illustrated guide to several different rubric types. For each type, she explains the basic structure, looks at the pros and cons, and offers a blank template that can be downloaded and customized.

Sample Rubrics from Schools that Work

Though originally used as part of an arts-integrated lesson for 8th-grade mathematics , this rubric could also be adapted for other grades and subjects. For more about arts integration at Bates Middle School , check out Edutopia's Schools that Work package on “ Transformation Through Art Integration .”

The School of the Future in New York develops and uses its own assessment techniques, including unannounced assessments in order to measure student learning at regular intervals. For more insight into how this school uses authentic assessment to provide a window into student learning, check out the video on authentic assessment for humanities , featuring teacher Sarah Kaufmann’s 6th-grade class, and the video on authentic assessment for algebra , featuring teacher Ben Mook’s 7th-grade class.

This Socratic Seminar Rubric from KIPP King High School includes standards of performance for inner circle and outer circle participants. For more about how KIPP King encourages the development of critical-thinking skills, see Edutopia's coverage in " The KIPP King Collegiate High School Story ." Also, check out this resource from MiddleWeb, “ Socratic Seminars in the Middle ” for advice about how to implement Socratic Seminars at the middle school level.

These rubrics, from an 8th-grade English class at YES Prep North Central , include criteria for evaluating different aspects of a student self-guided project on To Kill a Mockingbird . For more about this school and their mission to send every student to college, check out Edutopia's Schools that Work coverage in “ College Bound Culture in Houston .”

Rubric Tips, Tricks, and Strategies

Though many of these tips, tricks, and strategies come from sources that mention high school contexts, the methods discussed are also relevant to middle school classrooms and teachers.

Guest blogger Michelle Lampinen describes how she reverse-engineered a rubric for student assessment that includes links and QR codes.

Are you struggling to get through all of your grading? In the featured video, Jennifer Gonzalez explains how to use rubric codes to speed up the process of providing students with written feedback.

Teacher Dave Orphal describes his experiences involving his students in the creation of their grading rubric -- the process, the results, and his reflections on the experience.

Jay Atwood has created a helpful walkthrough of Goobric , a Chrome extension that can be used in conjunction with Doctopus to facilitate the process of scoring student work with rubrics and sharing feedback via Google Drive .

Teacher Self-Evaluation With Rubrics

Blogger and middle school teacher Heather Wolpert-Gawron describes how she uses rubrics to help her determine whether or not her assessments are meaningful for students.

Teacher Mary Tarashuk explains how she conducts self-evaluation using rubrics; to take a look at the rubrics she discusses, download " Teacher Evaluation Rubrics ," from The Marshall Memo .

This list, developed by Expeditionary Learning and used at King Middle School , defines six areas of focus teachers can use to self-rate when planning project-based learning. For more about project-based learning at King Middle School and other schools, check out “ Project-Based Learning in Maine ” from Edutopia’s Schools that Work.

Additional Resources

The Buck Institute for Education has a library of rubrics that can be used to assess project-based learning; they even have a rubric for rubrics that can help you avoid common pitfalls when creating rubrics.

This post describes a series of rubrics inspired by Carol Dweck's research on growth mindsets , created by Jon Bender, a former middle school teacher. Take a look at his two status and progress rubrics , intended to help students measure personal learning progress and growth. The New Tech Network , a nonprofit that works with schools and districts to help reform learning through project-based learning, has also developed a middle school rubric for measuring student growth .

Kathy Schrock has compiled a large number of links to rubrics that work for various types of assignments and projects; she also includes links to information about rubrics and rubric creation tools.

How do you use rubrics in your classroom? Are there other types of resources you'd like to see, or do you know of other useful resources? Please share your feedback in the comments.

Learning Goals

• Use this rubric to self-assess your persuasive writing as you work on it.

Persuasive Writing Rubric—Middle School

No Alignments yet.

Cite this work

•   Home
• Writing Rubrics

Writing rubrics help you evaluate your students' writing AND guide them to improve their writing skills.

What's On This Page?

Sample writing rubrics, nine printable writing rubrics https: elementary writing rubrics, middle school and high school essay rubrics, how to use a rubric to evaluate writing, read and assess the paper, assign points, improve their writing, writing lessons with a twist, k through 2nd.

3rd to 8th Grade

Creating Your Own Rubric

Ready To Use Resources

Top of This Page

About Our Site

Hands-on learning.

Our Site At A Glance

• Ordering Information
• Privacy Statement

By Karen Newell Copyright© 2009 - 2023 Learn For Your Life All Rights Reserved

New Pages Site Map Contact About Us

Think you can get into a top-10 school? Take our chance-me calculator... if you dare. 🔥

Last updated August 6, 2024

Every piece we write is researched and vetted by a former admissions officer. Read about our mission to pull back the admissions curtain.

Blog > Common App > The Best College Application Essay Rubric

The Best College Application Essay Rubric

Admissions officer reviewed by Ben Bousquet, M.Ed Former Vanderbilt University

Written by Kylie Kistner, MA Former Willamette University Admissions

Key Takeaway

Are your eyes blurry from staring at your college essay for hours on end? It's time to pull out a rubric. Rubrics are scoring tools that can help you identify changes to make before you submit.

If you’re reading this post, you probably have a finished draft of your college essay. Congrats!

Now, you might be wondering: what do I do now?

It’s time to evaluate what you’ve written so you can get to editing.

But evaluating writing is difficult. Different people have different opinions about what a piece of writing should do or look like, so one person may love an essay that another person hates. Unlike disciplines with clearer, more objective solutions to problems (think math or chemistry), writing leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

Even in college admissions, what resonates with one admissions officer may be uninspired to a different one.

But if everyone has different opinions, then how do you know whether what you’ve written is good?

Enter: a rubric.

Rubrics are excellent tools to help you evaluate your writing. They’re those pesky tables that your English teachers have probably stapled to the back of your AP Lit essays.

While rubrics won’t eliminate differences of opinion, they can help you understand how your essay stacks up to a generally agreed-upon set of standardized college essay conventions.

In this post, we break down what a rubric is and how you can use one to score your essay. We also give you some tips for editing after you evaluate your essay.

What is a rubric?

Rubrics can have different layouts. But in general, they are tables that outline the specific criteria that a piece of writing should meet. They often measure factors like organization, theme, grammar, and more.

The table then ranks each of these categories on a numerical scale. A lower score means that the essay needs a lot of improvement in that particular category. A higher score means that the essay excels in that category.

Overall, the point of a rubric is to help you evaluate your own essay in a semi-objective way.

This is important because it gives you guidance about how to proceed with your editing process. Just like you should have a plan before you start drafting, you should also have a plan before you start editing.

Application deadlines will be here before you know it, so being strategic about your editing process will help you use your time efficiently. You’ll know where your essay is weakest, so you can focus most of your effort there. You’ll also know where your essay excels, so you can use those sections to build momentum for the rest of your essay.

Alright—let’s go through the rubric.

College Essay Rubric Breakdown

We developed this rubric to help our Essay Academy students assess their essays. If you’d like to join the ranks of Essay Academy members and get a fuller version of this rubric, check out the Essay Academy program .

But this version is available free for download below. It’s designed specifically for the Common Application, and it lists five categories that all good college essays should excel at.

Thematic Development: What is your essay’s theme, and how well do you develop it?

Meaningful Topic: Is your topic meaningful, deeply personal, and vulnerable?

Strengths: Does your essay convey a core strength?

Structure: How well is your essay organized?

Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation: Is your essay free of errors? Does it demonstrate skill in standard written English?

Attention to each of these categories is necessary to writing a successful college essay.

To help you evaluate how well your essay does in each category, the rubric lays out a ranking system, with 1 being the lowest and 4 being the highest.

Each column of the table shows a numerical rank and a description of what an essay that scores in that category will look like.

1: The essay does not meet the requirements of the category and needs significant improvements.

2: The essay makes an earnest attempt at meeting the requirements of the category, but it still needs improvement.

3: The essay meets the requirements of the category but does not exceed them.

4: The essay exceeds the requirements of the category. It is exemplary.

These measurements apply to each of the five categories.

An essay that deserves a “4” in “Thematic Development,” for example, will “retain clear and prompt-fitting focus that develops a clear, consistent main idea throughout the entire essay.”

Now that we’ve gotten the rubric basics down, let’s talk about how to score your essay.

How to Score Your Essay with a Rubric

For the rubric to be useful, you’ll need to score your essay in each category. That means that you’ll need to re-read your essay and honestly evaluate it.

First, a brief note on critical evaluation is in order. Throughout the writing process, there are times to be critical of yourself and times to be forgiving. Evaluating your essay is a time to be critical. That doesn’t mean tearing yourself down or being too harsh on yourself. It does mean being realistic with yourself and not sugarcoating your evaluation. It’s better for you to be critical now than for an admissions officer to be critical later. The consequences of you being critical will be a better final draft. The consequences of an admissions officer being critical could be a rejection.

This process is a little tedious, so we’ll go step by step.

Step 1: Before you being reading, explore the rubric thoroughly and understand what each of the categories asks you to do. You might also consider reading our guide to writing a college essay to get a more holistic view of what you’re aiming for.

Step 2: Start by thinking about the first four categories (thematic development, meaningful topic, strengths, and structure). These are the biggest categories that will have the most significant impact on the overall makeup of your essay.

Step 3: Re-read your essay with these criteria in mind, and circle your scores on the rubric. Don’t worry about fixing them quite yet.

Step 4: Then think through the final category (grammar, spelling, and punctuation).

Step 5: Re-read your essay again, paying particular attention to these sections. As you go, feel free to note any glaring errors, run-on sentences, or odd word choice you notice.

Step 6: Circle your grammar score on the rubric

You should now have five total scores, one in each category.

Step 7: Take the lowest scores, and that’s where you’ll start your revisions.

Using a Rubric to Edit Your College Essay

Once you’ve evaluated your college essay, it’s time to begin editing.

Make a list of which revisions you want to prioritize first based on your lowest scores. Look at the description for a “4” score in those categories. What do those descriptions list that your essay doesn’t have? Make note of each thing you need to improve.

Then get to editing. It’s a good idea to copy and paste your essay into a new document so you don’t lose any of your original work, just in case you want to recover anything.

Start with the larger issues first—those of theme, meaning, strength, and structure. You’ll want to prioritize the biggest revisions because those will likely affect all parts of your essay. Prioritizing these first will help you avoid doing work that you’ll later delete anyway.

Once you’re done with your revisions, re-score your essay using the rubric. You can even hand your essay and the rubric to a trusted adult to score. If you still have areas of improvement, revise again.

When you’re scoring 3-4 in every category, you’ll know you’re ready to submit.

( Psst—need more editing help? Let's work together .)

Liked that? Try this next.

The Incredible Power of a Cohesive College Application

How to Write a College Essay (Exercises + Examples)

12 Common App Essay Examples (Graded by Former Admissions Officers)

How to Write Supplemental Essays that Will Impress Admissions Officers

"the only actually useful chance calculator i’ve seen—plus a crash course on the application review process.".

Irena Smith, Former Stanford Admissions Officer

We built the best admissions chancer in the world . How is it the best? It draws from our experience in top-10 admissions offices to show you how selective admissions actually works.

Descriptive Essay Writing for Middle School Sample Paper Rubric 6th 7th 8th

What educators are saying

Also included in.

Description

This descriptive essay will engage your middle school students and bring empathy to your classroom as your students write about a meaningful topic: each other.

Beyond the Surface

Every morning, as your students step into school, they are greeted by a bustling sea of classmates. Some of these people they know really well, while others they might not know much about. But here's something important for your students to remember: each person is so much more than what meets the eye.

Behind their smiles, laughter, and everyday habits, there are dreams, struggles, and feelings that remain unseen unless someone takes the time to look beyond the surface.

For this assignment, your students will have a chance to explore and discover more about a classmate's life. They will go beyond their first impressions and learn about the different sides of who their classmates are. After all, each person we meet has a whole world inside them that deserves to be seen, celebrated, and understood.

This resource will help your students . . .

• Develop a thesis statement
• Write logical topic sentences
• Support their claims
• Use sensory and figurative language
• Build a logically organized descriptio n
• Self-assess their writing
• Develop understanding and empathy

Rather than starting with an intro and rambling their way through to the conclusion, your students will start writing with the most important building block of their argument essay: the thesis statement .

From there, they will build their topic sentences and move on to the support/evidence.

Finally, they will finish by writing an introduction and conclusion that complement the content of their description.

A rubric is included for each step of the process so your students can check their work as they go and YOU can grade their essays AS they're being written !

What's included in this resource?

• Teacher tips to guide you through the process
• A student handout with a meaningful essay prompt
• Classmate interview questions to get your students started with the writing process
• 13 Fillable student handouts that build a 5-8-paragraph descriptive essay when put together
• Rubrics for each section of the paper (for student self-assessment and teacher grading)
• A figurative language handout with definitions and examples
• A put-it-all-together handout that shows students how to organize their essays
• A sample paper for students to reference as they are writing their descriptive essays

Click on the preview to see this engaging and meaningful descriptive essay up close!

Questions & Answers

• We're hiring
• Help & FAQ
• Privacy policy
• Student privacy
• Terms of service
• Tell us what you think