Grade 11 Instructional Writing Rubric*(Last Revised 11/1/2012)

Aligned to Next Generation West Virginia Content Standards and Objectives for English Language Arts and Literacy

Smarter Balanced Claim 2: Students can produce effective and well-grounded writing for a range of purposes and audiences.

NARRATIVE

4
Exemplary – Exceeds Standard / 3
Proficient – Meets Standard / 2
Partial – Approaches Standard / 1
Minimal – Begins Standard
Statement of Purpose/Focus / The writer
clearly focuses and maintains the narrative, real or imagined, throughout
effectively engages and orients the reader by
  • establishing a setting
  • setting out a problem, situation, or observation and its significance
  • establishing one or multiple point(s) of view
  • introducing a narrator and/or characters
/ The writer
adequately focuses and generally maintains the narrative, real or imagined, throughout
adequately engages and orients the reader by
  • establishing a setting
  • setting out a problem, situation, or observation and its significance
  • establishing one or multiple point(s) of view
  • introducing a narrator and/or characters
/ The writer
somewhat maintains the narrative, real or imagined, throughout with some minor drift in focus
somewhat engages the reader by
  • establishing a setting
  • setting out a problem, situation, or observation and its significance
  • establishing a point of view
  • introducing a narrator and/or characters
/ The writer
shows an attempt to maintain the narrative, real or imagined, but may provide little or no focus
may show an attempt to
  • establish a setting
  • set out a problem,
situation, or observation and its significance
  • establish a point of view
  • introduce a narrator and/or characters
but the response may be very brief, have major drift or be confusing or ambiguous
Organization / The writer
effectively creates a well-executed progression of experiences or events, real or imagined, from beginning to end, so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole that leads to a particular outcome (e.g., a sense of mystery, suspense, growth or resolution)
effectively and consistently incorporates a variety of transitional strategies
provides an effectiveopening
provides a powerful ending that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed or resolved over the course of the narrative / The writer
adequately creates a smooth progression of experiences or events, real or imagined, from beginning to end, so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole that leads to a particular outcome (e.g., a sense of mystery, suspense, growth or resolution)
adequately incorporates a variety of transitional strategies
provides an adequate opening
provides an adequate ending that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed or resolved over the course of the narrative / The writer
creates an inconsistent and uneven progression of experiences or events, real or imagined, from beginning to end with evident flaws that create only a partial sense of unity or completeness
inconsistently incorporates basic transitional strategies with little variety
provides a weak opening
provides a weak conclusion that partially follows from what is experienced, observed or resolved over the course of the narrative / The writer
uselittle or no discernible events and experiences, real or imagined, to convey the narrative
incorporates few or no transitional strategies
provides little or no opening with extraneous ideas that may intrude
does not provide a conclusion that follows from what is experienced, observed or resolved over the course of the narrative
Development: Elaboration of Narrative / The writer
provides thorough and effective elaboration:
  • details
  • dialogue
  • pacing
  • description
  • reflection
  • multiple plot lines
effectively uses a variety of narrative techniques that advance the story or illustrate the experience / The writer
provides adequate elaboration:
  • details
  • dialogue
  • pacing
  • description
  • reflection
  • multiple plot lines
adequately uses a variety of narrative techniques that generally advance the story or illustrate the experience / The writer
provides uneven and cursory elaboration:
  • uneven details
  • limited dialogue
  • inconsistent pacing
  • simplistic description
  • ineffective reflection
  • simplistic plot lines
uses uneven and inconsistent narrative techniques that partially advance the story or illustrate the experience / The writer
provides minimal elaboration, using little or no:
  • details
  • dialogue
  • pacing
  • description
  • reflection
  • plot lines
uses little or no narrative techniques that advance the story or illustrate the experience
Language and Vocabulary / The writer
clearly and effectively expresses experiences or events
effectively uses
  • precise words, phrases and clauses
  • specific telling details
  • sensory, concrete and figurative language
to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting and/or characters and the connections between them / The writer
adequately expresses experiences or events
adequately uses
  • precise words, phrases and clauses
  • telling details
  • sensory, concrete and figurative language
to convey a clear picture of the experiences, events, setting and/or characters / The writer
unevenly expresses experiences or events
uses
  • simplistic words, phrases and clauses
  • partial telling details
  • limited sensory, concrete and figurative language
to convey a partial picture of the experiences, events, setting and/or character / The writer
vaguely expresses experiences or events
uses
  • confusing or incorrect words, phrases and clauses
  • little or no telling details
  • little or no sensory, concrete and figurative language
to convey an unclear or confusing picture of the experiences, events, setting and/or characters
Conventions / The writer
demonstrates a strong command of conventions:
  • demonstrates effective use of capitalization, punctuation, and spelling, with insignificant errors that need little or no editing
  • effectively demonstrates correct usage of hyphenation conventions
  • demonstrates few, if any, errors in usage and sentence formation
/ The writer
demonstrates an adequate command of conventions:
  • demonstrates adequate use of capitalization, punctuation, and spelling, with few errors that need editing but do not distract from the narrative
  • adequately demonstrates correct usage of hyphenation conventions
  • demonstrates some errors in usage and sentence formation that do not obscure meaning
/ The writer
demonstrates a partial command of conventions:
  • demonstrates inconsistent use of capitalization, punctuation, and spelling, with errors that need editing to clarify the narrative
  • sometimes demonstrates correct usage of hyphenation conventions
  • demonstrates frequent errors in usage and sentence formation that may obscure meaning
/ The writer
demonstrates a lack of command of conventions:
  • demonstrates incorrect use of capitalization, punctuation, and spelling, with frequent and severe errors that need editing to convey the narrative
  • seldom demonstrates correct usage of hyphenation conventions
  • demonstrates frequent and severe errors in usage and sentence formation that often obscure meaning

*This instructional writing rubric is designed as an instructional tool for teachers and students to use as they begin implementation of the Next Generation WV Content Standards and Objectives in the classroom. The existing WV Writing Rubric, aligned to the 21st Century WV Content Standards and Objectives, will continue to be used to assess student writing produced for WESTEST 2 Online Writing, a component of WESTEST 2, through 2014. Classroom teachers, schools and school systems implementing the Next Generation Content Standards prior to 2014 should use this instructional rubric to assess student growth in writing relevant to the expectations set forth in the Next Generation Standards prior to 2014-15 when the SMARTER Balanced Assessment is scheduled to be administered as the state summative assessment.