NHrubricpage

Mrs. Weissman's Grade 6
Writing Page
Jaffrey-Rindge Middle School
Jaffrey, NH.

Student writing is assessed two ways. A final piece of writing receives a traditional grade based on criteria established when the piece is assigned. I also assess student writing using the New Hampshire Holistic Writing Rubric. This state-established rubric is used to assess student writing samples on the New Hampshire state tests given in the spring to all third, sixth, and tenth graders. A "6" on the NH Holistic Writing Rubric represents the goal we all strive for; most adult writing does not rate a "6"! Students can receive 2's or 3's or 4's and still be earning A'

THE NEW HAMPSHIRE HOLISTIC WRITING RUBRIC
as interpreted by Mrs. Weissman's 6th graders

Adult language can confuse kids. In the rubric below, the state criteria are printed in orange. The 6th grade "translation" is printed in black.

Score 1	Score 2	Score 3	Score 4	Score 5	Score 6
Little or no topic development No idea of what the subject is	Random and/or weak topic development Some idea of the subject, has a beginning, maybe an end	Rudimentary development of topic and supporting details, You know what the topic is; some good details; has beginning, middle, and end	Moderate development and fluency, has adequate details Organized well; starts to flow; lots more details,	Fluent, fully developed, strong details Writing really flows, has “oomph”, great description	Topic and details richly developed Can’t add anything more to improve it
Little or no organization Confusing, out of order	Little focus Gets off subject, hard to follow	Limited focus Stays on topic most of the time	Focused Stays on topic; nothing important left out	Logical organization Order makes sense	Careful and/subtle organization Don’t notice how it’s organized, it’s built in
Few or no details Uninteresting, just an outline	Few details Don’t know much about characters, setting; simple description	Simplistic vocabulary Uses boring words, easy words, repeats same words	Acceptable vocabulary Uses interesting words, might use some similes	Appropriate language Very interesting words, good images, uses similes, metaphors, etc.	Effective and/or rich language Lots of interesting or unusual words, vivid imagery, creates a mood
Little or no awareness of audience and/or task No idea why you’re writiing or for whom you’re writing	Limited awareness of audience/task Not sure why you’re writing	.	.	.	.
Lots of errors in usage, grammar, mechanics Terrible spelling, punctuation, grammar	Lots of errors in usage, grammar, mechanics Poor spelling, punctuation, grammar	Errors in grammar, spelling, usage and mechanics Spells priority words wrong, has sentence fragments and run-ons	Some errors in spelling, usage, grammar, and mechanics Most words spelled correctly; hardly any sentence fragments or run-ons; uses different sentence patterns	Few errors in spelling, usage, grammar, and mechanics Hardly any mistakes, variety of sentence patterns	Control of usage, grammar, and mechanics No mistakes

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Email D.Weissman@sau47.k12.nh.us