Appendix I_Student Writing Sample Prompts and Rubrics_revised

APPENDIX I. STUDENT WRITING SAMPLE PROMPTS AND RUBRICS

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Writing Prompts

Grade 2

Prompt 1 (fall administration):

You have an afternoon free to do whatever you want. Would you rather read a book, play a sport, draw a picture, or do something else?

• Support your choice with details and reasons.

• Make sure that your writing has a beginning, middle, and end.

Prompt 2 (spring administration):

Imagine you are going on a trip. Would you rather sail on a boat, take a train, fly in an airplane, or travel another way?

• Support your choice with details and reasons.

• Make sure that your writing has a beginning, middle, and end.

Grade 3

Prompt 1 (fall administration):

Before computers and video games, kids used to spend most of their free time outside playing with their friends. Would you rather spend your free time playing outside with your friends or playing video games?

• Support your choice with details and reasons.

• Make sure that your writing has a beginning, middle, and end.

Prompt 2 (spring administration):

Would you rather take a trip to the beach or the mountains? Use details and reasons to explain your choice.

• Support your choice with details and reasons.

• Make sure that your writing has a beginning, middle, and end.

Grade 4

Prompt 1 (fall administration):

If you could travel in a time machine, would you rather travel back to the past or forward to the future?

• Support your choice with details and reasons.

• Make sure that your writing has a beginning, middle, and end.

Prompt 2 (spring administration):

Would you rather have a car that can fly or a car that can drive itself?

• Support your choice with details and reasons.

• Make sure that your writing has a beginning, middle, and end.

Grade 2 Opinion Writing Rubric

Opinion-Grade 2 Writing Rubric
Score	4	3	2	1
Organization/Purpose	The response is clearly organized and consistently focused. The response:	The response is adequately organized and generally focused. The response:	The response is somewhat organized and is unevenly focused. The response:	The response lacks organization and/or focus. The response:
	clearly introduces and communicates the opinion	adequately states a clear opinion	states an opinion that may be somewhat unclear	lacks an opinion or the opinion is ambiguous; may be too brief
	strongly maintains the focus for the purpose and audience	mostly maintains the focus for the purpose and audience	insufficiently sustains the focus for the purpose and/or audience	is unfocused and may drift from the purpose and/or audience
	effectively uses linking words/phrases to connect ideas and reasons	adequately uses linking words/phrases to connect ideas and reasons, but some ideas may be loosely connected	inconsistently uses linking words/phrases to connect ideas and reasons	uses few, if any, linking words/phrases to connect ideas and reasons
	provides an effective concluding statement/section	provides an adequate concluding statement/section	provides a weak concluding statement/section	lacks concluding statement/section

Opinion-Grade 2 Writing Rubric
Score	4	3	2	1
Evidence/Elaboration	The response provides convincing elaboration of the support/evidence for the opinion and supporting idea(s). The response:	The response provides adequate elaboration of the support/evidence for the opinion. The response:	The response provides inconsistent elaboration of the support/evidence for the opinion. The response:	The response provides very little or no elaboration of the support/evidence for the opinion. The response:
	thoroughly supports opinion with reasons related to the topic	adequately supports the opinion with reasons related to topic	provides limited support of the opinion with reasons related to topic	provides no support of the opinion with reasons related to the topic
	skillfully elaborates on reasons with details	adequately elaborates on reasons	provides some elaboration of reasons	does not provide any elaboration of reasons
	effectively integrates evidence from experiences/sources	adequately integrates some evidence from experiences/sources	integrates some evidence from experiences/sources, but may be ineffective, awkward, or vague	integrates evidence from experiences/sources that is incorrect, irrelevant, or evidence is missing
	effectively uses vocabulary/language appropriate to the task (may mix precise and more general language)	adequately uses vocabulary/language appropriate to the task (may mix general language with some precise language)	uses some vocabulary/language appropriate to the task (simplistic language used)	uses vague, unclear, or confusing vocabulary/language
	effectively uses an appropriate style that enhances the content	adequately uses an appropriate style to support the content	attempts to create an appropriate style to support the content, but may be inconsistent or weak	provides little or no evidence of an appropriate style to support content

Opinion-Grade 2 Writing Rubric
Score	2	1	0
Conventions	The response demonstrates an adequate command of conventions. The response demonstrates:	The response demonstrates a partial command of conventions. The response demonstrates:	The response demonstrates little or no command of conventions. The response demonstrates:
	adequate use of correct sentence formation, punctuation, capitalization, grammar usage, and spelling	limited use of correct sentence formation, punctuation, capitalization, grammar usage, and spelling	infrequent use of correct sentence formation, punctuation, capitalization, grammar usage, and spelling

Holistic Scoring:

Variety: A range of errors includes sentence formation, punctuation, capitalization, grammar usage, and spelling.

Severity: Basic errors are more heavily weighted than higher-level errors.

Density: The proportion of errors to the amount of writing done well; this includes the ratio of errors to the length of the piece.

* Refer to the Smarter Balanced-Conventions Chart for further information. Please note that students are responsible for grade-level expectations and standards identified in all previous grades.

Grades 3 & 4 Opinion Writing Rubrics

Organization/Purpose

Score	4	3	2	1	NS
Organization/Purpose	The response has a clear and effective organizational structure, creating a sense of unity and completeness. The organization is sustained between and within paragraphs. The response is consistently and purposefully focused: opinion is introduced, clearly communicated, and the focus is strongly maintained for the purpose and audience consistent use of a variety of transitional strategies to clarify the relationships between and among ideas effective introduction and conclusion logical progression of ideas from beginning to end; strong connections between and among ideas with some syntactic variety	The response has an evident organizational structure and a sense of completeness. Though there may be minor flaws, they do not interfere with the overall coherence. The organization is adequately sustained between and within paragraphs. The response is generally focused: opinion is clear, and the focus is mostly maintained for the purpose and audience adequate use of transitional strategies with some variety to clarify relationships between and among ideas adequate introduction and conclusion adequate progression of ideas from beginning to end; adequate connections between and among ideas	The response has an inconsistent organizational structure. Some flaws are evident, and some ideas may be loosely connected. The organization is somewhat sustained between and within paragraphs. The response may have a minor drift in focus: opinion may be somewhat unclear, or the focus may be insufficiently sustained for the purpose and/or audience inconsistent use of transitional strategies and/or little variety introduction or conclusion, if present, may be weak uneven progression of ideas from beginning to end; and/or formulaic; inconsistent or unclear connections between and among ideas	The response has little or no discernible organizational structure. The response may be related to the opinion but may provide little or no focus: opinion may be confusing or ambiguous; response may be too brief or the focus may drift from the purpose and/or audience few or no transitional strategies are evident introduction and/or conclusion may be missing frequent extraneous ideas may be evident; ideas maybe randomly ordered or have an unclear progression	Insufficient (includes copied text) In a language other than English Off-topic Off-purpose

Updated August 2022

Evidence/Elaboration

Score	4	3	2	1	NS
Evidence/Elaboration	The response provides thorough and convincing elaboration of the support/evidence for the opinion and supporting idea(s) that includes the effective use of source material. The response clearly and effectively develops ideas, using precise language: comprehensive evidence (facts and details) from the source material is integrated, relevant, and specific clear citations or attribution of source material effective use of a variety of elaborative techniques* vocabulary is clearly appropriate for the audience and purpose effective, appropriate style enhances content	The response provides adequate elaboration of the support/evidence for the opinion and supporting idea(s) that includes the use of source material. The response adequately develops ideas, employing a mix of precise with more general language: adequate evidence (facts and details) from the source material is integrated and relevant, yet may be general adequate use of citations or attribution to source material adequate use of some elaborative techniques* vocabulary is generally appropriate for the audience and purpose generally appropriate style is evident	The response provides uneven, cursory elaboration of the support/evidence for the opinion and supporting idea(s) that includes partial or uneven use of source material. The response develops ideas unevenly, using simplistic language: some evidence (facts and details) from the source material may be weakly integrated, imprecise, repetitive, vague, and/or copied weak use of citations or attribution to source material weak or uneven use of elaborative techniques*; development may consist primarily of source summary vocabulary use is uneven or somewhat ineffective for the audience and purpose inconsistent or weak attempt to create appropriate style	The response provides minimal elaboration of the support/evidence for the opinion and supporting idea(s) that includes little or no use of source material. The response is vague, lacks clarity, or is confusing: evidence (facts and details) from the source material is minimal, irrelevant, absent, incorrectly used, or predominantly copied insufficient use of citations or attribution to source material minimal, if any, use of elaborative techniques* vocabulary is limited or ineffective for the audience and purpose little or no evidence of appropriate style	Insufficient (includes copied text) In a language other than English Off-topic Off-purpose

*Elaborative techniques may include the use of personal experiences that support the opinion.

Updated August 2022

Conventions

Score	2	1	0	NS
Conventions	The response demonstrates an adequate command of conventions: adequate use of correct sentence formation, punctuation, capitalization, grammar usage, and spelling	The response demonstrates a partial command of conventions: limited use of correct sentence formation, punctuation, capitalization, grammar usage, and spelling	The response demonstrates little or no command of conventions: infrequent use of correct sentence formation, punctuation, capitalization, grammar usage, and spelling	Insufficient (includes copied text) In a language other than English Off-topic

Holistic Scoring:

• Variety: A range of errors includes sentence formation, punctuation, capitalization, grammar usage, and spelling.

• Severity: Basic errors are more heavily weighted than higher-level errors.

• Density: The proportion of errors to the amount of writing done well. This includes the ratio of errors to the length of the piece.

Updated August 2022