ABCParagraphRubric1

Scor
e

Performanceon
Standards:The

responsehasaclearand
effectiveorganizational
structure,creatingasense
ofunityandcompleteness.
Theorganizationisfully
sustainedbetweenand
withinparagraphs.The
responseisconsistently
andpurposefullyfocused:
controllingidea(main
idea)isclearly
communicated
Focusedthroughout
Ideasare
interconnectedand
related(using
transitions)&ordered
Mainideacloses
paragraph

3
Performanceon
Standard:The

responsehasanevident
organizationalstructure
andasenseof
completeness.Though
theremaybeminor
flaws,theydonot
interferewiththeoverall
coherence.The
organizationis
adequatelysustained
betweenandwithin
paragraphs.The
responseisgenerally
focused:
controllingidea
(mainidea)isclear
mostlyfocused
Ideasare
adequatelyrelated
(usingtransitions)&
ordered
Mainidea
adequatelycloses
paragraph

2
Performanceon
Standard:The

responsehasan
inconsistent
organizationalstructure.
Someflawsareevident
andsomeideasmaybe
looselyconnected.The
organizationissomewhat
sustainedbetweenand
withinparagraphs.The
responsemayhavea
minordriftinfocus:
controllingidea(main
idea)maybe
somewhatunclear
ideasare
inconsistently
connected(or
connectionsare
unclear)&maybeout
oforder
Mainideamaybe
weakattheendof
theparagraph

NoScore

Performanceon
Performanceon
Standard:Theresponse Standard:
haslittleornodiscernible

organizationalstructure.

Theresponsemaybe
relatedtothetopicbutmay
providelittleornofocus:
controllingideamay

beconfusingor

ambiguous

responsemaybetoo

brief
ideasmaybe
unconnected,
randomlyordered,and
offtopic
Mainideaisunclear
bytheendofthe
paragraph

Insufficient(includes
copiedtext)
Inalanguageother
thanEnglish
Offtopic
Offpurpose

BasedonSmarterBalancedAssessmentConsortium4pointExplanatoryPerformanceTaskWritingRubric(611)updated582014

Theresponseprovides
thoroughelaborationofthe
support/evidenceforthe
controllingideathat
includestheeffectiveuseof
sourcematerial.The
responseclearlyand
effectivelydevelopsideas,
usingpreciselanguage:
comprehensive
evidence(factsand/or
details)fromthesource
materialisintegrated,
relevant,andspecific
quotationsfromsource
materialareformatted
academicallyand
clearlyattributed,to
sourcematerial(author
and/orpage#)
highqualityelaboration
isevident
usesacademic
vocabulary

Theresponseprovides
adequateelaborationof
thesupport/evidencefor
thethecontrollingidea
thatincludestheuseof
sourcematerial.The
responseadequately
developsideas,
employingamixof
preciseandmore
generallanguage:
enoughevidence
(factsand/or
details)fromthe
sourcematerialis
integratedand
relevant,yetmay
betoogeneral
quotationsfrom
sourcematerialare
appropriately
formattedandand
areadequately
attributedtosource
material
elaborationis
presentand
generallyclear
usesacademic
vocabularymostof
thetime

Theresponseprovides
uneven,cursory
elaborationofthe
support/evidenceforthe
controllingideathat
includesunevenorlimited
useofsourcematerial.
Theresponsedevelops
ideasunevenly,using
simplisticlanguage:
someevidence(facts
ordetails)maybe
weaklyintegrated,
imprecise,repetitive,
vagueand/orcopied
quotationsfrom
sourcematerialmay
notbeappropriately
formattedand/ormay
notbeadequately
attributedtosource
material
elaborationis
attempted,butpoorly
developed
usesacademic
vocabularyatleast
halfofthetime

Theresponseprovides
minimalelaborationofthe
support/evidenceforthe
controllingideathat
includeslittleornouseof
sourcematerial.The
responseisvague,lacks
clarity,orisconfusing:
evidencefromsource
materialisminimal,
irrelevant,absent,
incorrectlyused,or
predominantlycopied
insufficientuseof
citationsorattribution
tosourcematerial
minimal,ifany,useof
elaboration
rarelyusesacademic
language

Performanceon
Standard:

Insufficient(includes
copiedtext)
Inalanguageother
thanEnglish
Offtopic
Offpurpose

Theresponsedemonstrates
acomprehensivecommand
ofconventions(grammar):

comprehensiveand
expertuseofcorrect
sentenceformation,
punctuation,
capitalization,grammar
usage,andspelling

Theresponse
demonstratesan
adequatecommandof
conventions(grammar):
adequateuseof
correctsentence
formation,
punctuation,
capitalization,
grammarusage,
andspelling

Theresponse
demonstratesanapartial
commandofconventions:
limiteduseofcorrect
sentenceformation,
punctuation,
capitalization,
grammarusage,and
spelling

Theresponse
demonstrateslittleorno
commandofconventions
(grammar):
infrequentuseof
correctsentence
formation,
punctuation,
capitalization,
grammarusage,and
spelling

Performanceon
Standard:

Insufficient(includes
copiedtext)
Inalanguageother
thanEnglish
Offtopic
Offpurpose