Writing in the Disciplines Scoring Key: 4 Grade

Instructional Window 4: Writing about Reading Prompt

th

Reading Information Standard 4: Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words or phrases in a text relevant to a grade 4 topic or subject areas.

Content or Statement of Purpose and Elaboration of Evidence Exceeding the Expectations of the Performance

Organization

Language and Vocabulary

Conventions
The response demonstrates a strong command of conventions appropriate to grade level: Few, if any, errors are present in usage and sentence formation. Effective and consistent use of punctuation, capitalization and spelling

The response is fully sustained and consistently and purposefully focused: More complex content than what is expected.

The response has a clear and effective organizational structure creating unity and completeness appropriate to the task. The response has an evident organizational structure and a sense of completeness appropriate to the task, though there may be minor flaws and some ideas may be loosely connected.
Topic is clear Response stays focused for the purpose, audience and task Adequate use of transitional strategies with some variety to clarify the relationships between and among ideas Adequate connections between and among ideas Adequate introduction and conclusion (appropriate to task) Adequate progression of ideas from beginning to end

The response clearly and effectively expresses ideas, using precise language: Use of academic and domain-specific vocabulary is clearly appropriate for the audience and purpose.

Meeting the Expectations of the Performance

The response is adequately sustained and generally focused: Target learning goal--content of response contains all of the identified aspects that are necessary.
Response reflects a clear understanding of the meaning of the word budget Response includes a reasonable explanation of the importance of a budget as outlined in the article

The response adequately expresses ideas, employing a mix of precise with more general language: Use of domain-specific vocabulary is generally appropriate for the audience and purpose.

The response demonstrates an adequate command of conventions appropriate to grade level: Some errors in usage and sentence formation may be present, but no systematic pattern of errors is displayed. Adequate use of punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.

Measured Progress/ETS Collaborative. (2012, April 16). Smarter balanced informative-explanatory writing rubric. Retrieved from http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads/2012/05/TaskItemSpecifications/EnglishLanguageArtsLiteracy/ELARubrics.pdf July 2013

Writing in the Disciplines Scoring Key: 4 Grade

Instructional Window 4: Writing about Reading Prompt

th

Reading Information Standard 4: Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words or phrases in a text relevant to a grade 4 topic or subject areas.

The response has an inconsistent organizational structure appropriate to the task, and flaws are evident.
Topic is unclear Focus on topic is insufficiently sustained for the purpose, audience, and task 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; formulaic or repetitive sentence structure Inconsistent or unclear connections between and among ideas

Approaching the Expectations of the Performance

The response may be related to the purpose but may offer little relevant detail: Less complex content--contains the basic information of the content but does not include the amount of detail that is expected.
Response reflects a clear understanding of the meaning of the word budget, but includes a limited explanation for the importance of a budget

The response expresses ideas unevenly, using simplistic language: Use of domain-specific vocabulary that may at times be inappropriate for the audience and purpose.

The response demonstrates a partial command of conventions appropriate to grade level: Frequent errors in usage may obscure meaning. Inconsistent use of punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.

Non-Mastery of the Expectations of the Performance

The response may be related to the purpose but may offer little relevant detail: Contains little that is relevant to the content, but is within the realm of the content. OR Needs assistance from others in order to respond to target or less complex content.
Response reflects little to no understanding of the meaning of the word budget and little to no explanation of why it is important

The response has little or no discernible organizational structure: Frequent extraneous ideas may intrude OR Needs assistance from others to organize the writing properly.
Topic is confused or unclear (ambiguous?) Response is so brief that the writing is unfocused on the purpose, audience, or task Few or no transitional strategies are evident

The response expression of ideas is vague, lacks clarity, or is confusing: Uses limited language or domainspecific vocabulary. OR Needs assistance from others to include appropriate vocabulary.

The response demonstrates a lack of command of conventions appropriate to grade level: Errors are frequent and severe and meaning is often obscure. OR Needs assistance from others with conventions.

Measured Progress/ETS Collaborative. (2012, April 16). Smarter balanced informative-explanatory writing rubric. Retrieved from http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads/2012/05/TaskItemSpecifications/EnglishLanguageArtsLiteracy/ELARubrics.pdf July 2013

Writing in the Disciplines Scoring Key: 4 Grade

Instructional Window 4: Writing about Reading Prompt

th

Reading Information Standard 4: Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words or phrases in a text relevant to a grade 4 topic or subject areas.

Introduction and/or conclusion may be missing Extra ideas unrelated to topic are present Ideas are randomly ordered or have an unclear progression

No Response to the Expectations of the Performance

No response. OR A response gets no credit if it provides no evidence of the ability to address the content.

No response. OR A response gets no credit if it provides no evidence of the ability to organize thoughts.

No response. OR A response gets no credit if it provides no evidence of the ability to use domain-specific vocabulary.

No response. OR A response gets no credit if it provides no evidence of the ability to follow conventions.

Measured Progress/ETS Collaborative. (2012, April 16). Smarter balanced informative-explanatory writing rubric. Retrieved from http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads/2012/05/TaskItemSpecifications/EnglishLanguageArtsLiteracy/ELARubrics.pdf July 2013