Grade 8 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.
INFORMATIVE/EXPLANATORY
Development: Elaboration
of Evidence
Organization
Statement of
Purpose/Focus
4
Exemplary – Exceeds Standard
3
Proficient – Meets Standard
2
Partial – Approaches Standard
1
Minimal – Begins Standard
The writer
 effectively and consistently focuses
on a clearly identified purpose and
topic throughout
The writer
 adequately focuses on an identified
purpose and topic
The writer
 somewhat focuses on an identified
purpose and topic
The writer
 seldom focuses on purpose and topic,
and response may be very brief,
confusing or ambiguous




effectively considers the audience’s
knowledge of the topic
The writer
 uses a clear and effective
organizational structure that
effectively and logically presents
ideas, concepts and information into
broader categories, creating unity and
completeness
 includes formatting (e.g. headings),
graphics (e.g. charts and tables), and
multimedia when useful to aiding
comprehension
 effectively and consistently uses a
variety of transition words, phrases
and clauses, along with varied syntax,
to:
o effectively create cohesion
o effectively clarify
relationships among ideas
and concepts
 provides an effective introduction
 provides a powerful conclusion that
follows from and effectively supports
the information or explanation
presented
The writer
 supplies thorough and convincing
support/evidence with many wellchosen:
o facts
o definitions
o concrete details
o quotations or other information
o strong examples
 effectively uses a variety of
elaborative techniques
 effectively uses evidence from
sources that is smoothly integrated,
comprehensive and concrete
adequately considers the audience’s
knowledge of the topic
shows some consideration of the
audience’s knowledge of the topic
does not consider the audience’s
knowledge of the topic
The writer
 uses an evident organizational
structure that adequately presents
ideas, concepts and information into
broader categories, creating a sense
of completeness
The writer
 uses an inconsistent organizational
structure that partially presents ideas,
concepts and information into some
categories but with some evident
flaws
The writer
 uses little or no discernible
organizational structure to present
ideas, concepts and information into
categories

includes formatting (e.g. headings),
graphics (e.g. charts and tables), and
multimedia when useful to aiding
comprehension
adequately uses a variety of transition
words, phrases and clauses, along
with some variation in syntax, to:
o adequately create cohesion
o adequately clarify the
relationships among ideas
and concepts

uses some formatting, graphics and
multimedia when useful to aiding
comprehension

uses little or no formatting, graphics
or multimedia

inconsistently uses basic transition
words, phrases or clauses with little
variety and simple syntax to
o somewhat create cohesion
o partially clarify the
relationships among ideas
and concepts

uses few or no transition words,
phrases or clauses (limited language
structures) with frequent extraneous
ideas that may intrude
provides an adequate introduction
provides a conclusion that follows
from and adequately supports the
information or explanation presented


provides a limited introduction
provides a conclusion that partially
supports the information or
explanation presented


provides a minimal or no introduction
does not provide a conclusion that
adequately supports the information
or explanation presented



The writer
 supplies significant and relevant
support/evidence with sufficient wellchosen:
o facts
o definitions
o concrete details
o quotations or other information
o sufficient examples
 adequately uses some elaborative
techniques
 adequately uses some evidence from
sources that is integrated, though
citations may be general or imprecise
The writer
 supplies some relevant
support/evidence:
o facts
o details
o examples
The writer
 provides little or no relevant
support/evidence:
o facts
o details
o examples



uses weak or uneven elaborative
techniques
uses evidence from sources that is
weakly integrated, and citations, if
present, are uneven

uses little or no elaborative
techniques
uses little or no evidence from
sources or evidence that is erroneous
or irrelevant
Language and
Vocabulary
Conventions
The writer
 clearly and effectively expresses
ideas, using precise words, phrases
and clauses to elaborate the
information/explanation
 uses academic and domain-specific
vocabulary that is clearly appropriate
for the audience and purpose
 effectively establishes and maintains
a formal style
The writer
 demonstrates an effective command
of conventions:
o demonstrates effective use of
capitalization, punctuation, and
spelling, with insignificant errors
that need little or no editing:

comma, ellipsis and dash to
indicate a pause or break

an ellipsis to indicate an
omission
o demonstrates few, if any, errors
in grammar and usage:

verbals (gerunds, participles,
infinitives)

verbs in active and passive
voice

verbs in the indicative,
imperative, interrogative,
conditional and subjunctive
mood
o effectively recognizes and
corrects inappropriate shifts in
verb voice and mood
o demonstrates few, if any, errors
in sentence formation
The writer
 adequately expresses ideas,
employing a mix of precise with more
general words, phrases and clauses
to convey the information/explanation
 uses domain-specific vocabulary that
is generally appropriate for the
audience and purpose
 adequately establishes and maintains
a formal style
The writer
 demonstrates an adequate command
of conventions:
o demonstrates adequate use of
capitalization, punctuation, and
spelling, with few errors that need
editing but do not detract from
the information/explanation:

comma, ellipsis and dash to
indicate a pause or break

an ellipsis to indicate an
omission
o demonstrates some minor errors
in grammar and usage:

verbals (gerunds, participles,
infinitives)

verbs in active and passive
voice

verbs in the indicative,
imperative, interrogative,
conditional and subjunctive
mood
o adequately recognizes and
corrects inappropriate shifts in
verb voice and mood
o demonstrates some minor errors
in sentence formation that do not
obscure meaning
The writer
 unevenly expresses ideas, using
simplistic words, phrases and clauses
to support the information/explanation


uses domain-specific vocabulary that
may at times be inappropriate for the
audience and purpose
partially establishes a formal style
The writer
 demonstrates a partial command of
conventions:
o demonstrates inconsistent use of
capitalization, punctuation, and
spelling, with frequent errors that
need editing to clarify the
information/explanation:

comma, ellipsis and dash to
indicate a pause or break

an ellipsis to indicate an
omission
o demonstrates frequent errors in
grammar and usage:

verbals (gerunds, participles,
infinitives)

verbs in active and passive
voice

verbs in the indicative,
imperative, interrogative,
conditional and subjunctive
mood
o partially recognizes and corrects
some inappropriate shifts in verb
voice and mood
o demonstrates frequent errors in
sentence formation that may
obscure meaning
The writer
 expresses vague, unclear or
confusing ideas, rarely using words,
phrases and clauses that support the
information/explanation
 uses limited language or domainspecific vocabulary

rarely establishes a formal style
The writer
 demonstrates a lack of command of
conventions
o demonstrates incorrect use of
capitalization, punctuation, and
spelling, with frequent and severe
errors that need editing to convey
the information/explanation:

comma, ellipsis and dash to
indicate a pause or break

an ellipsis to indicate an
omission
o demonstrates frequent and
severe errors in grammar and
usage:

verbals (gerunds, participles,
infinitives)

verbs in the active and
passive voice

verbs in the indicative,
imperative, interrogative,
conditional and subjunctive
mood
o does not recognize and correct
inappropriate shifts in verb voice
and mood
o 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.