NC3WritingRubric.html
North Carolina Writing Assessment Scoring Model
Grades 4, 7, and 10 Content Rubric

Points Descriptions
4
  • Topics/subject is clear, though it may or may not be explicitly stated
  • Maintains focus on topic/subject throughout the response
  • Organizational structure establishes relationships between and among ideas and/or events
  • Consists of a logical progression of ideas and/or events and is unified and complete
  • Support and elaboration are related to and supportive of the topic/subject
  • Consists of specific, developed details
  • Exhibits skillful use of vocabulary that is precise and purposeful
  • Demonstrates skillful use of sentence fluency
3
  • Topic/subject is generally clear, though it may or may not be explicitly stated
  • May exhibit minor lapses in focus on topic/subject
  • Organizational structure establishes relationships between and among ideas and/or events, although minor lapses may be present
  • Consists of a logical progression of ideas and/or events and is reasonably complete, although minor lapses may be present
  • Support and elaboration may have minor weaknesses in relatedness to and support of the topic/subject
  • Consists of some specific details
  • Exhibits reasonable use of vocabulary that is precise and purposeful
  • Demonstrates reasonable use of sentence fluency
2
  • Topic/subject may be vague
  • May lose or may exhibit lapses in focus on topic/subject
  • Organizational structure may establish little relationship between and among ideas and/or events
  • May have major lapses in the logical progression of ideas and/or events and is minimally complete
  • Support and elaboration may have major weaknesses in relatedness to and support of the topic/subject
  • Consists of general and/or undeveloped details, which may be presented in a list-like fashion
  • Exhibits minimal use of vocabulary that is precise and purposeful
  • Demonstrates minimal use of sentence fluency
1
  • Topic/subject is unclear or confusing
  • May fail to establish focus on topic/subject
  • Organizational structure may not establish connection between and among ideas and/or events
  • May consist of ideas and/or events that are presented in a random fashion and is incomplete or confusing
  • Support and elaboration attempts to support the topic/subject but may be unrelated or confusing
  • Consists of sparse details
  • Lacks use of vocabulary that is precise and purposeful
  • May not demonstrate sentence fluency
N.S.
  • This code may be used for compositions that are entirely illegible or otherwise unscorable: blank responses, responses written in a foreign language, restatements of the prompts, and responses that are off-topic or incoherent.



Information to Accompany NC Writing Assessment Content Rubric
  • Scores range from 1-4 (with 4 being the highest).
  • Characteristics from the four features (focus, organization, support and elaboration, and style) are represented within each score point.
  • If a response receives an NS designation, it will not receive a score in either content or conventions.
  • Non-Scorable (NS) designations are based on one of the following condition codes:
    • Illegible (entirely)
    • Blank
    • Written in a language other than English
    • Restatement of the prompt
    • Off-topic/Incoherent