NJ Holistic Scoring Rubric

New Jersey Registered Holistic Scoring Rubric

Used for the "Writing to Speculate" (Picture Prompt) and Persuasive Writing Items


 

Inadequate Command

Limited Command

Partial Command

Adequate Command

 Strong Command

Superior Command

Score:

1

2

3

4

5

6

Content and Organization

May lack opening and/ or closing

May lack opening and/ or closing

May lack opening and/ or closing

Generally has opening and/or closing

Opening and closing

Opening and closing

Minimal response to topic; uncertain focus

Attempts to focus

May drift or shift focus

Usually has single focus

Single focus

Single focus

Sense of unity and coherence

Key ideas developed

Single, distinct focus

Unified and coherent

Well- developed

No planning evident; disorganized

Attempts organization

Few, if any, transitions between ideas

Some lapses or flaws in organization

May lack some transitions between ideas

Ideas loosely connected

Transitions evident

Logical progression of ideas

Moderately fluent

Attempts compositional risks

Logical progression of ideas

Fluent, cohesive

Compositional risks successful

Details random, inappropriate, or barely apparent

Details lack elaboration,

i. e., highlight paper

Repetitious details

Several unelaborated details

Uneven development of details

Details appropriate and varied

Details effective, vivid, explicit, and/ or pertinent

Usage

No apparent control

Severe/ numerous errors

Numerous errors

Errors/ patterns of errors may be evident

Some errors that do not interfere with meaning

Few errors

Very few, if any, errors

Sentence Construction

Assortment of incomplete and/ or incorrect sentences

Excessive monotony/ same structure

Numerous errors

Little variety in syntax

Some errors

Some variety

Generally correct

Variety in syntax appropriate and effective

Few errors

Precision and/or sophistication

Very few, if any, errors

Mechanics

Errors so severe they detract from meaning

Numerous serious errors

Patterns of errors evident

No consistent pattern of errors

Some errors that do not interfere with meaning

Few errors

Very few, if any, errors

 

Non-Scorable Reponses

NR

No Response

Student wrote too little to allow a reliable judgement of his/her writing.

OT

Off Topic/Off Task

 Student did not write on the assigned topic/ task, or the student attempted to copy the prompt. 

NE

Not English

Student wrote in a language other than English. 

WF

Wrong Format

Student refused to write on the topic, or the writing task folder was blank.

 

Content/ Organization

 Usage

Sentence Construction

Mechanics

  • Communicates intended message to intended audience
  • Relates to topic
  • Opening and closing
  • Focused
  • Logical progression of ideas
  • Transitions
  • Appropriate details and information
  • Tense formation
  • Subject- verb agreement
  • Pronouns usage/ agreement
  • Word choice/ meaning
  • Proper Modifiers
  • Variety of type, structure, and length
  • Correct construction
  • Spelling
  • Capitalization
  • Punctuation