The strategic thinking rubrics are self-assessments designed to help students evaluate their own writing. One is focused on overall understanding of a written response and the other evaluates analysis used in a response. Both are available as documents and could be modified for your context. They are designed for use in both the humanities and sciences. They could be used to evaluate
Online posts
Paragraph length responses on quizzes
In-class written responses.
Accompanying the rubrics is a document that offers a “crash course” in writing mechanics based on the criteria in the Strategic Thinking and Reasoning Writing Rubrics. The writing mechanics document provides a succinct overview for teachers.
Use with Stage 3 writers.
The Conventions of Writing Developmental Scale is used to assess children’s overall early writing. It can also work with adults who are novice and emergent writers. It provides useful details of initial writing development, examples and appropriate developmental instructional guidance.
Use with Stage 0 and Stage 1 writers.
Content features include the composition’s organization, cohesion, accuracy (in expository writing), and originality (in creative writing).
This assessment uses a simple dropdown menu system with room for comments. Copy and modify as needed.
Use with Stage 2 writers.
This tool can be used by learners who are attempting to use a variety of sentence structures in their writing.
Use with Stage 2 and 3 writers.
We are including examples of easy-to-use performance standards and writing exemplars from the K-12 system for informational purposes. The exemplars are intended as reference points to support understanding and to prompt discussion with colleagues. They are not meant to be used to assign grade-level equivalencies or standards.
Understanding writing development at grades 4 and 8 is insightful. Grade 4 is aligned with the end of Stage 1 and beginning of Stage 2, which indicates a learner has mastered foundational reading and writing skills. Grade 8 is aligned with the end of Stage 2, indicating a learner is using literacy abilities to build background knowledge and acquire new knowledge.
The exemplars demonstrate three types of writing:
Personal views
Communication of ideas and information
Literary writing
Use with Stage 1 and 2 writers.
The following elements of writing are evaluated:
Meaning: comes from thoughts, feelings, opinions, memories, and reflections
Style: is generally reflective; demonstrates clarity and some variety in language.
Form: begins with a clear introduction and follows a logical sequence; ideas are connected, although the writing could reflect a “stream of consciousness.”
Conventions: follows standard conventions for basic spelling, punctuation, grammar and sentence structure.
The following elements of writing are evaluated:
Meaning: comes from thoughts, feelings, opinions, memories, and reflections.
Style: demonstrates clarity and some variety in language.
Form: begins with a clear introduction and follows a logical sequence through to a conclusion.
Conventions: follows standard conventions for basic spelling, punctuation, grammar, and sentence structure; text has been proofread.
Writing samples and performance standards are available in the document Milestones Writing Samples. However, they have a few limitations if they are used with the stages framework and to support instruction:
None of the samples at OALCF Level 1 capture emergent and very beginning writing at Stages 0 and 1; OALCF Level 1 samples are more aligned with Stage 2.
OALCF Level 3 samples are also limited and don't contain the complexity and variety of writing developed at Stage 3 (i.e. secondary level).
In addition, the scoring explanations that accompany the samples are limited. They only address conventions (i.e. sentence structure, capitalization and punctuation) and an ability to follow the test's instructions. There are no descriptors for other observable elements such as form, style, tone, vocabulary, decoding, etc.
Use with caution only with Stage 2 writers.