Middle School 4-Point Rubric

Score 4: Excellent

  • Develops ideas well and uses specific details throughout the essay.
  • Is well organized with transitions; maintains focus.
  • Contains some varied sentence structure.
  • Exhibits specific word choices.
  • Contains little or no errors in grammar, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation; errors do not interfere with understanding.

Persuasive mode

  • Clearly states the position and effectively persuades the reader of a certain viewpoint.

Score 3: Sufficient

  • Generally develops ideas; may have some details.
  • Provides a clear sequence of information; provides pieces of information that are generally related to each other.
  • Generally has simple sentences; may exhibit some instances of sentence variety.
  • Has mostly simple word choices, but may contain some specific word choices.
  • Contains errors in grammar, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation that generally do not interfere with understanding.

Persuasive mode

  • States a position and adequately attempts to persuade the reader.

Score 2: Uneven

  • Provides limited information and makes a minimal attempt at development; may be list-like or have the quality of an outline.
  • Is disorganized or provides a disjointed sequence of information.
  • Exhibits uneven control over sentence structure.
  • May have some inaccurate word choices.
  • Contains errors in grammar, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation that sometimes interfere with understanding.

Persuasive mode

  • While a position is stated, either it is unclear or undeveloped.

Score 1: Unsatisfactory

  • Attempts a response, but may only restate the prompt or be brief.
  • Is very disorganized or too brief to detect organization.
  • Exhibits limited control over sentence structure.
  • Contains inaccurate word choices throughout most of the essay.
  • Is characterized by misspellings, missing words, and incorrect word order; errors in grammar, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation severely interfere with understanding throughout the essay.

Persuasive mode

  • Little effort is made to persuade, either because there is no position taken or no support is given.