Middle School 6-Point Rubric

Score 6: Excellent

  • Develops ideas well and uses many specific details related to the topic.
  • Is well organized with clear transitions; maintains focus.
  • Sustains 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 5: Skillful

  • Develops ideas with some specific details.
  • Is clearly organized; information is presented in an orderly way, but essay may lack transitions.
  • Exhibits some variety in sentence structure.
  • Contains some specific word choices.
  • May contain some errors in grammar, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation; errors do not interfere with understanding.

Persuasive mode

  • Clearly states the position and persuades the reader.

Score 4: Sufficient

  • Provides clear ideas, but not fully developed; may have few details.
  • Provides a clear sequence of information; provides pieces of information that are generally related to each other.
  • Generally has simple sentences; may exhibit uneven control over sentence structure.
  • Contains mostly simple word choices, but may display 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 3: Uneven

  • Provides limited or incomplete information; 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 2: Insufficient

  • Provides little information and makes little attempt at development.
  • Is very disorganized or too brief to detect organization.
  • Exhibits little control over sentence structure.
  • Contains inaccurate word choices in much of the essay.
  • Is characterized by misspellings, missing words, and incorrect word order; errors in grammar, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation are severe enough to make understanding very difficult in much of the essay.

Persuasive mode

  • Either a position is not clearly given or little attempt is made at persuasion.

Score 1: Unsatisfactory

  • Attempts a response, but may only restate the prompt or be extremely brief.
  • Exhibits no control over organization.
  • Exhibits no control over sentence structure.
  • Contains inaccurate word choices in 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.