I believe writing is the one skill in which my students will need to be proficient because they will use it throughout the rest of their lives. This is a highly individualized way of teaching the craft of writing. During the teacher conferences, we talk about what's good about the piece of writing and what could be improved, thus establishing the criteria on which the grade will be based. If the student revises his piece and corrects the problems we discuss, he'll get an A, even if the piece is filled with other problems. That's because I only hold him accountable for the areas we discussed in our conference.
Students write two pieces a grading period.