Smarter Balanced 4-Point Argumentative Performance Task Writing Rubric Score 4 3 2 1 NS Statement of Purpose / Focus and Organization The response is fully sustained and consistently and purposefully focused: claim is clearly stated, focused, and strongly maintained alternate or opposing claims are clearly addressed claim is introduced and communicated clearly within the purpose, audience, and task The response has a clear and effective organizational structure creating a sense of unity and completeness: consistent use of a variety of transitional strategies to clarify the relationships between and among ideas logical progression of ideas from beginning to end effective introduction and conclusion for audience and purpose strong connections among ideas, with some syntactic variety The response is adequately sustained and generally focused: claim is clear and mostly maintained, though some loosely related material may be present context provided for the claim is adequate within the purpose, audience, and task The response has an evident structure and a sense of though there may be minor flaws and some ideas may be loosely connected: adequate use of transitional strategies with some variety to clarify the relationships between and among ideas adequate progression of ideas from beginning to end adequate introduction and conclusion adequate, if slightly inconsistent, connection among ideas. The response is somewhat sustained and may have a minor drift in focus: may be clearly focused on the claim but is sus- tained, or claim on the issue may be somewhat unclear and/or unfocused The response has an inconsistent organizational structure, and flaws are evident: inconsistent use of transitional strategies and/or little variety uneven progression of ideas from beginning to end conclusion and if present, are weak weak connec-tion among ideas The response may be related to the purpose but may provide little or no focus: may be very brief may have a major drift claim may be confusing or ambiguous The response has little or no discernible structure: few or no transitional strategies are evident frequent extraneous ideas may intrude Insufficient, illegible, in a language other than English, incoherent, off-topic, or off-purpose writing
4-Point Argumentative Performance Task Writing Rubric Score 4 3 2 1 NS Evidence and Elaboration The response provides thorough and convincing support/evidence for the writer’s claim that includes the effective use of sources, facts, and details. The response achieves substantial depth that is specific and relevant: use of evidence from sources is integrated, comprehensive, relevant, and concrete effective use of a variety of elaborative techniques The response clearly and effectively expresses ideas, using precise language: use of academic and domain-specific vocabulary is clearly appropriate for the audience and purpose The response provides adequate support/evidence for the writer’s claim that includes the use of sources, facts, and details. The response achieves some depth and specificity but is predominantly general: some evidence from sources is included, though citations may be general or imprecise adequate use of some elaborative techniques The response adequately expresses ideas, employing a mix of precise with more general language: use of domain-specific vocabulary is generally appropriate for the audience and purpose The response provides uneven, cursory support/ evidence for the writer’s claim that includes partial or uneven use of sources, facts, and details. The response achieves little depth: evidence from sources is weakly integrated, and citations, if present, are uneven weak or uneven use of elaborative techniques The response expresses ideas unevenly, using simplistic language: plistic language: use of domain-specific vocabulary may at times be inappropriate for the audience and purpose The response provides minimal for the writer’s claim that includes little or no use of sources, facts, and details: Use of evidence from sources is minimal, absent, incorrect, or irrelevant The response’s expression of ideas is vague, lacks clarity, or is confusing: uses limited language or domain- specific vocabulary may have Little sense of audience and purpose Insufficient, illegible, in a language other than English, incoherent, off-topic, or off-purpose writing