Writing Rubric

Rubrics measure the quality of a student’s work; they are assessment tools that teachers use to grade a student’s performance. Writing rubric uses numbers and a set of criteria or guidelines to evaluate a student’s writing. They are a great tool that communicate the teacher’s expectations to both the student and parents as well as provide feedback on the quality of a child’s writing.

The writing rubric should be distributed at the beginning of the school year. A teacher should discuss the criteria at each level and provide writing examples to promote self-monitoring skills.

Writing Rubrics

At our school’s curriculum meeting teachers review the writing rubric with parents. During school, the teachers review the rubric with our child and present examples at each level. Our school uses the following writing rubrics:

• First Grade Writing Rubric
• Second Grade Writing Rubric
• Third Grade Writing Rubric – coming soon
• Fourth Grade Writing Rubric
• Fifth Grade Writing Rubric – coming soon

Our kindergarten curriculum focuses on a risk free developmental writing process. As a result, teachers do not correct a child’s writing. At this stage, the emphasis is placed on the ability to tell a story, construct an idea and put it on paper.

Writing Rubric Template

The rubric below provides both detailed criteria and topics. This is a great resource to design your own rubric or to reference for your child’s writing. Obviously, we are striving for exemplary writing skills.

Category	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4	Score
Topic	Key word(s) near beginning	Main idea or topic in first sentence	Good main idea or topic sentence	Interesting, well stated main idea or topic sentence
Words	Related words or ideas mentioned	Some key words or related ideas included as details with meaning	Key related words and ideas used as details with meaning	Key related words and ideas used correctly; defined for reader; interesting choice of words
Order	Ideas not ordered	Some order of main idea and details or sequence	Main idea and details or sequential, as appropriate	Good flow of ideas from topic sentence and details or sequence
Sentences	Sentence fragments	Mostly complete sentences	Complete sentences	Complete sentences; variety
Punctuation	Some punctuation	Most sentences have punctuation	Correct punctuation	Correct punctuation and variety
Capital Letters	Upper- and lowercase not distinguished	Uses upper- and lowercase letters	Begins sentence with uppercase	Correct use of case for beginning of sentence, names etc.
Spelling	Many spelling errors	Some spelling errors	Few spelling errors	No spelling errors
Handwriting	Hard to read; not well formed	Mostly legible	Well-formed letters	Neat, easy to read, well formed

Source: Adapted from Fry and Kress (2006), p 360.

Writing rubrics provide great feedback to both parents and children. They help identify strengths and weaknesses found in a child’s writing. If you want to get better at something, you need to focus on what needs to be improved and celebrate what you are doing well.