Arkansas ELA Text-based Writing Rubrics for Grades 3–5: Informative/Explanatory

The response is fully sustained and consistently focused within the purpose, audience, and task; and it has a clearly stated controlling idea and effective organizational structure creating coherence and completeness. The response includes most of the following: Strongly maintained controlling idea with little or no loosely related material; Skillful use of a variety of transitional strategies to clarify the relationships between and among ideas; Logical progression of ideas from beginning to end, including a satisfying introduction and conclusion.

The response is adequately sustained and generally focused within the purpose, audience, and task; and it has a controlling idea and evident organizational structure with a sense of completeness. The response includes most of the following: Maintained controlling idea, though some loosely related material may be present; Adequate use of transitional strategies with some variety to clarify the relationships between and among ideas; Adequate progression of ideas from beginning to end, including a sufficient introduction and conclusion.

The response is somewhat sustained within the purpose, audience, and task but may include loosely related or extraneous material; and it may have a controlling idea with an inconsistent organizational structure. The response may include the following: Partially focused controlling idea, but insufficiently sustained or unclear; Inconsistent use of transitional strategies with little variety; Uneven progression of ideas from beginning to end and may include an inadequate introduction or conclusion.

The response is related to the topic but may demonstrate little or no awareness of the purpose, audience, and task; and it may have little or no discernible controlling idea or organizational structure. The response may include the following: Confusing or ambiguous ideas; Frequent extraneous ideas impeding understanding; Few or no transitional strategies; Too brief to demonstrate knowledge of focus or organization.

The response provides thorough and convincing support/evidence for the controlling idea or main idea that includes the effective use of sources, facts, and details. The response includes most of the following: Relevant evidence integrated smoothly and thoroughly with references to sources; Effective use of a variety of elaborative techniques (including but not limited to definitions, quotations, and examples), demonstrating an understanding of the topic and text; Clear and effective expression of ideas, using precise language; Academic and domain-specific vocabulary clearly appropriate for the audience and purpose; Varied sentence structure, demonstrating language facility.

The response provides adequate support/evidence for the controlling idea or main idea that includes the use of sources, facts, and details. The response includes most of the following: Generally integrated evidence from sources, though references may be general, imprecise, or inconsistent; Adequate use of some elaborative techniques; Adequate expression of ideas, employing a mix of precise and general language; Domain-specific vocabulary generally appropriate for the audience and purpose; Some variation in sentence structure.

The response provides uneven, cursory support/evidence for the controlling idea or main idea that includes ineffective use of sources, facts, and details. The response includes most of the following: Weakly integrated evidence from sources and erratic or irrelevant references; Repetitive or ineffective use of elaborative techniques; Imprecise or simplistic expression of ideas; Inappropriate or ineffective domain-specific vocabulary; Sentences possibly limited to simple constructions.

The response provides minimal support/evidence for the controlling idea or main idea, including little if any use of sources, facts, and details. The response includes most of the following: Minimal, absent, erroneous, or irrelevant evidence from the source material; Expression of ideas that is vague, lacks clarity, or is confusing; Limited or inappropriate language or domain-specific vocabulary; Sentences limited to simple constructions.

The response demonstrates an adequate command of basic conventions. The response may include the following: Some minor errors in usage, but no patterns of errors; Adequate use of punctuation, capitalization, sentence formation, and spelling.

The response demonstrates a partial command of basic conventions. The response may include the following: Various errors in usage; Inconsistent use of correct punctuation, capitalization, sentence formation, and spelling.

The response demonstrates a lack of command of conventions, with frequent and severe errors often obscuring meaning.