Georgia Milestones Argumentative Writing Rubric Grade 8

The student's response is a well-developed argument that effectively relates and supports claims with clear reasons and relevant text-based evidence. - Effectively introduces claim(s) - Uses an organizational strategy to present reasons and relevant evidence logically - Supports claim(s) with clear reasons and relevant evidence using specific, well-chosen facts, details, or other information from credible sources and demonstrates a good understanding of the topic or texts - Acknowledges and counters opposing claim(s), as appropriate - Uses words, phrases, and/or clauses that effectively connect and show clear, strong relationships among claim(s), reasons, and evidence - Establishes and maintains a formal style that is appropriate for the task, purpose, and audience - Provides a strong concluding statement or section that logically follows from the argument presented.

The student's response is a complete argument that relates and supports claims with some text-based evidence. - Clearly introduces claim(s) - Uses an organizational strategy to present some reasons and evidence (uses specific facts, details, definitions, examples, and/or other information from sources to develop claim(s)) - Attempts to acknowledge and/or counter opposing claim(s), as appropriate - Links reasons and/or pieces of evidence and ideas to show relationships among claim(s), reasons, and evidence - Uses words and phrases consistently for task, purpose, and audience - Establishes and maintains a mostly formal style for the task, purpose, and audience - Provides a concluding statement or section related to the argument presented.

The student's response is an incomplete or weak attempt to write an argument that sometimes relates and/or supports claims with little text-based evidence. - May not introduce claim(s) - Develops, sometimes unevenly, reasons and/or evidence to support claim(s) - Makes little, if any, attempt to acknowledge or counter opposing claim(s) - Attempts to support claim(s) with facts, reasons, and other evidence sometimes, but logic and relevance are often unclear - Uses few words or phrases to connect ideas; connections are not always clear - Uses a formal style inconsistently or an informal style that does not fit task, purpose, or audience - Provides a weak concluding statement or section that may not follow the argument presented.

The student's response is a weak attempt to write an argument and does not support claims with adequate text-based evidence. - May not introduce claim(s); claim(s) must be inferred - May be too brief to demonstrate an organizational structure, or no structure is evident - Has minimal support for claim(s) - Makes no attempt to acknowledge or counter opposing claim(s) - Uses minimal or no words or phrases to connect ideas - Uses a very informal style that is not appropriate for task, purpose, or audience - Provides a minimal or no concluding statement or section.

The student will receive a condition code for various reasons: Blank / Copied / Too Limited to Score/Illegible/Incomprehensible / Non-English/Foreign Language / Off Topic/Off Task/Offensive.

The student's response demonstrates full command of language usage and conventions. - Effectively varies sentence patterns for meaning, reader/listener interest, and style - Shows command of language and conventions - Any errors in usage and conventions do not interfere with meaning.

The student's response demonstrates partial command of language usage and conventions. - Varies some sentence patterns for meaning, reader/listener interest, and style - Shows some knowledge of language and conventions when writing - Has minor errors in usage and conventions with no significant effect on meaning.

The student's response demonstrates weak command of language usage and conventions. - Has fragments, run-ons, and/or other sentence structure errors - Shows little knowledge of language and conventions when writing - Has frequent errors in usage and conventions that interfere with meaning.

The student will receive a condition code for various reasons: Blank / Copied / Too Limited to Score/Illegible/Incomprehensible / Non-English/Foreign Language / Off Topic/Off Task/Offensive.