Kindergarten Process Writing Assessment Rubric

Kindergarten Rubric: Process Writing Assessment

SCORING RUBRIC Student Name:   Date:

Guidelines for Using the Rubric

1. This rubric is a hybrid between a holistic rubric (intended to express an overall picture of student writing through a single number), and an analytic rubric (intended to help teachers design curriculum to address specific writing skills or gaps in writing development for individuals and classes).

2. One-on-one, have each child read her writing back, and record what she says underneath her writing. When assessing writing, consider both the written and intended messages. Some ways to obtain these translations are: use a trained volunteer or parent, invite students to read their work to you during Workshop or at some other time when the class is working independently, invite students to read their work out loud to the class or to a partner just after producing the writing and circulate to record what they say, invite finished students to come to the teacher table to read their work to you before going on to a sponge activity, or collect a small sample only of translated work for scoring (2 low, 2 middle, 2 high).

3. The levels are cumulative. That is, a “2” will demonstrate all the skills of a “1” writing, plus some new distinguishing features. For example, “3” indicates that a student must be able to write his name correctly as a proper noun. Although not explicitly listed in the rubric, this skill should also be demonstrated in order for a piece of work to earn a score of 4.

4. Use a highlighter on the rubric page itself to create a map of that writer’s skills.

5. When attempting to assign a rubric level to a particular writing sample, understand that the writing may exhibit strength in some areas and weakness in others. Look for a preponderance of evidence in one score row, and then assign a single number score (4, 3, 2, or 1).

6. It is not possible to assign a score of zero on this assessment. The rubrics have been designed to reflect the range in development of student writing skills across the year at each grade level. Therefore, every student should exhibit at least some of the skills described and be able to score at least 1, even at the beginning of the year and even if performing below grade level.

7. Some work may be unscorable. Examples of unscorable work include: the student has produced no marks on the page, the work is illegible and a teacher translation is not present, the work is in a language other than English and no translator is available, or the work has been copied from another student. If a student has produced an unscorable piece of writing, readminister the PWA to the student and encourage her to correct the problem.

8. At the beginning of the year, 75% or more of your class will probably score at or below Level 2. By the end of a year of regular writing instruction, about 75% should be scoring Level 3 or higher on the Spring PWA, representing grade-level work. Students below grade level or those without access to regular writing instruction may continue to score below Level 3 all year. Students with exceptional writing skills may score at Level 4 by the end of the year.

9. Expect ELL student writing to emerge more slowly than that of native English speakers. The equivalent ELD levels given for each score are based on the California ELD Standards. A student with a Beginning level of English Language Development should not be expected to score above the Beginning equivalency level on the rubric, even if it is at the end of the school year. For ELL students whose English proficiency exceeds the highest equivalent level indicated on the rubric, interpret their scores with the same expectations you have for native English speakers. Primary language writing can also be assessed using this rubric if the teacher reads the primary language.