American History Assessment Questions

Grading Rubric for Written Response

CRITERIA ACHIEVEMENT LEVEL

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Score

Content 70 percent

0-41 Response focus may not be clear to the reader, and/or the ideas may not make sense. Little to no analysis is demonstrated, and novel, relevant insight may be lacking. The writing may contain numerous errors that interfere with the reader’s ability to grasp the writer’s meaning.

42-48 Response may be somewhat unfocused, but demonstrates some effort at analysis. Supporting ideas may be lacking, difficult to determine, and/or provide little to no novel or relevant insight. The reader may have difficulty at times determining what the writer is trying to say.

49-55 Response generally focuses on the topic, but may occasionally stray. Analysis is fairly thorough. Supporting ideas are fairly well developed. Presentation is interesting and may contain a few novel insights that are relevant to the topic.

56-62 Response generally focuses on the topic and demonstrates thorough analysis. Supporting ideas are fairly well developed. Presentation is interesting and contains somewhat novel insights that are relevant to the topic.

63-70 Response remains fully focused on the topic. It demonstrates thorough analysis resulting in novel insight with relevant and fully developed supporting ideas. The presentation is engaging.

Organization 20 percent

0-11 The organization is hard to follow; ideas are not linked together and/or may be fragmented. Lacking any logical grouping of ideas or transitions from one idea to the next.

12-13 The organization is mostly unclear and could be arranged in a more logical way. Some ideas are linked together, but some ideas are fragmented. There is little to no grouping of ideas or use of transitions.

14-15 The organization is fairly clear, but it could be arranged more logically to better support the proposed solution. Ideas are somewhat grouped together with a few transitions between groups.

16-17 The organization results in clarity and presents mostly logically arranged points to support the proposed solution. Ideas are grouped fairly well, and there are transitions throughout the document.

18-20 The organization results in clarity and presents logically arranged points to support the proposed solution. Related ideas are well grouped, and transitions between ideas flow smoothly.

Writing Mechanics 10 percent

0-5 Writing lacks clarity and conciseness. Serious problems with sentence structure and grammar. Numerous major or minor errors in punctuation and/or spelling.

6 Writing lacks clarity or conciseness. Minor problems with sentence structure and some grammatical errors. Several minor errors in punctuation and/or spelling.

7 Writing is somewhat clear and concise. Sentence structure and grammar are strong and mostly correct. Few minor errors in punctuation and/or spelling..

8 Writing is mostly clear and concise. Sentence structure and grammar are strong and mostly correct. Few minor errors in punctuation and/or spelling.

9-10 Writing is clear and concise. Sentence structure and grammar are excellent. Correct use of punctuation. No spelling errors.

Total