Elementary School Writing Skills in Organization and Conventions

Organization and Conventions

Each student's response will receive a score for Organization and Conventions. The rubric for organization and conventions measures the degree to which the writer's response has a clear focus with an introduction and conclusion, using a consistent organizational structure and correct grammar, conventions, usage, and mechanics.

	Organization of Academic Ideas and Conventions (OC). The degree to which the writer’s ideas are arranged with organization and purpose using conventions.
	Components and Elements Focus Introduction/Conclusion Overall Plan/Organizational Structure Transitions/Linking Ideas Syntax Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics
4	Consistent control of the components of Organization and Conventions. The response is characterized by most or all of the following: Focus or opinion is clearly communicated and strongly maintained throughout the response. Effective or engaging introduction that clearly introduces topic or issue and strong concluding statement or section. Effectively develops a cohesive text by consistently using organizational structure and features and logically grouping related ideas to convey information. Effectively uses conjunctions and /or transition words or phrases to show relationships between ideas and information throughout the response. Forms sentences correctly and provides varied sentence structure throughout the response. Maintains correct verb tense and subject/verb agreement. Effective and consistent use of correct punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. Control and coherence are maintained consistently throughout the text.
3	Sufficient control of the components of Organization and Conventions. The response is characterized by most or all of the following: Focus or opinion is communicated and maintained through MOST of the response. Adequate introduction that introduces the topic or issue and adequate concluding statement or section related to the information or opinion presented. Develops a cohesive text by using organizational structure and features and grouping related ideas to convey information MOST of the time. Uses conjunctions and/or transition words or phrases to show relationships between ideas and information through MOST of the response. Forms MOST sentences correctly and provides adequate variety of sentence structure. Uses correct verb tense and subject/verb agreement through MOST of the response. Adequate use of correct punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. Control and coherence are maintained for most of the text.
2	Limited control of the components of Organization and Conventions. The response is characterized by most or all of the following: Focus or opinion may be somewhat unclear and/or insufficiently maintained. Attempts with some success an introduction to introduce the topic or issue and/or a conclusion related to the information or opinion presented. Inconsistently uses organizational structure and/or features to convey information. Some related ideas are grouped. Connections between and among ideas are sometimes unclear. Uses conjunctions and/or transition words or phrases to show relationships between ideas and information through SOME of the response. Forms SOME sentences correctly and may attempt some variety of sentence structure. Uses correct verb tense and subject/verb agreement SOME of the time. Errors may obscure meaning. Inconsistent use of correct punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. Control and coherence are inconsistent or limited in the text.
1	Lack of control of the components of Organization and Conventions. The response is characterized by most or all of the following: Focus or opinion may be confusing or ambiguous. Lacks an introduction and a conclusion. Lacks organizational structure and/or features to convey information. Frequent extraneous ideas and/or information. Uses few or no conjunctions, transition words or phrases to show relationships between ideas and information. Frequent errors in sentence formation. Frequent errors in verb tense and subject/verb agreement. Errors are severe and often obscure meaning. Errors in punctuation, capitalization, and spelling are frequent and severe and often obscure meaning. Control and coherence are lacking in the text. Demonstration of competence is limited due to brevity OR copying from the provided documents.
0	Nonscorable. The response is unable to be scored. See information below.

Organization of Academic Ideas and Conventions (OC). The degree to which the writer’s ideas are arranged with organization and purpose using conventions.

Components and Elements

Focus
Introduction/Conclusion
Overall Plan/Organizational Structure
Transitions/Linking Ideas
Syntax
Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics

Consistent control of the components of Organization and Conventions. The response is characterized by most or all of the following:

Focus or opinion is clearly communicated and strongly maintained throughout the response.
Effective or engaging introduction that clearly introduces topic or issue and strong concluding statement or section.
Effectively develops a cohesive text by consistently using organizational structure and features and logically grouping related ideas to convey information.
Effectively uses conjunctions and /or transition words or phrases to show relationships between ideas and information throughout the response.
Forms sentences correctly and provides varied sentence structure throughout the response. Maintains correct verb tense and subject/verb agreement.
Effective and consistent use of correct punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.

Control and coherence are maintained consistently throughout the text.

Sufficient control of the components of Organization and Conventions. The response is characterized by most or all of the following:

Focus or opinion is communicated and maintained through MOST of the response.
Adequate introduction that introduces the topic or issue and adequate concluding statement or section related to the information or opinion presented.
Develops a cohesive text by using organizational structure and features and grouping related ideas to convey information MOST of the time.
Uses conjunctions and/or transition words or phrases to show relationships between ideas and information through MOST of the response.
Forms MOST sentences correctly and provides adequate variety of sentence structure. Uses correct verb tense and subject/verb agreement through MOST of the response.
Adequate use of correct punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.

Control and coherence are maintained for most of the text.

Limited control of the components of Organization and Conventions. The response is characterized by most or all of the following:

Focus or opinion may be somewhat unclear and/or insufficiently maintained.
Attempts with some success an introduction to introduce the topic or issue and/or a conclusion related to the information or opinion presented.
Inconsistently uses organizational structure and/or features to convey information. Some related ideas are grouped. Connections between and among ideas are sometimes unclear.
Uses conjunctions and/or transition words or phrases to show relationships between ideas and information through SOME of the response.
Forms SOME sentences correctly and may attempt some variety of sentence structure. Uses correct verb tense and subject/verb agreement SOME of the time. Errors may obscure meaning.
Inconsistent use of correct punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.

Control and coherence are inconsistent or limited in the text.

Lack of control of the components of Organization and Conventions. The response is characterized by most or all of the following:

Focus or opinion may be confusing or ambiguous.
Lacks an introduction and a conclusion.
Lacks organizational structure and/or features to convey information. Frequent extraneous ideas and/or information.
Uses few or no conjunctions, transition words or phrases to show relationships between ideas and information.
Frequent errors in sentence formation. Frequent errors in verb tense and subject/verb agreement. Errors are severe and often obscure meaning.
Errors in punctuation, capitalization, and spelling are frequent and severe and often obscure meaning.

Control and coherence are lacking in the text. Demonstration of competence is limited due to brevity OR copying from the provided documents.

Nonscorable. The response is unable to be scored. See information below.

How do I know if the student response is a non-scorable?

While you are scoring student work, you may be presented with a student response that could possibly be scored as a 0 and not as a 1, 2, 3, or 4 based on the scoring rubric.

The list below shows and explains what could constitute a nonscorable response.

Nonscorable Response	Description	Notes for Raters
Alert!	The student response contains material that is troubling or disturbing and needs to be reviewed further.	Please use professional judgement as a mandated reporter and contact a counselor and/or Assistant Principal.
Blank	The student response is completely blank, no student work present.
Copied	The student response is entirely or almost entirely copied from the prompt and/or reference documents in the prompt.	Assign to a student response that contains no original student writing, or contains an isolated original sentence (e.g., to introduce or conclude the response).
Incomprehensible	The student response contains few recognizable words, or it may contain recognizable words arranged in such a way that no meaning is conveyed.	Every effort should be made to read the response thoroughly. Do not confuse spelling errors with incomprehensibility.
Insufficient	The student response contains a response too brief to be scored.	An insufficient response is extremely brief (1-2 sentences).
Non-English	Student responses that are written in a language other than English are not scored.	These are student responses written mostly or entirely in another language.
Off Task	The student response is not a content-area essay (e.g., poetry, doodles).	The student response does not fall within the parameters set forth in the writing task.
Off Topic	The student response only contains material not related to the assigned task.	The student response addresses a topic or answers a question, but never the topic or question in the prompt.
Offensive	The student response only contains offensive/vulgar language or inappropriate material.
Plagiarism	The student response contains material that is copied from another source or response.	The student response contains material that is confirmed to be copied from another source or response.