Exploring Current State Writing Evaluation Rubrics for Early Grades

This content analysis examined the evaluative components of elementary, high-stakes, state standardized writing sample rubrics. We explored the ten most populated states in the United States, and thus most influential states, to yield salient trends in writing evaluation for early grades. Using Spandel’s analytical traits as our conceptual framework and thus, our a priori sieve for this content analysis, this manuscript explored possible commonalities and intersections among the six traits within each state’s writing sample rubric. First, we found that North Carolina no longer requires an elementary writing sample. Further, this content analysis found four of Spandel’s six categories of Ideas, Organization, Sentence Fluency, and Conventions were clearly prominent in each of the other nine most populated state evaluation rubrics. Word Choice and Voice proved to be less obvious, yet embedded within subcomponents or indicators in eight of the nine remaining state rubrics. By bringing these states’ writing rubrics into clarity, related trends across states offer insights for teachers in early grades to streamline and improve elementary writing evaluation and instruction by focusing on these foundational six traits. Findings point to leveraging Spandel’s six analytical categories as a starting point and a foundational anchor, so that teachers can be in compliance with their state’s current and changing high-stakes testing while simultaneously supporting children to become confident, joyful, and capable writers.