Ohio's writing rubric and scoring for the English II extended response: the three domains of the grades 6-12 writing rubric, Purpose, Focus, and Organization (0 to 4), Evidence and Elaboration (0 to 4), and Conventions of Standard English (0 to 2), the two rubric versions for argumentation and informative or explanatory writing, how trained readers apply them, and what earns a 0.

What this skill is asking

Ohio's State Test for English Language Arts II scores the extended response on Ohio's grades 6-12 writing rubric, and learning that rubric is one of the highest-leverage things you can do, because it tells you exactly what readers reward. The rubric scores three domains: Purpose, Focus, and Organization (0 to 4), Evidence and Elaboration (0 to 4), and Conventions of Standard English (0 to 2), for a maximum of 10 points. There are two versions of the rubric, one for argumentation and one for informative or explanatory writing, and the prompt's mode tells you which applies. This page covers what each domain measures, how the points are distributed, how trained readers apply the rubric, and what causes a response to score 0, so you can write toward the rubric on purpose instead of guessing. Everything in the rest of this module exists to move these three scores up.

The three domains

The rubric is built around three things a reader looks for, and most of the points sit in the first two.

The point distribution is a planning tool. Purpose, Focus, and Organization and Evidence and Elaboration each carry up to 4 points, so eight of the ten available points come from a clear, well-organized response built on explained text evidence. Conventions carries up to 2 points, which you protect by rereading for errors. This is why the dot points on the claim, the evidence, and the organization come first in this module: they target the two largest domains.

The two rubric versions

The mode the prompt sets decides which version of the rubric scores you.

You will not choose the rubric version; the prompt does, through its mode. Your job is to recognize the mode and write the response that the matching rubric rewards. The descriptors differ in language, but the underlying demands are the same across both: be clear, be supported by the texts, be organized, and be clean.

How readers apply it, and what scores 0

Knowing how the rubric is used in practice helps you write toward it.

Try this

Q1. Name the three rubric domains and their point ranges. [Recall]

• Cue. Purpose, Focus, and Organization (0 to 4); Evidence and Elaboration (0 to 4); Conventions of Standard English (0 to 2). The maximum total is 10 points.

Q2. A student writes a fluent, error-free essay that never uses the passages and shares only personal opinions. Predict its scores by domain and explain why. [Short explanation]

• Cue. Conventions could score well (clean grammar), but Evidence and Elaboration would score low because there is no text evidence, and Purpose, Focus, and Organization would suffer if the response does not address the text-based task. The essay misreads the assignment: the extended response is text-based, so fluency cannot make up for missing evidence.