Essay Rubric (based on SAT/College Board)

Score	Development of Position	Organization	Use of Language	Sentence Structure	Grammar and Word Usage	
5	Position effectively and insightfully developed through outstanding critical thinking skill; examples, reasons and evidence are clearly appropriate	Well organized and clearly focused; clearly coherent and ideas flow seamlessly	Displays skillful use of language; vocabulary is accurate and varied; words are appropriately and skillfully chosen	Good sentence structure; demonstrates meaningful and skilled variety of sentence structure	Free of most mistakes in grammar, word usage and mechanics	
4	Position is effectively developed through strong critical thinking skill; examples, reasons and evidence are generally appropriate	Well organized and focused; demonstrates coherence and ideas flow well	Displays competent use of language; uses appropriate vocabulary	Good sentence structure; demonstrates variety in sentence structure	Generally free of mistakes in grammar, word usage and mechanics	
3	Position on topic demonstrates competent critical thinking skill; example, reasons and evidence are adequate	Generally organized and focused; demonstrates some coherence and attention to the flow of ideas	Displays adequate, but inconsistent, use of language; vocabulary used is generally appropriate	Good sentence structure; demonstrates some variety of sentence structure	Contains some mistakes in grammar, word usage and mechanics	
2	Position on topic demonstrates critical thinking skill applied inconsistently; inadequate examples, reasons or evidence	Limited in organization and focus; demonstrates lapses in coherence or flow of ideas	Displays developing use of language; contains indications of weak vocabulary and poor word selection	Some problems with sentence structure; lacks a variety of sentence structures	Contains many mistakes in grammar word usage and mechanics	
1	Position on topic is unclear or extremely limited; inappropriate examples or reasons; insufficient evidence	Poorly organized; lacks focus; problems with coherence or flow of ideas	Poor use of language; indicates very limited vocabulary and poor word choice	Frequent problems with sentence structure	Grammar and word usage mistakes are frequent and interfere with meaning; poor mechanics	

Score= Point Values				OVERALL COMMENTS: 

5= 25, 50, 75, 100 
4= 20, 40, 60, 80
3= 15, 30, 45, 60
2= 10, 20, 30, 40
1= 5, 10, 15, 20