NUSD’s Literacy Efforts, Part 1: Focus on Informational Writing

NUSD is committed to improving all of our students' literacy skills. Mark Bornstein, an NUSD Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA), explains how we use rubrics - which is a way we evaluate a child's writing - and use those measurements to help a child in areas they may need support. 

A group of NUSD teachers reviewed and discussed student writing levels and agreed on five key scoring elements of writing that a student’s writing is scored on. Breaking the writing into five elements helps to identify specific areas of strength and areas for growth. These  five scoring elements are as follows:

• Topic or Main Idea (K-5) /Thesis Statement (6-12)
• Development
• Organization
• Use of sources (K-5) and Selection and Citation of Evidence (6-12)
• Standard English Conventions

This is part one of a two part series focusing on our literacy efforts.