State of New Jersey, Department of Education

New Jersey GEPA and HSPA
Language Arts Literacy Secondary School Writing Assistance

Please use the links below to selectively work with students on the writing samples in the HSPA tutorial. You may, for example, print out the usage rubric, and have the students assess some of the samples. This way, they are focusing on just one aspect of writing at a time.

New Jersey Holistic Scoring Rubric:    Web Page and Word Document

Sections of the Holistic Scoring Rubric (Word documents):
   
Mechanics
   Sentence Construction
   Usage
   Content & Organization

Sample: Scoring the Usage Rubric (Word document)

How to use and score rubrics:
   
Tutorial
   PowerPoint - The Chocolate Chip Rubric
   Links to classroom examples and types

ADDITIONAL HELP
Pennsylvania's Student Standards and Assessment: Writing.
Find a picture prompt at Pics4Learning.
Step-by-step software at Merit Software.