What this rubric measures
The SBAC Informational Performance Task Writing Rubric, Grades 3–5 is the official scoring guide used to evaluate student writing on California CAASPP (SBAC) assessments. It is an Analytic rubric that scores responses across 3 distinct criteria, allowing teachers to give precise, targeted feedback on each area of writing.
All 3 scoring criteria
Click any criterion to expand its score level descriptors. The language below is taken verbatim from the official California Department of Education CAASPP (SBAC) scoring guide.
1 Organization/Purpose
The response has a clear and effective organizational structure, creating a sense of unity and completeness. The organization is fully sustained between and within paragraphs. The response is consistently and purposefully focused:
- controlling/main idea of a topic is clearly communicated, and the focus is strongly maintained for the purpose and audience
- consistent use of a variety of transitional strategies to clarify the relationships between and among ideas
- effective introduction and conclusion
- logical progression of ideas from beginning to end; strong connections between and among ideas with some syntactic variety
The response has an evident organizational structure and a sense of completeness. Though there may be minor flaws, they do not interfere with the overall coherence. The organization is adequately sustained between and within paragraphs. The response is generally focused:
- controlling/main idea of a topic is clear, and the focus is mostly maintained for the purpose and audience
- adequate use of transitional strategies with some variety to clarify the relationships between and among ideas
- adequate introduction and conclusion
- adequate progression of ideas from beginning to end; adequate connections between and among ideas
The response has an inconsistent organizational structure. Some flaws are evident, and some ideas may be loosely connected. The organization is somewhat sustained between and within paragraphs. The response may have a minor drift in focus:
- controlling/main idea of a topic may be somewhat unclear, or the focus may be insufficiently sustained for the purpose and/or audience
- inconsistent use of transitional strategies and/or little variety
- introduction or conclusion, if present, may be weak
- uneven progression of ideas from beginning to end; and/or formulaic; inconsistent or unclear connections between and among ideas
The response has little or no discernible organizational structure. The response may be related to the claim but may provide little or no focus:
- controlling/main idea may be confusing or ambiguous; response may be too brief or the focus may drift from the purpose and/or audience
- few or no transitional strategies are evident
- introduction and/or conclusion may be missing
- frequent extraneous ideas may be evident; ideas may be randomly ordered or have an unclear progression
Informational writing centers on a controlling/main idea about a topic, supported by text-based evidence drawn from the source material.
2 Evidence/Elaboration
The response provides thorough elaboration of the support/evidence for the thesis/controlling idea that includes the effective use of source material. The response clearly and effectively develops ideas, using precise language:
- comprehensive evidence (facts and details) from the source material is integrated, relevant, and specific
- clear citations or attribution to source material
- effective use of a variety of elaborative techniques
- vocabulary is clearly appropriate for the audience and purpose
- effective, appropriate style enhances content
The response provides adequate elaboration of the support/evidence for the thesis/controlling idea that includes the use of source material. The response adequately develops ideas, employing a mix of precise and more general language:
- adequate evidence (facts and details) from the source material is integrated and relevant, yet may be general
- adequate use of citations or attribution to source material
- adequate use of some elaborative techniques
- vocabulary is generally appropriate for the audience and purpose
- generally appropriate style is evident
The response provides uneven, cursory elaboration of the support/evidence for the thesis/controlling idea that includes uneven or limited use of source material. The response develops ideas unevenly, using simplistic language:
- some evidence (facts and details) from the source material may be weakly integrated, imprecise, repetitive, vague, and/or copied
- weak use of citations or attribution to source material
- weak or uneven use of elaborative techniques; development may consist primarily of source summary
- vocabulary use is uneven or somewhat ineffective for the audience and purpose
- inconsistent or weak attempt to create appropriate style
The response provides minimal elaboration of the support/evidence for the thesis/controlling idea that includes little or no use of source material. The response is vague, lacks clarity, or is confusing:
- evidence (facts and details) from the source material is minimal, irrelevant, absent, incorrectly used, or predominantly copied
- insufficient use of citations or attribution to source material
- minimal, if any, use of elaborative techniques
- vocabulary is limited or ineffective for the audience and purpose
- little or no evidence of appropriate style
Elaborative techniques may include the use of personal experiences that support the controlling idea.
3 Conventions
The response demonstrates an adequate command of conventions:
- adequate use of correct sentence formation, punctuation, capitalization, grammar usage, and spelling
The response demonstrates a partial command of conventions:
- limited use of correct sentence formation, punctuation, capitalization, grammar usage, and spelling
The response demonstrates little or no command of conventions:
- infrequent use of correct sentence formation, punctuation, capitalization, grammar usage, and spelling
Holistic scoring considers Variety (range of error types), Severity (basic errors weighted more heavily than higher-level errors), and Density (proportion of errors to amount of writing done well).
How to score with the SBAC Informational Performance Task Writing Rubric, Grades 3–5.
A practical guide for teachers and norming teams. How to apply each descriptor consistently, the pitfalls that hurt inter-rater reliability, and a workflow for calibrating with colleagues.
Three-trait analytic, scored independently
- Score Organization/Purpose (1 to 4) and Evidence/Elaboration (1 to 4), then Conventions (0 to 2). Sum for the rubric total out of 10.
- Each trait is scored independently.
- Conventions uses a tighter 3-point scale (0, 1, 2).
Informational, not opinion or argument
- Informational writing explains a topic. The rubric uses 'controlling/main idea' as the genre cue, not 'opinion' or 'claim.'
- Responses that argue rather than explain often score lower because they miss the genre purpose.
- Strong informational responses organize details around the controlling idea, with each paragraph extending the explanation.
Holistic Conventions scoring
- Variety: count error types across sentence formation, punctuation, capitalization, grammar usage, and spelling.
- Severity: basic errors weigh more than higher-level errors.
- Density: the ratio of errors to length matters more than the raw count.
Tips for norming with your team
- Anchor with 3 to 5 sample responses scored by your most experienced grader before the session.
- Score the first 5 silently, then compare. Discuss any trait where graders are more than one point apart.
- Re-norm halfway through a long batch. Drift is real.
Notes for the SBAC Informational Performance Task Rubric, Grades 3–5
The SBAC Informational rubric is the elementary-level analog of the Explanatory rubric used at Grades 6-11. Both score responses that EXPLAIN a topic rather than argue or opine. The Grades 3-5 version uses 'controlling/main idea' where the 6-11 version uses 'thesis/controlling idea.'
Strong informational responses introduce the controlling idea early, develop it across multiple paragraphs with text-based evidence, and conclude in a way that ties the explanation together. Each paragraph should extend, not just restate, the controlling idea.
Evidence/Elaboration rewards integration of source material with citations or attribution. At Grades 3-5, attribution can be informal ('the article says...') rather than formal citation.
Conventions is scored holistically using Variety, Severity, and Density. The descriptors are identical across all SBAC writing rubrics.
See this rubric in action.
EnlightenAI scores student writing on this exact rubric, with per-criterion feedback that mirrors how you grade by hand. The sample response below shows how the rubric applies to a real piece of student writing, scored against every criterion.
How monarch butterflies travel from Canada to Mexico
Every fall, millions of monarch butterflies leave Canada and fly all the way to Mexico for the winter. The article explains that monarchs make this 3,000-mile journey by riding wind currents, eating along the way, and using the sun to know which direction to go.
They ride the wind
The article says that monarchs do not fly the whole way by flapping their wings. They climb up high and glide on warm wind currents called thermals. Gliding uses much less energy than flapping, so they can travel hundreds of miles in a single day when the wind is good.
They stop to eat
Even with the gliding, the butterflies need food. The article describes how monarchs land in fields of flowers along the route to drink nectar. The nectar gives them sugar for energy. Without these flower fields, the article says, the butterflies could not make the whole trip.
They use the sun like a compass
The most amazing part is how they know where to go. The article reports that monarchs use the position of the sun to find south. Even on cloudy days, special cells in their eyes can sense the direction of the sun. Scientists are still studying exactly how this works.
Conclusion
Monarch butterflies make one of the longest migrations of any insect. The article shows that they do it by gliding on wind, stopping to eat, and using the sun for direction. Their trip is a good example of how animals have special ways to survive long journeys.
Clear controlling idea, organized topic-by-topic
Controlling idea (how monarchs travel) is established in the intro with three subtopics, each developed in its own paragraph. Conclusion ties the explanation together. Strong transitions and a clear sense of completeness for a 4th-grade response.
Adequate source integration across all body paragraphs
Evidence is drawn from the article in every body paragraph with informal attribution ("The article says..."). Specific details (thermals, nectar, sun-sensing eye cells) show source use. The 3,000-mile figure in the intro is the strongest spot.
Adequate command of conventions
Sentence formation, punctuation, capitalization, grammar usage, and spelling are accurate throughout. Few errors and none impact clarity. Earns full credit on the 0-2 Conventions sub-scale.
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About the SBAC Informational Performance Task Writing Rubric, Grades 3–5
What is the SBAC Informational Performance Task Writing Rubric for Grades 3 to 5?
How is the Informational rubric different from the Opinion rubric?
Can personal experience count as elaboration on Informational?
Is this rubric the official version from the California Department of Education?
Where can I find the source document?
Can EnlightenAI score student writing using this rubric?
Use this rubric in EnlightenAI
Train EnlightenAI on the SBAC Informational Performance Task Rubric for Grades 3 to 5 and start scoring student writing, with consistent per-trait feedback, in a single class period.