What this rubric measures
The LEAP 2025 Narrative Writing Task Rubric, Grades 6–10 is the official scoring guide used to evaluate student writing on Louisiana LEAP 2025 assessments. It is an Analytic rubric that scores responses across 2 distinct criteria, allowing teachers to give precise, targeted feedback on each area of writing.
All 2 scoring criteria
Click any criterion to expand its score level descriptors. The language below is taken verbatim from the official Louisiana Department of Education LEAP 2025 scoring guide.
1 Written Expression
The student response
- is effectively developed with narrative elements and is consistently appropriate to the task;
- is effectively organized with clear and coherent writing;
- establishes and maintains an effective style.
The student response
- is mostly effectively developed with narrative elements and is mostly appropriate to the task;
- is organized with mostly clear and coherent writing;
- establishes and maintains a mostly effective style.
The student response
- is developed with some narrative elements and is generally appropriate to the task;
- demonstrates some organization with somewhat coherent writing;
- has a style that is somewhat effective.
The student response
- is minimally developed with few narrative elements and is limited in its appropriateness to the task;
- demonstrates limited organization and coherence;
- has a style that has limited effectiveness.
The student response
- is undeveloped and/or inappropriate to the task;
- lacks organization and coherence;
- has an inappropriate style.
The reading dimension is not scored for elicited narrative stories. The elements of coherence, clarity, and cohesion to be assessed are expressed in the grade-level standards W1-W4. Tone is not assessed in grade 6. Per the Louisiana Student Standards: in grades 6-8, narrative elements may include, in addition to the grades 3-5 elements, establishing a context, situating events in a time and place, developing a point of view, and developing characters' motives. In grades 9 and 10, narrative elements may include, in addition to the grades 3-8 elements, creating one or more points of view and constructing event models of what happened. The elements to be assessed are expressed in the grade-level standard W.3.
2 Knowledge of Language and Conventions
The student response demonstrates full command of the conventions of standard English at an appropriate level of complexity. There may be a few minor errors in mechanics, grammar, and usage, but meaning is clear.
The student response demonstrates some command of the conventions of standard English at an appropriate level of complexity. There may be errors in mechanics, grammar, and usage that occasionally impede understanding, but the meaning is generally clear.
The student response demonstrates limited command of the conventions of standard English at an appropriate level of complexity. There may be errors in mechanics, grammar, and usage that often impede understanding.
The student response does not demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English at the appropriate level of complexity. Frequent and varied errors in mechanics, grammar, and usage impede understanding.
The Knowledge of Language and Conventions construct uses identical descriptor language across NWT, LAT, and RST. The construct does not have a Score Point 4 column on the LDOE rubric; the maximum score is 3.
How to score with the LEAP 2025 Narrative Writing Task Rubric, Grades 6–10.
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.
Two-construct analytic, scored independently
- Score Written Expression (0 to 4) first, then Knowledge of Language and Conventions (0 to 3). Sum for the rubric total out of 7.
- Written Expression uses a 5-point scale (0, 1, 2, 3, 4) at Grades 6-10, expanded from the Grades 4-5 4-point scale by adding the style criterion.
- The reading dimension is not scored on the Narrative Writing Task. This is elicited narrative writing.
What narrative elements expand at Grades 6-10
- Per the Louisiana Student Standards, Grades 6-8 narrative elements may include, in addition to Grades 3-5 elements, establishing a context, situating events in a time and place, developing a point of view, and developing characters' motives.
- Grades 9-10 narrative elements may include, in addition to Grades 3-8 elements, creating one or more points of view and constructing event models of what happened.
- Tone is explicitly not assessed at Grade 6 per the LDOE rubric note. Style is still assessed at Grade 6, but tone is not part of the judgment.
Common pitfalls to avoid
- Awarding 4 to a response with effective development but a flat or generic style. The style criterion is one of the three descriptors at every score above 0.
- Counting unusual word choice as effective style. Style includes voice, register, sentence variety, and the appropriateness of language choices to the narrative.
- Assessing tone at Grade 6. The LDOE rubric explicitly excludes tone at Grade 6.
Tips for norming with your team
- Anchor with 3 to 5 sample responses scored by your most experienced grader before the session, including responses that fall between 3 and 4 on style.
- Score the first 5 silently, then compare. Discuss any construct where graders are more than one point apart.
- Re-norm halfway through a long batch. Drift is real, especially on the style criterion where qualitative judgment is heaviest.
Notes for the LEAP 2025 Narrative Writing Task Rubric, Grades 6–10
Grades 6-10 LEAP 2025 NWT uses a 0 to 4 scale on Written Expression and a 0 to 3 scale on Knowledge of Language and Conventions, for a maximum of 7 points per rubric.
The major change at this grade band is the style criterion. The rubric replaces the language-clarity descriptor (used at Grades 4-5) with an explicit style judgment. Graders should evaluate voice, register, sentence variety, and the appropriateness of language choices alongside the development and organization descriptors.
Tone is not assessed at Grade 6. The LDOE rubric note is explicit: graders at Grade 6 should still judge style, but should not include tone in that judgment.
The Knowledge of Language and Conventions construct uses descriptor language identical to the LAT/RST rubrics. A mechanically clean response earns a 3 regardless of which Written Expression score it receives.
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.
The return to Quartz Lake
Ten years had thinned the road into something half-remembered. Mara slowed the car at the last bend, then stopped where the trees opened, where the lake should have been. It was, but it wasn't. The water was lower than she remembered, the dock she'd helped her father build was gone, and a new sign at the trailhead read TRUST LANDS, NO ENTRY in red paint that had only just begun to peel.
A place rewritten
Mara stepped out of the car. The air had the same cold pine smell she had carried in her head all those years, but everything else had been shifted, dimmed, sold. She walked toward the shoreline, careful with her shoes on the sharp gravel that had once been soft mud. Twenty steps in, she found the old fire ring, the stones still arranged the way her father had set them, blackened in the middle, untouched at the rim.
A figure at the far end
A movement caught her eye. At the far end of the shore, a man in a faded green jacket was bent over a tackle box, sorting lures with the slow deliberation of someone who knew he had the day to himself. He looked up as she approached, his face guarded. "Lake is closed to the public," he said, not unkindly. "Trust bought it last spring." Mara nodded. "I know. I just came to see it once."
An unexpected recognition
The man studied her, then the fire ring, then her again. 'You used to camp here,' he said, and it was not a question. Mara looked at him, surprised. He set down the lure he was holding. 'I knew your father,' he said. 'I worked the south fence for him in the summers, back when this was all open.' He spoke as if those summers were a country he had not been able to go back to.
A short walk together
They walked the shoreline together for a while, not saying much. Mara pointed out the old launch site, now silted in. The man pointed out a tree where a heron had nested every spring for as long as he could remember. The lake, smaller and stranger than the lake she had carried with her, became a shared third thing between them, neither his nor hers, and they let the afternoon hold it.
Effective development, effective style maintained
Develops experiences with effective techniques (imagery, pacing, dialogue). Establishes context (10-year return), point of view, and character motives. Effectively organized with coherent writing. Establishes and maintains an effective style throughout. Earns the top WE score.
Full command of secondary conventions
Sentence structures are varied and effectively controlled at Grade 9 complexity. Dialogue punctuation is handled correctly. Capitalization and spelling are correct throughout. Grammar and usage are strong. A few minor moments do not interfere with meaning. Earns full credit.
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About the LEAP 2025 Narrative Writing Task Rubric, Grades 6–10
What is the LEAP 2025 Narrative Writing Task Rubric for Grades 6 to 10?
Why is the reading dimension not scored on this rubric?
How does the Grades 6-10 NWT rubric differ from the Grades 4-5 NWT?
What narrative elements does the Grades 6-10 rubric expect?
Is tone assessed at Grade 6?
Is this rubric the official version from LDOE?
Where can I find the source document?
Can EnlightenAI score student writing using this rubric?
Use this rubric in EnlightenAI
Train EnlightenAI on the LEAP 2025 Narrative Writing Task Rubric, Grades 6–10, and start scoring student writing, with consistent per-construct feedback, in a single class period.