What this rubric measures
The NH-SAS Informative-Explanatory Writing Rubric, Grades 6–8 is the official scoring guide used to evaluate student writing on New Hampshire NH-SAS 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 New Hampshire Department of Education NH-SAS scoring guide.
1 Statement of Purpose/Focus and Organization
The response is fully sustained and consistently and purposefully focused:
- controlling idea or main idea of a topic is focused, clearly stated, and strongly maintained
- controlling idea or main idea of a topic is introduced and communicated clearly within the purpose, audience, and task
- The response has a clear and effective organizational structure creating unity and completeness
- effective, consistent use of a variety of transitional strategies between and among ideas
- logical progression of ideas from beginning to end
- effective introduction and conclusion for audience and purpose
- strong connections among ideas, with some syntactic variety
The response is adequately sustained and generally focused:
- focus is clear and for the most part maintained, though some loosely related material may be present
- some context for the controlling idea or main idea of the topic is adequate within the purpose, audience, and task
- The response has an evident organizational structure and a sense of completeness, though there may be minor flaws and some ideas may be loosely connected
- adequate use of transitional strategies with some variety between and among ideas
- adequate progression of ideas from beginning to end
- adequate introduction and conclusion
- adequate, if slightly inconsistent, connection among ideas
The response is somewhat sustained and may have a minor drift in focus:
- may be clearly focused on the controlling or main idea, but is insufficiently sustained
- controlling idea or main idea may be unclear and somewhat unfocused
- The response has an inconsistent organizational structure, and flaws are evident
- inconsistent use of transitional strategies with little variety
- uneven progression of ideas from beginning to end
- conclusion and introduction, if present, are weak
- weak connection among ideas
The response may be related to the topic but may provide little or no focus:
- may be very brief
- may have a major drift
- focus may be confusing or ambiguous
- The response has little or no discernible organizational structure
- few or no transitional strategies are evident
- frequent extraneous ideas may intrude
Non-scorable code: Insufficient, illegible, foreign language, incoherent, off-topic, or off-purpose writing.
2 Evidence/Elaboration
The response provides thorough and convincing support/evidence for the controlling idea or main idea that includes the effective use of sources, facts, and details. The response achieves substantial depth that is specific and relevant:
- use of evidence from sources is cited, smoothly integrated, comprehensive, relevant, and concrete
- effective use of a variety of elaborative techniques
- The response clearly and effectively expresses ideas, using precise language
- use of academic and domain-specific vocabulary is clearly appropriate for the audience and purpose
The response provides adequate support/evidence for the controlling idea or main idea that includes the use of sources, facts, and details:
- some evidence from sources is integrated, though citations may be general or imprecise
- adequate use of some elaborative techniques
- The response adequately expresses ideas, employing a mix of precise with more general language
- use of domain-specific vocabulary is generally appropriate for the audience and purpose
The response provides uneven, cursory support/evidence for the controlling idea or main idea that includes partial or uneven use of sources, facts, and details:
- evidence from sources is weakly integrated, and citations, if present, are uneven
- weak or uneven use of elaborative techniques
- The response expresses Ideas unevenly, using simplistic language
- use of domain-specific vocabulary may at times be inappropriate for the audience and purpose
The response provides minimal support/evidence for the controlling idea or main idea that includes little or no use of sources, facts, and details:
- use of evidence from sources is minimal, absent, in error, or irrelevant
- The response expression of ideas is vague, lacks clarity, or is confusing
- uses limited language or domain-specific vocabulary
- may have little sense of audience and purpose
Non-scorable code: Insufficient, illegible, foreign language, incoherent, off-topic, or off-purpose writing.
3 Conventions/Editing
The response demonstrates an adequate command of conventions:
- some errors in usage and sentence formation are present, but no systematic pattern of errors is displayed
- adequate use of punctuation, capitalization, and spelling
The response demonstrates a partial command of conventions:
- errors in usage may obscure meaning
- inconsistent use of punctuation, capitalization, and spelling
The response demonstrates a lack of command of conventions.
The Conventions/Editing rubric begins at score point 2. The 4-point levels do not apply to this domain by design.
How to score with the NH-SAS Informative-Explanatory Writing Rubric, Grades 6–8.
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-domain analytic, scored independently
- Score Statement of Purpose/Focus and Organization (0 to 4) first, then Evidence/Elaboration (0 to 4), then Conventions/Editing (0 to 2). Sum for a rubric total out of 10.
- Each domain is scored independently. A response can earn a strong controlling-idea score but a developing evidence score.
- Conventions has only 3 score points (0, 1, 2) on a tighter scale than the first two domains by design.
Apply descriptors literally
- Start at the lowest score point and ask, does the response meet the bullets at this level? Move up only when it clearly satisfies the next level's bullets.
- Score 4 in Purpose for Grades 6-8 requires strong connections among ideas with some syntactic variety, an extra bullet that does not appear at Grades 3-5.
- If a response sits between two score points, default to the lower one.
Common pitfalls to avoid
- Letting a clear controlling idea halo weak source use. Evidence/Elaboration at Score 4 requires concrete, cited, smoothly integrated evidence, not just relevance.
- Confusing length with quality. A long essay with general source references still earns Evidence/Elaboration 3, not 4.
- Penalizing surface errors in Purpose or Evidence when the rubric only scores them under Conventions/Editing.
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 domain where graders are more than one point apart.
- Re-norm halfway through a long batch. Drift is real.
Notes for the NH-SAS Informative-Explanatory Writing Rubric, Grades 6–8
The NH-SAS informative rubric at Grades 6-8 adds two bullets that do not appear at Grades 3-5. Score 4 Purpose explicitly requires strong connections among ideas with some syntactic variety. Score 4 Evidence requires concrete, cited, smoothly integrated evidence that achieves substantial depth, not just relevance.
NH-SAS informative prompts at Grades 6-8 typically provide one or more short source texts. The rubric expects evidence drawn from those sources at score points 3 and 4. Score 3 describes adequate integration with general or imprecise citations. Score 4 requires cited, smoothly integrated, comprehensive, relevant, and concrete evidence.
Conventions/Editing on NH-SAS is scored on a 3-point scale (0, 1, 2) that begins at score point 2 in the rubric. The 4-point bullets in Purpose and Evidence do not apply to Conventions by design.
Non-scorable codes apply to insufficient, illegible, foreign language, incoherent, off-topic, or off-purpose writing. These cannot earn points across the three domains.
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.
Why coral reefs matter to the ocean
Coral reefs are one of the most important habitats in the ocean because they shelter a quarter of all ocean species, they protect coastlines from storms, and they support major fisheries that feed millions of people. Both sources show that healthy reefs sustain ocean life in ways no other ecosystem can replace.
A habitat for ocean species
Source 1 explains that although coral reefs cover less than one percent of the ocean floor, they shelter about 25 percent of marine species. Fish use the branching structure of the coral to hide from larger predators, and small invertebrates such as shrimp and crabs live in the crevices. Source 2 adds that some species, including certain clownfish and parrotfish, cannot survive outside of a reef environment because their entire life cycle depends on coral.
Protection from storms
Reefs also protect coastlines. According to Source 1, healthy coral reefs absorb up to 97 percent of wave energy before it reaches the shore. This reduces flooding and erosion during hurricanes and tropical storms. Source 2 describes how coastal communities in Florida, the Bahamas, and Indonesia rely on reefs as natural breakwaters, and notes that the cost of replacing this protection with engineered seawalls would be billions of dollars.
Fisheries and food security
Source 2 reports that reefs support major commercial and subsistence fisheries. About 500 million people worldwide get a significant portion of their protein from reef-based fish. When reefs die, the fish populations they support crash with them, which threatens livelihoods and food security in many coastal nations. Source 1 cites a study showing that catches dropped by more than 30 percent in regions where reef bleaching was severe.
Conclusion
Coral reefs are vital to the ocean because they shelter marine species, protect coastlines, and support fisheries that feed hundreds of millions of people. Both sources point to the same conclusion: protecting reefs protects the wider ocean and the people who depend on it.
Controlling idea is fully sustained
Controlling idea is stated clearly in the intro (three reasons reefs matter) and strongly maintained across three body paragraphs and a satisfying conclusion.
Smoothly integrated, concrete evidence
Evidence from both sources is cited and integrated across all three reasons. Specific facts (one percent of floor, 25 percent of species, 97 percent of wave energy, 500 million people) achieve substantial depth and specificity.
Adequate command of conventions
Sentence formation, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling are correct throughout. There are no systematic patterns of errors. Earns full credit on the NH-SAS 0-2 Conventions/Editing sub-scale.
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About the NH-SAS Informative-Explanatory Writing Rubric, Grades 6–8
What is the NH-SAS Informative-Explanatory Writing Rubric for Grades 6 to 8?
What is different between the NH-SAS Grades 6-8 informative and Grades 3-5 informative rubrics?
How many sources do NH-SAS informative prompts give students?
How is Conventions/Editing scored on NH-SAS?
Is this rubric the official version from the NH 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 NH-SAS Informative-Explanatory Writing Rubric, Grades 6–8 and start scoring student writing, with consistent per-domain feedback, in a single class period.