ELA Rubric Builder

Build an ELA rubric for writing, reading analysis, or discussion, with criteria for ideas, evidence, organization, style, and conventions calibrated to your specific task type and grade level.

ELAElementary (K–5)Middle School (6–8)High School (9–12)

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When to use this template

  • Argument writing assessments (essays, position papers, editorial writing)
  • Narrative writing assessments (personal narratives, short stories, memoirs)
  • Literary analysis and close reading tasks
  • Academic discussion and Socratic seminar assessment
  • Any ELA task where you want criteria calibrated to the specific literacy skill being assessed

Template sections

Identify the ELA task type and the primary skills you are assessing.

Task type (argument writing, narrative writing, literary analysis, close reading response, discussion):

Grade and standards:

Primary learning goals:

Is conventions a primary or supporting criterion for this task?

Select and name the criteria appropriate for this task type.

For argument writing: claim, evidence, reasoning, organization, conventions

For narrative writing: plot/structure, characterization, detail, voice, conventions

For literary analysis: textual evidence, analytical depth, literary terminology, reasoning

For discussion: contributing ideas, evidence use, building on others, questioning

Selected criteria for this task:

Write specific, observable descriptors for each criterion at each level.

Criterion 1 (e.g., Claim):

Level 4: [specific description]

Level 3: [specific description]

Level 2: [specific description]

Level 1: [specific description]

(repeat for each criterion)

Identify anchor papers or example responses at each performance level.

Anchor paper Level 4 (description or quote):

Anchor paper Level 3:

Anchor paper Level 2:

Anchor paper Level 1:

Will you share examples with students?

Define the scoring structure and grade conversion.

Points per criterion:

Total possible score:

Grade conversion:

How to handle partial credit:

Revision policy:

The Flip Perspective

ELA rubrics work when they are designed specifically for the task type, not when they apply the same five generic criteria to every piece of writing. This builder helps you design criteria that match whether you are assessing argument, narrative, analysis, or discussion, and calibrate them to the cognitive level your lesson actually targeted.

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Adapting this Template

For ELA

For literacy lessons, ELA Rubric helps scaffold close reading and analytical writing with clear thinking phases.

About the ELA Rubric framework

ELA assessment covers a wide range of skills and task types. A rubric for a narrative essay should look different from a rubric for an argument essay, which should look different from a rubric for a Socratic seminar discussion. This builder helps you create the right rubric for the specific literacy task you are assessing.

Writing rubrics: The most common ELA rubric type. Strong writing rubrics assess: ideas/content (what the writer says), organization (how it is structured), evidence/support (what the writer uses to back claims), style/voice (how the writer says it), and conventions (correctness). Not every task requires all five dimensions; focus the rubric on what the lesson actually taught.

Reading and analysis rubrics: For close reading tasks, reading responses, and literary analysis, the key criteria shift: textual evidence (is the student grounding claims in the text?), analytical depth (is the student interpreting, not just summarizing?), use of literary devices (is the student using domain-specific vocabulary accurately?), and reasoning (is the logic of the analysis sound?).

Discussion rubrics: Assessing academic discussion requires observable, behavioral criteria: contributing original ideas, building on others' contributions, using textual evidence, asking probing questions, and listening actively. Discussion rubrics should be observable in real time, not require post-hoc reconstruction.

Argument vs. narrative: Argument rubrics emphasize claim clarity, evidence quality, reasoning, and counterargument. Narrative rubrics emphasize plot structure, characterization, sensory detail, dialogue, and narrative voice. Using the wrong rubric type for the task gives students misleading feedback.

Conventions and their appropriate weight: Conventions (grammar, spelling, punctuation) are important but often over-weighted in ELA rubrics. For most writing tasks, conventions should be one criterion among five, not the primary focus. The exception is tasks where conventions are the specific learning target (editing practice, for example).

Analytic Rubric

Build an analytic rubric that evaluates student work across multiple criteria with distinct performance levels, giving students specific, actionable feedback on exactly what they did well and what to improve.

Self-Assessment Rubric

Design rubrics students use to assess their own work and learning, building metacognitive skills, encouraging honest reflection, and creating a genuine feedback loop between student self-perception and teacher assessment.

ELA Unit

Plan an English Language Arts unit that integrates reading, writing, speaking, and language, organized around anchor texts and an essential question that gives the unit coherence and purpose.

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Frequently asked questions

Not necessarily. If the lesson focused on argumentation, argument criteria should dominate and conventions should be a minor criterion. If the lesson was about editing and proofreading, conventions might be the primary criterion. Match the rubric to what you taught, not to a generic template.
Focus criteria on the specific craft elements taught (show vs. tell, dialogue, sensory detail) rather than on generic quality. For the most open creative tasks, holistic or single-point rubrics often work better than analytic ones because they preserve more room for creative risk-taking.
Use observable behavioral criteria: "Referenced the text at least twice during discussion," "Built on a classmate's idea by adding new evidence," "Asked a probing question that advanced the discussion." Abstract criteria like "participated actively" are difficult to score consistently.
Students benefit from seeing the rubric before every major assessment. If you use the same rubric type repeatedly (like an argument essay rubric for every argument essay), students become familiar with the criteria and internalize them, which is exactly the goal.
Use the same rubric for all students but provide differentiated supports for reaching the standard. A student who needs scaffolding gets structured planning templates and model texts; a student who is ready for more challenge gets more complex texts and fewer structural supports. The standard stays constant; the path varies.
Active learning in ELA looks like students debating interpretations, constructing arguments collaboratively, and presenting analyses to an audience. An ELA rubric for active learning should assess how students use textual evidence in real-time discussion, build on each other's ideas, and communicate their thinking clearly. When students work through a Flip mission centered on a text or writing challenge, you can observe these literacy skills in action rather than only seeing the polished final product. This rubric gives you the structure to evaluate those skills, and Flip missions give students the activity that makes them visible.
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