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SBAC EXPLANATORY Semester 1 RUBRIC 2026-2027
Student ______________________ Date ____________
Standard
Criterion
(4) Exceeds
(3) Meets
(2) Approaches
(1) Beginning
Organization and Purpose
0
/ 4
Thesis/Controlling Idea
Thesis/controlling idea is clear and the focus is strongly maintained for the purpose and audience
Thesis/controlling idea is clear and the focus is mostly maintained for the purpose and audience
Thesis/controlling idea may be somewhat unclear or the focus may be insufficiently sustained for the purpose and/or audience
Thesis/controlling idea may be confusing or ambiguous; response may be too brief or the focus may drift from the purpose and/or audience
Logical progression of ideas
among
paragraphs
(sentence-to-sentence)
strong connections between and among ideas with some syntactic variety
adequate connections between and among ideas
inconsistent or unclear connections among ideas
ideas may be randomly ordered or have unclear progression
Evidence and Elaboration
0
/ 4
Evidence
comprehensive evidence (at least 2 supporting quotes) from the source material is integrated, relevant, and specific
evidence supports the claim and clear context is constructed for each quote
adequate evidence (at least 2 supporting quotes) from the source material is relevant, yet may be general
evidence supports the claims
some evidence (facts and details) from the source material may be weakly integrated, imprecise, repetitive, vague
some evidence supports the claims
evidence (facts and details) from the source material is minimal, irrelevant, absent, incorrectly used, or predominantly copied
Evidence does not support the claims
Elaboration
In-depth, clear, and effective analysis
effective use of a variety of elaborative techniques by consistently explaining what the evidence says, means, and matters clearly
Reasoned analysis
adequate use of some elaborative techniques by consistently explaining what the evidence says and means
Some reasoned analysis
weak or uneven use of elaborative techniques; development may consist primarily of source summary or may rely on emotional appeal
Analysis lacks clarity
minimal, if any, use of elaborative techniques; emotional appeal may dominate
Conventions
0
/ 4
2 (Meets)
1 (Approaches)
0 (Insufficient)
Punctuation & capitalization
Correct use of punctuation and capitalization.
Limited use of correct punctuation and capitalization.
Infrequent use of correct punctuation and capitalization.
Citations
Adequate use of citations or attribution to source material.
Weak use of citations or attribution to source material.
Insufficient use of citations or attribution to source material.