Are you using rubrics with your students to help them strengthen their own writing? Prose Constructed Responses are on-demand writing pieces that are crafted in response to text, or prose. These rubrics use the same language as those developed by PARCC for grades 4-5 or grade 3 (criteria have been scaled down for grades 1-2). The official PARCC rubrics address both analytic (opinion and informational) and for narrative. However, an asterisk on the rubrics indicates that narrative pieces are no longer scored for their demonstration of reading comprehension. While narrative writing will be written in response to a piece of prose, they will only scored for their writing content and language conventions, not for evidence of reading comprehension. Therefore, the rubrics are adjusted accordingly. In addition, there are two versions of each rubric—a condensed and an expanded. In August 2013, PARCC revised its Prose Constructed Response (PCR) rubric to make it condensed. This means it collapsed all of the writing content into one component and a single goal for possible points. You may find it helpful to use the expanded for instruction because it allows for more distinctions in each category. Each rubric features precise language from PARCC rubrics; this allows students to become familiar with this language for the assessments. At this time, students may access PARCC rubrics during PARCC assessments. Therefore, it is a good idea to familiarize students with this language.

Hints for teaching using PCR rubrics:

• Use rubrics often throughout the writing process and instruction.
• Read and think aloud what each section of the rubric means.
• Write (next to the bullet) what it means in plain language (see page 2 for an example).
• Model scoring writing using the rubric; underling key words and phrases in the writing that matches the rubric descriptors.
• Show students exemplars of writing that meets the criteria for each of the sections.
• Encourage students to self-assess using the rubric, highlighting sections of their writing that match the rubric components.
• Require students to revise and edit Prose Constructed Responses that fall short of the standard. Model and guide this first

Here are some newly revisedPARCC based PCR Rubrics that align with those from PARCC that are more kid-friendly.