A revised rating scale for the ECPE writing test will be implemented in June 2009. The new rubric will have five levels: A, B, C, D, and E. The descriptors for performance levels A, B, and C will not change; only level D will be divided into a new D and an E level. The minimum passing level will continue to be C. The writing task will not change.

Please note that the 4-level rubric (A, B, C, and D) will remain in effect for ECPE examinations administered in 2008.

RATING RHETORIC GRAMMAR/SYNTAX VOCABULARY MECHANICS

A Honors

• Topicrichly,fully,complexlydeveloped

•Organizationwell-controlled,appropriatetothematerial

• Connectionissmooth

• Flexibleuseofawiderangeofsyntactic(sentencelevel)structures;morphological(wordforms)controlnearlyalwaysaccurate

• Broadrange,appropriatelyused

• Spellingandpunctuationerrorsarerareandinsignificant

B • Topicclearlyandcompletelydeveloped,withacknowledgmentofitscomplexity

•Organizationiscontrolledandshowsappropriatenesstothematerial

• Fewproblemswithconnection

• Bothsimpleandcomplexsyntaxadequatelyused;goodmorphologicalcontrol

• Vocabularyuseshowsflexibility,isusuallyappropriate

• Anyinappropriatevocabularydoesnotconfusemeaning

• Spellingandpunctuationerrorsareinfrequentandnotdistracting

C • Topicclearlydeveloped,butnotalwayscompletelyorwithacknowledgmentofitscomplexity

•Organizationgenerallycontrolled;connectionsometimesabsentorunsuccessful

• Bothsimpleandcomplexsyntaxpresent

• Forsome,syntaxiscautiousbutaccurate,whileothersaremorefluentbutlessaccurate

• Inconsistentmorphologicalcontrol

• Adequatevocabulary,butmaysometimesbeinappropriatelyused

• Spellingandpunctuationerrorssometimesdistracting

D • Topicdevelopmentusuallyclearbutsimpleandmayberepetitive

• Attemptstoaddressdifferentperspectivesonthetopicareoftenunsuccessful

• Overrelianceonprefabricatedlanguageand/orlanguagefromtheprompt

•Organizationpartiallycontrolled

•Morphologicalerrorsarefrequent

• Simplesentencestendtobeaccurate;morecomplexonestendtobeinaccurate

• Vocabularymaybelimitedinrange,andissometimesinappropriatelyusedtothepointthatitcausesconfusion

• Spellingandpunctuationerrorsarefrequentlydistracting

E • Topicdevelopmentmaybeunclearand/orlimitedbyincompletenessorlackoffocus

•Mightnotberelevanttotopic

• Connectionofideasoftenabsentorunsuccessful

• Pervasiveandbasicerrorsinsentencestructureandwordordercauseconfusion

• Problemswithsubject-verbagreement,tenseformationorwordformation

• Evenbasicsentencesarefilledwitherrors

• Incorrectuseofvocabularycausesconfusion

• Evenbasicwordsmaybemisused

•Mayshowinterferencefromotherlanguages

• Basicvocabularywordsregularlymisspelled

• Littleornocontroloversentenceboundaries

• Spellingandpunctuationerrorsregularlycauseconfusion

ECPE writing tESt rUBriC, rEViSED for 2009