AIMS Writing

Introducing the Holistic Rubric Based on 6 Traits

Beginning Spring 2011, AIMS Writing extended responses will be scored with the new Official Scoring Guide, the Holistic Rubric Based on 6 Traits.

Assessment sought input from national experts, state experts, university professors, public school administrators, teachers, and parents in a year-long process to design the rubric. Research used in creating the original 6 Traits of Writing model for classroom instruction guided the content of the rubric. Arizona Department of Education honors the 6 Traits of Writing in Strand 2 of the Academic Writing Standard and continues to advocate for classroom instruction based on this model. The new rubric incorporates the essence of 6 Traits of Writing in a holistic scoring tool. Standard Setting will be completed in June of 2011 for Writing. Standard Setting will include combining both the extended response score with the multiple choice score.

The cut scores for AIMS Writing will be presented to the Arizona State Board of Education in June 2011 for approval. Once the cut scores are approved, they will be used for the scale scores following each administration of AIMS, beginning Spring 2011.

To access the scale score tables each year, go to http://www.azed.gov/research-evaluation/aims-assessment-results/.

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