2017 English Language Arts and Literacy Framework

Writing Standards in Action

Educators, parents, and students often ask, "What does good student writing at this grade level look like?" The answer lies in the writing itself. All students can meet high standards. The Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks outline content and skill expectations at each grade level. Below are examples of high-quality student writing with annotations that highlight how each piece meets or exceeds learning standards at its grade level. The annotated samples are designed to support teachers, administrators, families, and students in improving instruction and student writing.

The student writing samples below represent a range of grade levels and content areas and were written for a variety of tasks, audiences, and purposes. When possible, they include information about the assignment and teaching strategies that elicited the writing. Writers come from Massachusetts public schools in urban, suburban, and rural districts across the state.

All samples are authentic and unedited student work. Accordingly, they may contain inaccuracies in wording and content or shortcomings in the use of standard English conventions. Samples were submitted by teachers and administrators for review and selection by panels of Massachusetts educators with expertise in writing instruction and evaluation.

Please note that samples were collected and annotated before the 2018 revisions to the Massachusetts standards for history and social science.

How to use the samples

Kindergarten	Sample & Commentary	Unmarked Sample
Sample 1: Opinion Essay
Sample 2: "How To" Book
Sample 3: Personal Narrative
Sample 4: Personal Narrative

Grade 1	Sample & Commentary	Unmarked Sample
Sample 1: Opinion Essay
Sample 2: Opinion Essay
Sample 3: Informational Essay
Sample 4: Personal Narrative

Grade 2	Sample & Commentary	Unmarked Sample
Sample 1: Persuasive Essay
Sample 2: Group Research Project
Sample 3: Group Research Project
Sample 4: Poem
Sample 5: Personal Narrative

Grade 3	Sample & Commentary	Unmarked Sample
Sample 1: Opinion Essay
Sample 2: Informational Essay
Sample 3: Biography
Sample 4: Letter to Describe Hardships Experienced by the Pilgrims in the New World
Sample 5: Personal Narrative

Grade 4	Sample & Commentary	Unmarked Sample
Sample 1: Opinion Essay
Sample 2: Essay
Sample 3: Personal Narrative

Grade 5	Sample & Commentary	Unmarked Sample
Sample 1: Essay
Sample 2: Research Report
Sample 3: Research Report
Sample 4: Biographical Essay
Sample 5: Personal Narrative
Sample 6: Poetry

Grade 6	Sample & Commentary	Unmarked Sample
Sample 1: Persuasive Letter
Sample 2: Persuasive Essay
Sample 3: Essay Written as a Spring Benchmark Sample
Sample 4: Letter to an Author
Sample 5: Short Research Essay
Sample 6: Poem
Sample 7: Short Narrative

Grade 7	Sample & Commentary	Unmarked Sample
Sample 1: Short Research Project
Sample 3: Response to a Text-Based Question
Sample 4: First Person Narrative
Sample 5: Poem

Grade 8	Sample & Commentary	Unmarked Sample
Sample 1: Literary Interpretation Essay
Sample 2: Letter to the Editor
Sample 3: Letter to the Editor
Sample 4: Letter to an Author
Sample 5: Science Fiction Narrative
Sample 6: A poem that emulates the poetic structure and form of a model
Sample 7: Narrative Poem

Grade 9	Sample & Commentary	Unmarked Sample
Sample 1: Literary Analysis

Grade 10	Sample & Commentary	Unmarked Sample
Sample 1: Personal Essay
Sample 2: Personal Narrative
Sample 3: Explanation by Categorization

Grade 11	Sample & Commentary	Unmarked Sample
Sample 1: Argument

Grade 12	Sample & Commentary	Unmarked Sample
Sample 1: Poem