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.
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 |  |  |