Lake Washington School District requires students to show they have learned to communicate through writing in order to graduate. Students will comlete three writing assignments that meet the communication standards. They are:
- A literary analysis essay
- A persuasive essay and
- A cause-effect or compare-contrast essay
Students will have many chances in their classes to complete these requirements.
The writing must meet specific standards
To be counted toward the graduation requirements, each essay must be scored Proficient or Proficient with Honors. If the work does not meet these standards, students may revise it based on the feedback they receive and resubmit the work.
Proficient in Writing means the essay scored between 4.0 and 4.49 on the scoring criteria. That score is the average of the scores on a scale of one to five in the four areas of the scoring criteria:
- ideas and content
- organization
- style
- conventions/presentation
Proficient with Honors means the essay scored a 4.5 or higher. To achieve a Proficient with Honors designation for the overall category of writing, the student must achieve Proficient with Honors for all three essays.