Writing Program

The ERHS writing program requires that students learn and apply the writing process starting in ninth grade. We work collaboratively to align grading and to prepare our students for college-level writing expectations. This means that writing is more than just meeting requirements for page length or the number of sentences in a paragraph.

For more one approach to the writing process, click here.

All of the teachers in this department grade major writing assignments with the following scale in mind: Content and structure should each be forty percent of a grade, style should be fifteen percent, and grammar and mechanics should be five percent.

See the videos below for additional explanation of this breakdown, but always be sure to check with your individual teacher for specific writing expectations - there are often times when a teacher may prepare you for a specific writing task, including but not limited to the SAT, the PARCC, or the AP exam. Remember that your teacher's expectations - like a professor's expectations in college - may be specific to a class.