Staff from the Mississippi Department of Education’s (MDE) Office of Student Assessment and the Office of Curriculum and Instruction worked with teachers, district leaders, and the Data Recognition Corporation to create new rubrics and checklists to be used on the spring 2026 writing assessment. All rubrics and checklists will remain in “draft” form until after rangefinding is completed in the summer of 2026.
There are three mode specific rubrics for each grade band.
Spring 2026 Rubrics
- Opinion
- Informative/Expository
- Narrative
- Argumentative
- Informative/Expository
- Narrative
There are grade level/mode specific checklists that will be provided to students during testing. These checklists will be assigned to the passage/prompt, so students will receive the checklist that corresponds to the mode of the prompt during testing. The MDE encourages teachers to use the rubrics for grading and the checklists during instruction.
Spring 2026 Checklists
The MDE will host six Writing Trainings around the state beginning in January.
January 21, 2026- Meridian, Riley Center
January 22, 2026- Jackson, Hilton Jackson
February 4, 2026- Cleveland, DSU Ewing Hall
February 11, 2026- Hattiesburg, Thad Cochran
February 18, 2026- Oxford, Oxford Conference Center
February 25, 2026- USM Long Beach
Please use the RESA link to register.
Event 11198- Meridian- https://emced.msresaservices.com/events-strengthening_writing_Meridian
Event 11197- Jackson- https://smec.msresaservices.com/events-strengthening_writing_Jackson_
Event 11199- Cleveland- https://daais.msresaservices.com/events-strengthening_writing_Cleveland
Event 11200- Hattiesburg- https://sresa.msresaservices.com/events-strengthening_writing_Hattiesburg_
Event 11201- Oxford- https://nmec.msresaservices.com/events-strengthening_writing_Oxford_
Event 11202- Long Beach- https://gceic.msresaservices.com/events-strengthening_writing_LongBeach_
Please contact Melissa Beck at mbeck@mdek12.org with any questions.