Newspaper Rubric

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Newspaper includes articles that have accurate historical information, show interpretation and analysis of the topic, and clearly address all of the following:

• Reactions to the book The Watsons Go to Birmingham 
• How African-Americans struggled for social justice  
• Factors that set the stage for the civil rights movement  
• What the civil rights movement can teach us about addressing current social issues

Newspaper includes articles that have accurate historical information, show some interpretation and analysis of the topic, and adequately address three of the following:

• Reactions to the book The Watsons Go to Birmingham
• How African-Americans struggled for social justice
• Factors that set the stage for the civil rights movement  
• What the civil rights movement can teach us about addressing current social issues

Newspaper includes some articles that have accurate historical information, show minimal interpretation or analysis of the topic, and adequately address only two of the following:

• Reactions to the book The Watsons Go to Birmingham 
• How African-Americans struggled for social justice
• Factors that set the stage for the civil rights movement  
• What the civil rights movement can teach us about addressing current social issues

• Reactions to the book The Watsons Go to Birmingham
• How African-Americans struggled for social justice
• Factors that set the stage for the civil rights movement
• What the civil rights movement can teach us about addressing current social issues 

The headlines of all the articles are catchy and relate well to the topic.

The lead of all the articles captures the attention of the reader and sums up the focus of the story.

Details and elaboration are evident in the body of all of the stories and flow smoothly from the lead.

The headlines of most of the articles are catchy and relate well to the topic.

The lead of most of the articles captures the attention of the reader and sums up the focus of the story.

Details and elaboration are evident in the body of most of the stories and flow smoothly from the lead.

The headlines of some of the articles are catchy and relate well to the topic.

The lead of some of the articles captures the attention of the reader and sums up the focus of the story.

Details and elaboration are evident in the body of some of the stories and flow smoothly from the lead.

The headlines (if present) are not catchy and do not relate well to the topic.

Article leads (if present) do not capture the attention of the reader and do not sum up the focus of the story.

Articles (if present) are lacking details and elaboration.

Columns are neatly formatted using the "justified" alignment style.

There are adequate and consistent "gutters" between all columns and articles.

A glance at the newspaper makes a reader think "professional."

Most columns are neatly typed.

There are adequate and consistent "gutters" between most columns and articles.

A glance at the newspaper makes a reader think "fairly professional."

Some columns are neatly typed.

There are adequate "gutters" between some columns and articles.

The newspaper is easy to read, but it looks somewhat unprofessional.

Columns are not neatly typed.

The "gutters" are not adequate.

The newspaper is somewhat difficult to read.