Narrative Scoring Scheme (NSS)

The Narrative Scoring Scheme is an assessment tool that provides an index of the student's ability to produce a coherent narrative. It was developed to create a more objective narrative structure scoring system and is based on an earlier version, Rubric for Completing a Story Grammar Analysis, developed by the Madison Metropolitan School District SALT working group, 1998, following the work of Stein and Glenn, 1979; 1982. This scoring procedure combines many of the abstract categories of Story Grammar, adding features of cohesion, connecting events, rationale for characters' behavior and referencing. Each of the scoring categories has explicit examples to establish scoring criteria, reducing the abstractness of the story grammar categories.

View the NSS Scoring Guide, which contains detailing instructions for scoring narratives.

Practice Transcripts

The first three practice transcripts are based on the story Frog, Where Are You? Read the NSS FWAY Scoring Rubric. Then download the transcripts, score them for NSS, and compare your scores to the scores of our trained coders.

The next three practice transcripts are based on the story A Porcupine Named Fluffy. Read the NSS APNF Scoring Rubric. Then download the transcripts, score them for NSS, and compare your scores to the scores of our trained coders.

The next set of practice transcripts are based on the story A Pookins Gets Her Way. Read the NSS PGHW Scoring Rubric. Then download the transcripts, score them for NSS, and compare your scores to the scores of our trained coders.

The last three practice transcripts are based on the story Doctor De Soto. Read the NSS DDS Scoring Rubric. Then download the transcripts, score them for NSS, and compare your scores to the scores of our trained coders.

The NSS was written up in the July 15, 2009 edition of the Advance magazine (click here to go to the Advance web site).