Composition theory and research indicate that, whether they use a holistic or an analytic rubric, teachers should share their scoring guide with their students. Both students and teachers benefit in substantial ways when students draft and revise their written work in the context of the rubric their teachers will use to assess student writing. Shared scoring guides might reduce writing apprehension, and they establish that most crucial educational relationship between teaching and evaluating. Shared scoring guides also act as something of a substitute for the individual teacher-student conference. Another benefit to teachers is that the use of a clear, shared rubric reduces student complaints about grades. Specific evaluative criteria should accompany every writing assignment a teacher gives to his/her students. Shared rubrics empower students--they urge students to become active participants in the writing process, and they substantiate the connections among teaching, learning, and assessment. (Cites 15 works.) (NKA)