In conjunction with the New Mexico State Department of Education's Writing Appraisal Program for high school students, a project was designed whose central goal was to identify and clearly delineate writing competencies for students in the younger grades. A pilot project first collected student writing samples and descriptive data from third and fifth grade students and their teachers in randomly selected classes in two districts (Santa Fe and Alburquerque). Following this, approximately 3,000 writing samples (narrative, descriptive, and persuasive writing) were collected from 13 school districts over a 7- to 12-week period, beginning in the fall of 1982 through mid-January 1983. In addition, descriptive data from 45 elementary language arts teachers from the same 13 school districts were compiled based on responses to curriculum mapping questionnaires, and descriptive and evaluative data were elicited from a statewide appointed 23-member Elementary Writing Competencies Task Force composed of reading, language arts, and English faculty at all levels of instruction. Two documents were developed from the compilation and summarizing of these data. "Essentials of an Effective Writing Program" presents guidelines for the writing teacher, and describes in detail seven segments of an effective writing program: setting the stage; pre-writing; drafting; rewriting and revision; editing and proofreading; evaluation; and publication. "Exit Level Writing Competencies for Third and Fifth Grades" includes behavioral objectives for various areas of writing competency--coherence and unity; sentence structure; mechanics; narrative, descriptive, and persuasive modes; and intention and delivery. (Samples of third and fifth-grade student writings, a writing curriculum mapping form, two pages of footnotes, and five references are appended.) (MM)