This handbook is one of a series developed by the Texas Education Agency in response to requests to provide schools with additional information concerning the written composition portion of the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS). The handbook focuses on exit level grades 9 through 12. Following an introduction, the handbook is in two parts. Part 1 contains general information on the writing process and how that process applies to the TAAS exit level writing test. This section includes discussions of prewriting, elaboration, revision, and editing. Part 2 shows the scoring criteria and sample papers with detailed annotations for persuasive writing, which is the only type of writing eligible for testing at the exit level. Three appendixes present TAAS writing objectives and instructional targets at the exit level, describe the eligible type of writing at the exit level, and give an explanation of purpose/mode at the exit level. (SR)