The Center for the Study of Evaluation (CSE) has developed expository and narrative rating scales to meet the need for instructionally-relevant methods for assessing students' writing competence. The scales employ analytic rating procedures to meet the assessment needs of identifying specific areas of strength and weakness for individual students, and indicating areas where classroom, school, and district curricula may need to be improved. Raters assign points to each of several aspects of a student's composition, providing a rating of the overall quality of the written product as well as ratings on specific elements. The authors believe that the greater cost and time commitment required by analytic rating is offset by instructional advantages. An overview to the scales and a description of the theory and research base is provided. The features, purposes, and uses of the expository and the narrative scales, and the training that CSE provides for school systems are described. The CSE rating scales and student compositions rated during a training session are included in the appendices. (PN)