The result of a workshop on the holistic scoring of compositions, this guide is intended to help elementary school teachers evaluate more thoroughly their students' writing. Following an introduction to the handbook's origins, the first section discusses elements of holistic scoring, including procedures for preparation, scoring, and interpreting the results. The second section discusses analytic scoring, including a dictation method and scoring instructions for each grade from second through sixth. A third section discusses peer editing, and the guide concludes with comments on other possible uses for the instruments and information it contains. (HTH)