This Teacher's Guide contains procedures to be followed throughout the year in implementing the New Mexico Portfolio Writing Assessment. The Assessment, required for all students in grades 4 and 6, and optional for grade 8, is conducted each school year, with a call for each student's best piece in March. The optional administration in grade 8 allows for practice and development before the New Mexico High School Competency Examination of grade 10. These guidelines assure standardization of practices and scoring, and cover all aspects of the portfolio process from its introduction to the students and the distribution of materials through holistic scoring and interpretation of results. Scoring guides are presented for narrative, expository, persuasive, and analytic writing. Each scoring guide contains samples of student writing at proficiency levels 1 through 6. The required prompts (topics for student writing) for the 1992-93 school year are included in an addendum. (Contains 24 references.) (SLD)