Using the Program

Utah Compose is a comprehensive writing instruction and assessment system designed to assist students in grades 3 through 12 with improving their writing skills. The system acts as a partner with the teacher, providing students with instant feedback on their performance across the Six Characteristics of Writing and supplying teachers with the necessary tools to enhance and inform their instruction.

For Students

• To log in to the Utah Compose writing website, click the User Login button located in the upper right-hand corner of the welcome page.
• Enter your assigned username and password provided to you by your teacher.
• If you are only enrolled in one course, you will be taken to the home page for that course.
• If you are enrolled in multiple courses, you will be taken to the Select a Course page.

For Teachers

•  To log in to the Utah Compose Site from the Welcome page,
• Click the User Login button in the upper right corner.
• Enter your user name and password.
• You are now on the Select a Course page.
• Once you login to Utah Compose you will be on the Course Home Page If you have more than one course, the Select a Course page displays all of the courses that are connected to your login credentials.
• The course home page displays important information about this course including Helpful Links and Frequently Asked Questions (at the bottom of the page), the Student Writing History, and the five main tabs for working in the course.

For School Administrators

• To log in to the Utah Compose writing site from the welcome page, click the User Login button in the upper right corner.
• Enter your user name and password.  If you are registered as a school administrator at more than one school, you will be taken to the Select a School page where you can select a school to access and work within Utah Compose.
• Pick a School Page
• After you select a school or if you are registered for only one single school, you will be taken immediately to the Manage School page.

For District Administrators

• District administrators will receive a secure user name and password to access the full writing website to help manage Utah Compose for the district.
• Upon logging in, district administrators can change their password, access the Help page, adjust personal display settings, and access the four main action tabs for a district administrator: Schools, Prompts, Users, and Reports.

• To change your password, click click your name at the top of the page.
• Click My Account to view the Account Information page.
• Type the current password and the new password. Type the new password again to confirm it.
• Click Save to save the changes.

To adjust the display settings for your personal account, click the gear icon in the upper right corner to modify the default display settings:

Accessibility Options

• Font Size > increase the font size of the text displayed on the screen
• Color Contrast > change the contrast of the background/foreground screen colors
• Color Overlay > add a semi-transparent color over the text displayed on the screen
• Line Reader > displays a line of text while masking the areas above and below
• Undo  > sets the above features back to the default display settings

You can find information about how to use Utah Compose by clicking Help at the top of all pages in the website. This displays the Utah Compose Help Center, which includes information on getting started with Utah Compose as well as specific information and resources related to your user role. The Help Center also includes resources such as example essays, rubrics, and printable graphic organizers.

If you are still having trouble after reading the online help, you can click the Contact link in the Help Center. Contact us by email or phone using the information displayed.  

Click the Sign Out button in the upper right corner of any page on the website to return to the Utah Compose Welcome Page. 

You have access to over 40 interactive lessons to help improve your writing skills, as well as grammar and passage exercises for specific practice.

• Click on the Lessons tab to select and view a lesson.
• Use the filters to display the lessons by category and difficulty level. You can also view lessons that have been recommended for you.
• Click on the title or thumbnail and follow the instructions within each lesson.
• Some lessons include audio where the words in the lesson are read aloud. To hear the audio, click on the audio button or hover over the audio icon within the lesson.