To determine benefits of cognitive strategy instruction when using writing rubrics, 164 students from a large suburban high school in the Southwest United States wrote three essays and completed pre- and post-measures assessing writing self-efficacy, achievement goals, self-regulation, and the perception of classroom goal structures. The essays were assessed for writing performance, the time spent writing, and the number and quality of revisions made. Repeated measures MANCOVAs revealed significant interactions for self-regulation, the number of minutes spent working on the writing, and the number of content-related revisions made. Students receiving a writing rubric and cognitive strategy instruction demonstrated benefits in comparison to the rubric-only group whose members received only the rubric and a brief explanation of the criteria. Interviews further provided a description of students' attributions regarding significant interactions.