Skip to main content

Home/ OLLIE Iowa/ Group items tagged rubric;

Rss Feed Group items tagged

criley55

ollie_4-fall14: Building a Better Mousetrap - 4 views

  • rubric that tells students, as a typical example, that they will get an A for writing a 1000 word essay that “cites x number of sources and supports its thesis with at least three arguments” will lead students to perceive writing as a kind of “paint-by-number” endeavor (Mathews).
    • joycevermeer
       
      Yes, by saying "how many" students naturally look at quantity more than quality. So best is probably that we speak of both when creating rubrics.
  • ubric that tells students, as a typical example, that they will get an A for writing a 1000 word essay that “cites x number of sources and supports its thesis with at least three arguments” will lead students to perceive writing as a kind of “paint-by-number” endeavor (Mathews).
  • ubric that tells students, as a typical example, that they will get an A for writing a 1000 word essay that “cites x number of sources and supports its thesis with at least three arguments” will lead students to perceive writing as a kind of “paint-by-number” endeavor (Mathews).
  • ...79 more annotations...
    • scampie1
       
      es, I have seen this with my reflection logs in my classes. When we use quantity rather than quality indicators, we do seem to get minimum responses. I plan to respond to the logs frequently to encourage teachers to use them for self-reflection. That was not possible working face to face.
    • scampie1
       
      My students reported not knowing what was being assesed was their biggest asssessment fear. Actual models and discussion about criteria is absolutely necessary.
  • Barbara Moskal, in her article “Scoring Rubrics: What, When, and How?” insists that rubrics should be non-judgmental: “Each score category should be defined using description of the work rather than judgments about the work.” For example, “sentence structure follows current conventions” would be better than “sentence structure is good.”
    • scampie1
       
      I believe some qualities must be defined using qualitative terminalogy. This is where student input and comparison of models of high and low quality criteira would help students define or picture the quality indicators that are "judgemental". Scampie1
    • Marisa Dahl
       
      I agree. After being given a number I feel like they don't have a qualification equivalent. When I took a course much like this at Iowa State, our professor had a rubric based on the quality of the post, not how many. It was nice to be given credit for content instead of word count. It goes back to the days when we were forced to write 10 pages on pandas with at least 10 sources with only one of those being the WWW (which is how it was stated). I also don't like having such a high quantity because with so many students in the course it becomes overwhelming to read each one, let alone provide a meaningful comment or reflection. There isn't much text that left to highlight, back to "less is more".
  • Indeed, since rubrics allow for widespread assessment of higher-level thinking skills, performance-based assessment is replacing or complementing more traditional modes of testing; this in turn means that teachers are changing their instructional modes to prepare their students for these tests. Kenneth Volger, in his study, “The Impact of High-Stakes, State-Mandated Student Performance Assessment on Teacher’s Instructional Practices,” analyzes the survey responses of 257 10th grade English, math, and science teachers and concludes that, since the implementation of such tests in public schools, there has been “notable increases in the use of open-response questions, creative/critical thinking questions, problem-solving activities, […] writing assignments, and inquiry/investigation.”
  • Indeed, since rubrics allow for widespread assessment of higher-level thinking skills, performance-based assessment is replacing or complementing more traditional modes of testing; this in turn means that teachers are changing their instructional modes to prepare their students for these tests. Kenneth Volger, in his study, “The Impact of High-Stakes, State-Mandated Student Performance Assessment on Teacher’s Instructional Practices,” analyzes the survey responses of 257 10th grade English, math, and science teachers and concludes that, since the implementation of such tests in public schools, there has been “notable increases in the use of open-response questions, creative/critical thinking questions, problem-solving activities, […] writing assignments, and inquiry/investigation.”
  • Indeed, since rubrics allow for widespread assessment of higher-level thinking skills, performance-based assessment is replacing or complementing more traditional modes of testing; this in turn means that teachers are changing their instructional modes to prepare their students for these tests. Kenneth Volger, in his study, “The Impact of High-Stakes, State-Mandated Student Performance Assessment on Teacher’s Instructional Practices,” analyzes the survey responses of 257 10th grade English, math, and science teachers and concludes that, since the implementation of such tests in public schools, there has been “notable increases in the use of open-response questions, creative/critical thinking questions, problem-solving activities, […] writing assignments, and inquiry/investigation.”
    • scampie1
       
      A high school math teacher I know tried to add writing in math as part of the Writing Across Curriculum program. Instead of using appropriate prompts for technical writing in mathematics, the rubric forced her to use themes and literacy criteria. Writing did improve in her school on state assessments but she didn't feel math scores were affected.
    • jbdecker
       
      Hopefully the students that took the math course that added writing were in a better position to be successful later in life by gaining more writing instruction overall, even if the math scores weren't impacted in the short term. 
    • Deb Vail
       
      Deb Vail: This is key. The students must get the rubric before turning in their work to get the maximum value from it. Additionally, I have found that if students practice assessing samples using the rubric prior to turning in their own they understand the goal more fully. 
  • The instructor’s comments on papers and tests are done after rather than before the writing, so they cannot serve as guidelines, compromising the value of writing comments at all
    • Deb Vail
       
      This is key. The students must get the rubric before turning in their work to get the maximum value from it. Additionally, I have found that if students practice assessing samples using the rubric prior to turning in their own they understand the goal more fully. 
    • jbdecker
       
      Deb, I think you are right having the students complete an exercise where they can study and grade samples prior to turning in their own work can be a very powerful tool in helping students reach mastery of a task.
  • Perhaps the greatest potential value of classroom assessment is realized when we open the assessment process up and welcome students into that process as full partners” (qtd. in Skillings and Ferrell).
    • Deb Vail
       
      This sounds great, but I can't imagine how long it would take for students to help create assessments. I taught 3rd and 4th graders, and I don't think I'd truly try this. Sounds great in theory, but I'm skeptical. 
    • jbdecker
       
      Deb, I'm with you on this one.  I would be very interested to see how an instructor set up a lesson to allow for student collaboration in developing a quality rubric.  I'm not saying that it can't be done but it could be a very cumbersome task.  I'm trying to imagine doing it with my 30+ sophomores in a World History class.
    • Kristina Dvorak
       
      I am also in agreement with the both of you.  I have thought about doing this with my students after I do a demonstration.  Asking the students what the learning targets should be.  I am sure that some of them could do this with ease and it might allow them to take more ownership in their learning, but there just isn't enough time for this.  It might be better for a small claass
  • I once gave extra credit to a student who realized that without providing a shred of meaningful content she could meet all the requirements of a state writing rubric he posted in his classroom. As required she used the word “persuade” and two synonyms, composed a clear topic sentence and closing sentence, and made no spelling or grammatical errors. But she did it without saying anything coherent.
    • Deb Vail
       
      That's a scary thought, although I have to say I've felt that kids met the letter of the rubric but missed the intent. Writing a good rubric is challenging. I have to honestly say that I've never truly felt like I nailed what I wanted with a rubric. However, I've had good luck with rubrics when kids used them to score samples. Then they understood the intent or goal of the rubric. 
    • Kathleen Goslinga
       
      I agree that "writing a good rubric is challenging". This is an area that will continue to be a work in progress as I continure to work towards a clearer message being shared.
    • Diane Jackson
       
      I thought this was interesting and scary too. A student could meet all the requirements and not really say anything.
  • mitagate both teacher bias and the perception of teacher bias (
    • Deb Vail
       
      I'm not sure I'd agree with this. I think rubrics are subjective by their very nature. 
    • joycevermeer
       
      My thought is that having a rubric generally makes for less subjectivity than not having a rubric.....though subjectivity can be present either way.
    • Evan Abbey
       
      I agree with Joyce. Unless a teacher is using rubrics at inappropriate places, she is usually measuring something that is subjective. The rubric helps put it in a more objective manner, allowing for more consistency between different assessors.
  • extremely short scales make it difficult to identify small differences between students.
    • Deb Vail
       
      This may be true for the rubric my group created. We only had 3 points on our scale. 
  • Analytical or holistic
    • Deb Vail
       
      Interesting - as I read above General and Specific, I thought it was the same thing as analytical vs. holistic. Surprised to find they are different. I guess I need to reread these. 
  • Look at some actual examples of student work to see if you have omitted any important dimensions.
    • Deb Vail
       
      So true - how many times have I created a rubric that I thought was good - that is until I looked at what I got from students and realized I missed something that should have been included in the rubric. 2nd iterations are usually better. 
    • Kathleen Goslinga
       
      I've done exactly the same and omitted a key point that should have been included. I agree with the second iterations being better.
  • we need a meta-rubric to assess our rubric
    • Deb Vail
       
      Are you serious?! This sounds like it came from a person that doesn't actually teach. I suspect this comment sounds a little snarky but I find this a bit much. 
  • Moreover, rubrics can help the student with self-assessment; what is most important here is not the final product the students produce, but the habits of mind practiced in the act of self-assessment.
    • Kathleen Goslinga
       
      When students receive the rubric for assessment prior to beginning their work this eliminates excuses a teacher may hear as everything is clearly stated and noted. A rubric serves as an excellent way for students to self assess their work and determining whether the goals have been achieved and at what level.
    • Kristina Dvorak
       
      Agree, showing students the rubric first allows them to know what to aim for, what standards are critical for a particular assignment, and gives students a goal.  
  • he criteria must be made clear to them
    • Kathleen Goslinga
       
      When developing a rubric one must remember to clearly state what makes the final product exemplary, proficient and may need additional work. Students can then evaluate or self assess at a more accurate level.
    • jbdecker
       
      Sometimes as educators we can use a lot of jargon.  We need to remember to keep it student focused if we are going to give the rubric to the students.  It doesn't do the student any good if they don't know the meaning of the different criteria.
  • “think more deeply about their learning.”
  • “think more deeply about their learning.”
  • “think more deeply about their learning.”
  • “think more deeply about their learning.”
  • “think more deeply about their learning.”
  • “think more deeply about their learning.”
  • “think more deeply about their learning.”
  • “think more deeply about their learning.”
  • “think more deeply about their learning.”
  • “think more deeply about their learning.”
  • “think more deeply about their learning.”
  • “think more deeply about their learning.”
  • “think more deeply about their learning.”
  • “think more deeply about their learning.”
  • “think more deeply about their learning.”
  • “think more deeply about their learning.”
    • Kathleen Goslinga
       
      When possible I believe we need to include students in the assessment process. This gives them a voice and buy-in to their learning.
    • joycevermeer
       
      I can sure see how involving children in creating the rubric would require them to think more deeply. I wonder if students would suggest a harder or easier assignment than the teacher would. Sometimes just giving opportunity for input brings on motivation.
  • well-designed rubrics help instructors in all disciplines meaningfully assess the outcomes of the more complicated assignments that are the basis of the problem-solving, inquiry-based, student-centered pedagogy replacing the traditional lecture-based, teacher-centered approach in tertiary education.
    • jbdecker
       
      This quote seems to answer the basic question of why we should worry about designing rubrics?  It is one tool in assessing assignments that have the potential to be more meaningful for our students (problem-solving, inquiry-based, student-centered).
    • Kristina Dvorak
       
      Additionally, with these types of assignments without a rubric there is the possibility for subjective judgements.  A quality rubric will remove the subjective aspect to grading.  
    • bgeanaea11
       
      I think once we understand rubrics and why we use them we can better decide when and how to use them.
  • along with supporting models of work
    • jbdecker
       
      A quality rubric is good for students but a quality rubric as well as supporting models or samples of student work can be much more powerful in helping students see what is actually expected from them. This is an aspect that I feel I could do a much better job of in my own instruction.
    • Nicole Wood
       
      I completely agree! As a primary teacher, I found models to be very powerful in giving students a visual of what different levels of quality work would "look like." Depending on the task, I would either post different levels of quality work and have them identify the criteria that matches each level or I would have them help me create models of what each quality level would look like. I fully recognize that this process is much easier in the primary grades where the tasks are often much smaller. However, I did find students were much more reflective on their work when we went through this process.
  • from students is not only unfair and makes self-assessment more difficult,
    • Kristina Dvorak
       
      If students don't know what the learning targets are, how do they know what to focus on?  The rubric should give students a clear idea of the goals.  
    • Evan Abbey
       
      True. Although even knowing the learning targets doesn't help much if you don't make clear what it looks like to do them.
  • Moreover, some teachers have noticed how students who were good writers become wooden when writing under the influence of a rubric.
    • Kristina Dvorak
       
      It seems that some of these anecdotes show that the rubrics being used are missing categories to assess all the needed categories.  The first example is missing a component on being cohesive and this one is missing the creative component.   I have done this in the past, given a rubric and then realized it is missing something critical.  This is why rubric building takes so much time. 
  • rubrics, in effect, dehumanize the act of writing.
    • joycevermeer
       
      With writing assignments is it not best that students just write from their heart first, then see if anything needs to be tweeked to fit the rubric requirements? Teachers can encourage this, but once the rubric is there it does make it hard....especially for younger children. This article brings up many valid points.
  • build your own rubric from scratch
    • joycevermeer
       
      I'd probably take the build-it-from-scratch option. Sometimes it easier to come up with your own ideas than change somebody else's and you can then be more creative.
    • Adrian Evans
       
      I agree. It is fine to build one or two at the beginning, but then I find myself cannibalizing them to fit for an assignment. But, this builds consistency for the students as they can see what I am looking for and know that I have looked for that in prior assignments.
  • “Does the assessment help students become the kinds of [citizens] we want them to be?”
  • “Does the assessment help students become the kinds of [citizens] we want them to be?”
  • “Does the assessment help students become the kinds of [citizens] we want them to be?”
  • Does the assessment help students become the kinds of [citizens] we want them to be?”
    • joycevermeer
       
      Asking if our assessment helps students become the kind of citizens we want them to be really puts the pressure on. We want them to want to contribute out of a sense of duty and for the good of mankind.
  • “Meaningfully” here means both consistently and accurately
    • Travis Wilkins
       
      When working on my second grade team we often spent time trying to calibrate the consistency and accuracy of our rubrics.  On district wide assessments we would determine the assessments and rubric and each score separately.  We would continue to do this and refine.  It was always very eye opening to see how different we would score the same writings.  The process was very important to the refining of the rubric to the point where it was able to be used consistently and accurately with similar results from all in the group.  It sounds like we will be doing a similar project this week for our course.
    • Nicole Wood
       
      When I taught 2nd grade, our team did a similar process. I do believe that calibrating is a very important component to rubrics. Rubrics alone certainly do not guarantee that every member of a team will score a piece of writing the exact same way.
    • Evan Abbey
       
      It is interesting you both had this on a 2nd grade team. I have never done this, other than when I was a principal and I led inservice to do it. I wonder if any secondary teachers have experience calibrating.
    • Joanne Cram
       
      I struggle as a consultant to get the instructors to be sure when using a rubric, that they use quantifyable descriptors that have a quality spelled out specifically. It is either present, or not, or measured someway in between.
    • criley55
       
      Calibration is so important when you look at it from a district level view. When we have students moving from school to school or not even moving, but comparing data from schools, if rubrics haven't been calibrated or pieces commonly scored, the data really doesn't tell you what you may think it does.
  • if they are shared with students prior to the completion of any given assignment.
    • Travis Wilkins
       
      In my teaching experience, I found that many teachers skipped the process of sharing the rubrics with students.  I felt that this was a huge missed opportunity with the children in our classroom.  However, thoughtout my teaching career this became more of a focus in our district and it was amazing to see the transformation in student ownership of work when they had the criteria as defined in the rubric shared with them prior to their work.  
    • criley55
       
      If we aren't sharing the rubrics with the students, they really can't take that ownership because they are guessing at what the teacher wants from them.
  • others worry that doing so will encourage formulaic writing
    • Travis Wilkins
       
      This is an interesting point, and one that I had never really thought about.  I can say that in my 7 years in the 2nd and 3rd grade level classrooms that I did not find this to be much of a problem.  However, I can see how some secondary level rubrics could put more of an emphasis on number of words, spacing, requirements for number of arguments, etc. could lead to more of a formulaic style of writing.
    • Evan Abbey
       
      I can say this is a big issue in writing, especially "writing across the curriculum", where it is assigned by non-language arts teacher.
  • Feedback
    • Travis Wilkins
       
      Our team of teachers in both 2nd and 3rd grade found great benefit from conversations with students about the rubrics we were using.  It became easy to see how certain words of phrases in our rubrics were unclear to students, and how simple changes could make them more applicable and meaningful for our students.  I think the feedback process is vital in creating a quality rubric for students.
  • As both institutional enrollment needs and social pressures for access raise the need of remediation (Soliday), rubrics become increasingly important to student success. Gisselle O. Martin-Kneep, in “Standards, Feedback, and Diversified Assessment: Addressing Equity Issues at the Classroom Level,” reports that extensive use of rubrics can help minimize students’ educational disparities and bring fairness into assessment on numerous levels:
    • Lynn Helmke
       
      I agree with the author on this point.  Using well-written rubrics and sharing with students before and during the project for self-assessment is critical for closing the achievement gap. There is a whole group of students who do not know what a teacher "wants". 
  • imilarly, Heidi Andrade, in her study, “The Effects of Rubrics on Learning to Write,” has found that, while rubrics increased her students’ knowledge of the grading criteria and helped most of her students (especially the young male students) do well on the state writing test, many of the young female students, who had been more expressive in previous writing assignments, wrote poorly when writing, as we might say, to the rubric.
    • Lynn Helmke
       
      Very interesting points about the negative side of rubrics for students who may be gifted in the area of writing. Because my career has focused on students who are struggling, it makes me aware of how "one size does not fit all."  I guess the gifted student writer has to learn how to pass the State Assessment and then encouraged and mentored to grow in their gift of writing....interesting.
    • Diane Jackson
       
      I thought this was very interesting too. Rubrics may stifle creativity especially when we want students to be creative thinkers and writers.
    • criley55
       
      I thought this made interesting points as we are working so hard to create rubrics, we have to also think about those students whose work could be so much more but they are fitting into the constraints of the rubric.
  • Steps in developing a scoring rubric
    • Lynn Helmke
       
      Building a good rubric takes time and patience.  I appreciate seeing these steps.  I am keeping a copy of this article on my computer. I really could keep it just in Diigo. :)
    • Kathleen Goslinga
       
      I find this list of steps helpful as well and a good reference tool.
  • How well is the rubric tied to instruction? That is, does the rubric use the same critical vocabulary used in our instruction?
    • Lynn Helmke
       
      i appreciate the author stating that another criteria is that the rubric is tied to instruction and uses the same critical vocabulary. High stakes state testing is here.  But, I prefer to put my energy into increasing student learning so that all students can feel successful in school.....closing the achievement gap.....and not just measured by state tests.
    • Joanne Cram
       
      This is a very valid point here- I find that when working with special education students, they tend to struggle when different vocabulary and/or sets of presentation materials are used in assessment.
  • rubrics can be either “general” or “specific
    • Kathleen Goslinga
       
      I can see the benefits of both a general or specific rubric. This also gives teachers options as to where the focus might be along with the outcomes.
    • Joanne Cram
       
      If a rubric is going to be of a more "general" type, I struggle to implement that data when looking at it for elibibility discussion.
  • Pilot test your rubric or checklist on actual samples of student work
    • Kathleen Goslinga
       
      I like the idea of a pilot test. This could be done during a students first draft and would give the teacher an opportunity to make revisions prior to the final being assessed.
    • jbdecker
       
      This could be another place where student involvement in developing the rubric could come into play.  Having the students use a rubric to assess their own work but at the same time assessing the rubric to see if it could be more detailed or written in more student friendly language.
  • The issue of weighting may be another area in which you can enlist the help of students. At the beginning of the process, you could ask a student to select to select which aspect she values the most in her writing and weight that aspect when you assess her paper.
    • jbdecker
       
      This seems like an easy way to personalize instruction and help students focus on and grow in areas where they may have a deficit.
    • criley55
       
      I understand the importance of eliciting student input when creating a rubric but hadn't thought of it with weighing different aspects.
  • When instructors plan on grading student thinking and not just student knowledge, they should articulate the vital features that they are looking for and make these features known to the student.
    • Nicole Wood
       
      It certainly only seems logical to share rubrics with students when assignments are given, but I know this isn't always practiced. It shouldn't be a secret what features will be graded. Rubrics provide students with a clear vision of what is expected of them and helps guide their work.
    • Evan Abbey
       
      This does defeat the purpose, doesn't it? Go to all that work to set expectations, and then not give students those expectations.
    • Joanne Cram
       
      When I was teaching, I used rubrics as part of my instruction. When clear expectations are set for students, they know what to aim for- and performance is usually higher.
  • understandable to the student but also be linked specifically to classroom instruction
    • Nicole Wood
       
      In the primary grades, I think it can be a challenge to find "understandable" language. I do believe that incorporating the language from the rubric into classroom instruction will help bridge the gap between being student friendly and also specific enough for adults to grade accurately.
    • Adrian Evans
       
      In the high school setting, I find that giving the students the rubric that I am going to use to grade them, when I give them the assignment, allows for transparency (I'm not playing "Gotcha") and allows for the students to ask specifically what I am looking for, which then allows them to gear their work to what I am looking for as opposed to just hoping that they got it correct.
  • The argument against using rubrics
    • Nicole Wood
       
      As I read through the arguments against rubrics, I couldn't help but think that most of the drawbacks to rubrics could be avoided with well written rubrics. However, the majority of my experiences with rubrics are in the primary grades where I didn't encounter many of the problems they mentioned.
  • First, you must decide whether you need a rubric. Consider what the purpose of assessment is.
    • Diane Jackson
       
      Not everything needs a rubric. Should always think first what is the purpose of it. Good point to remember.
  • The second step is deciding who your audience is going to be. If the rubric is primarily used for instruction and will be shared with your students, then it should be non-judgemental, free of educational jargon, and reflect the critical vocabulary that you use in your classroom.
    • Diane Jackson
       
      Good question to ask. How will it be used. Hadn't really thought about this...a rubric's use for instruction and sharing it with the students in the learning process.
  • While longer scales make it harder to get agreement among scorers (inter-rater reliability),
    • Nicole Wood
       
      I have always tended to think that longer scales were better since very rarely a student fits perfectly within a specific criteria. However, I never really considered the added challenge of ensuring more consistency among scorers.
  • Both types of rubrics benefit the teacher and the student in varying degrees: the teacher who relies on a general rubric does not have to develop a new one for each assignment and the student grows to understand fundamental standards in writing—like form and coherence—exist across the board; meanwhile, the teacher that uses specific rubrics is always composing new descriptions of quality work, but their students have clearer directions for each assignment. Of course, a teacher could have the best of both worlds here, by designing a rubric on a PC that allows for the easy insertion of assignment specific traits.
    • Diane Jackson
       
      I think this is a great idea. Having a general rubric and a specific rubric. Also have it on your computer so it is easily changed or tweaked to meet the assignment.
  • assess outcomes in learning situations that require critical thinking and are multidimensional.
    • bgeanaea11
       
      Using rubrics for their intended use seems to make them much more meaningful.
  • “on what students have actually learned rather than what they have been taught,”
    • bgeanaea11
       
      Love this! Absolutely!
  • contends that we ought to illicit student input when constructing rubrics:
    • bgeanaea11
       
      I could not agree more! What a great way to increase student engagement in THEIR learning!
  • According to Thomas Newkirk, an English professor at the University of New Hampshire, “rubrics promote ‘mechanical instruction in writing’ that bypasses ‘the human act of composing and the human gesture of response’” (Mathews). This overly scientific view of writing, Newkirk and others argue, stunts the learning process. Moreover, Judith Halden-Sullivan sees a disconnect between the learning goals of Writing Across the Curriculum programs and the rubrics often designed to assess that learning. Assessment of this sort seems at odds with such concepts as “deep learning,” which implies a kind of learning that is beyond measurement, an elusive hard to describe enlightenment, but identifiable in the same way good art is: teachers know deep learning when they see it. Rubrics, Halden-Sullivan contends, reduce “deep learning” to “checksheets.”
  • According to Thomas Newkirk, an English professor at the University of New Hampshire, “rubrics promote ‘mechanical instruction in writing’ that bypasses ‘the human act of composing and the human gesture of response’” (Mathews). This overly scientific view of writing, Newkirk and others argue, stunts the learning process. Moreover, Judith Halden-Sullivan sees a disconnect between the learning goals of Writing Across the Curriculum programs and the rubrics often designed to assess that learning. Assessment of this sort seems at odds with such concepts as “deep learning,” which implies a kind of learning that is beyond measurement, an elusive hard to describe enlightenment, but identifiable in the same way good art is: teachers know deep learning when they see it. Rubrics, Halden-Sullivan contends, reduce “deep learning” to “checksheets.”
  • According to Thomas Newkirk, an English professor at the University of New Hampshire, “rubrics promote ‘mechanical instruction in writing’ that bypasses ‘the human act of composing and the human gesture of response’” (Mathews). This overly scientific view of writing, Newkirk and others argue, stunts the learning process. Moreover, Judith Halden-Sullivan sees a disconnect between the learning goals of Writing Across the Curriculum programs and the rubrics often designed to assess that learning. Assessment of this sort seems at odds with such concepts as “deep learning,” which implies a kind of learning that is beyond measurement, an elusive hard to describe enlightenment, but identifiable in the same way good art is: teachers know deep learning when they see it. Rubrics, Halden-Sullivan contends, reduce “deep learning” to “checksheets.”
  • , “rubrics promote ‘mechanical instruction in writing’ that bypasses ‘the human act of composing and the human gesture of response’”
    • bgeanaea11
       
      Interesting perspective. I can see where this could happen with a rubric, but a good rubric should not.
  • Does the rubric relate to the outcome(s) being measured? Does it address anything extraneous? […] Does it cover important dimensions of student performance? Do the criteria reflect current conceptions of excellence in the field? […] Are the dimensions and scales well defined? […] Is there a clear basis for assigning scores at each scale point? […] Can different scorers consistently apply the rubric? […] Can students and parents understand the rubric? […] Is the rubric developmentally appropriate? […] Can the rubric be applied to a variety of tasks? […] Is the rubric fair and free from bias? Does it reflect teachable skills or does it address variables over which students and educators have no control, such as the student’s culture, gender or home resources? […] Is the rubric useful, feasible, manageable and practical? […] Will it provide the kind of information you need and can use effectively?
    • bgeanaea11
       
      Some great resources, advice and questions to help develop quality rubrics that meet their intended purpose!
  • using rubrics to establish “performance benchmarks” for the “behavioral objectives” appropriate to each year in the program.
    • Adrian Evans
       
      Rubrics for performance benchmarks that applicable to each year's objectives shows that they are not just using rubrics to use them, but that they are specific and aimed at the performance of the students.
    • Joanne Cram
       
      I have been working with my district on standards based grading. I think rubrics can shape the standards in relation to quantitative data.
  • accurately measuring the specific entity the instructor intends to measure consistently student after student
    • Adrian Evans
       
      Rubrics help the teacher/professor/assessor maintain consistency throughout the grading period, it makes sure that personal feeling are limited and gets rid of the "Oh I know that they know this so I'll give them the points".
  • “Perhaps the greatest potential value of classroom assessment is realized when we open the assessment process up and welcome students into that process as full partners”
    • ajbeyer
       
      I think this is key. I as a student like to know what I am being graded on and I think it's important to share that with my students too. If the students know what they are being graded on, it will most likely help them to relax a little more.
  • In any case, withholding assessment tools (whether they are rubrics or more nebulous modes of evaluation) from students is not only unfair and makes self-assessment more difficult, it maintains the traditional gap between what the teacher knows and what the student knows.
  • In any case, withholding assessment tools (whether they are rubrics or more nebulous modes of evaluation) from students is not only unfair and makes self-assessment more difficult, it maintains the traditional gap between what the teacher knows and what the student knows.
    • ajbeyer
       
      Holding back rubrics and the way teachers are grading from students is kind of like giving the "gotcha" at the end of the assignment. I know when I am not clear on my directions, I get 500 questions about it. When I am clear and students know what they will be graded on, it is better for both of us.
  • Be prepared to evaluate your rubric, using your meta-rubric and feedback—direct feedback from the students and indirect feedback from the quality of their work. Modify accordingly.
    • ajbeyer
       
      Evaluation and reflection are key to good teaching. It should also be key to analyzing a rubric. If it's not working, make sure that it's redone and give it a try again. This should be an ongoing cycle.
    • ajbeyer
       
      This was a key "a-ha" for me. I think that rubrics are over used. Not everything can or needs to be assessed via a rubric. The key question for teachers should be first "What am I assessing?" then "Will a rubric meet the needs of what I am assessing?" So many times a rubric is used and it doesn't match what needs to be assessed.
  •  
    Interesting history and original use. It is important to clarify what we mean by "rubric" in education.
mschutjer

ollie-afe-2019: Building a Better Mousetrap - 1 views

  • Rubrics can be used either for “filtering”—as they are used in placement testing—or for “latticing,” or “scaffolding”—if they are shared with students prior to the completion of any given assignment.
    • alisauter
       
      I think communicating the rubric ahead of time makes them easier to score. I have had to conduct technology camp entrance interviews using a rubric that is "blind" and they are more challenging because the students come into the interviews completely blind to any of the questions or criteria.
    • zackkaz
       
      Ali, I agree I feel like giving the rubric for the assessment with the directions at the beginning helps students understand what the assessment is assessing. I just hope it doesn't lead to students formula writing like suggested late in the article. Or possibly killing creativity.
    • tmolitor
       
      I can easily see both sides of the coin here. On one hand it's tough to give students an assignment and not tell them how its being graded. On the other if a student knows exactly what they need to do to get the score, then it does kill creativity.
    • barbkfoster
       
      I can see where sharing the rubric might "kill creativity" but I think sharing the rubric is a great way to let students know what you are looking for and what is important. I know of many teachers who share the rubric at the very beginning of a paper/project/assessment, but I don't know of many who use it somewhere in the middle. I think we get too caught up in the completion that we forget to take time in the middle to help students self-evaluate their work. I think this is a great way to teach students to be owners of their own learning, and thus success.
    • rhoadsb_
       
      I really like this for pre-assessment. Students can self assess and start where there are with their learning. The teacher will need to have the classroom set-up to meet all the needs of the students accordingly.
  • habits of mind practiced in the act of self-assessment.
    • alisauter
       
      THIS! I think developing the right mindset in our students when it comes to grading and rubrics is so important, although sometimes challenging.
    • Wendy Arch
       
      I agree, but we will need to put more of an emphasis on student self-assessment and justification as well as post-assignment reflection. Much of the time students and teachers see final assessment as a "post mortem" evaluation of where they were with nothing to be done about where they can go.
    • Deborah Cleveland
       
      Here is an interesting critical thinking rubric https://educate.intel.com/download/K12/elements/pba_lessons/resources/24_Critical_Thinking_Rubric.pdf This rubric could be used throughout a project to help the learner think about their thinking.
  • others worry that doing so will encourage formulaic writing
    • alisauter
       
      I think that this depends on how the rubric is written.
    • Wendy Arch
       
      I've found it also depends on the student. Ironically, I've found that the higher achieving students will tend more strongly toward formulaic writing because they are worried about "missing points." If the grade on the assessment puts their GPA at risk, they are not willing to do any intellectual risk taking.
    • sjensen21
       
      Seems to me that if a student meets the criteria, then that is what is expected. (Coming from a person who is not inherently creative.)
    • cathy84
       
      LOL. I just wrote this very thing "students create their paper too closely like the model" in last paragraph. The problem with following it so closely is that I wasn't sure they really understood the concept if they couldn't recreate it in an independent way.
  • ...89 more annotations...
  • Rubrics that are prescriptive rather than descriptive will promote thoughtless and perfunctory writing; such rubrics are as limiting to the development of rhetorical mastery as the five-paragraph essay.
    • annott
       
      This is hard for me to do. I am a concrete thinker, and writing prescriptive rubrics is something I need to work on.
  • adopt a rubric
    • alisauter
       
      Rubistar and https://rubric-maker.com have different academic content area rubrics and grade levels.
    • kmolitor
       
      rubistar is helpful...sites like this can help build your skills as you create your own rubrics on that site as well.
  • While the fundamental focus of assessment is always to promote learning, there are other reasons why we engage in assessment: curriculum reform, placement, promotion, diagnosis, accountability, and so on (Critical Issue).
    • alisauter
       
      Establishing your purpose is so vital.
  • well-designed rubrics help instructors in all disciplines meaningfully assess the outcomes of the more complicated assignments that are the basis of the problem-solving, inquiry-based, student-centered pedagogy replacing the traditional lecture-based, teacher-centered approach in tertiary education
    • robertsreads
       
      Well-designed and meaningful - I think these are the keys to a good rubric. If it doesn't measure what it aims to measure, then a rubric is completely useless.
    • mgast40diigo
       
      I agree as well. It is important that students see what his or her expectations are before they right instead of getting the information from teachers at the end.
    • annott
       
      When I started many moons ago, in the classroom, almost every period was lecture. Student based learning is so much more effective.
    • kimgrissom
       
      This is interesting that they're using rubrics at the post-secondary level. I agree that the best use of rubrics is for complicated assignments that ask students to problem-solve, show conceptual understanding, or even just write extended explanations. Rubrics are too time-consuming to write to use for simple tasks.
    • tmolitor
       
      It's important to have something to objectively assess outcomes of these types of assignments.
  • Rick Stiggins, of the Assessment Training Institute, contends that we ought to illicit student input when constructing rubrics
    • robertsreads
       
      While I assume the author means 'elicit' and not 'illicit', I do agree that getting student input is essential, especially at the high school and college level where we are seeking to have students think meaningfully and critically about their work.
    • cathy84
       
      I struggle with this a bit, for how do students know exactly what is quality of a product they do not have extensive knowledge of?
  • Moreover, some teachers have noticed how students who were good writers become wooden when writing under the influence of a rubric
    • robertsreads
       
      This does not surprise me at all. My six year old was docked for not using the word "next" in one of her writings. I read the work, and her transition was much more advanced than that (something I would have encouraged as a high school teacher).
    • annott
       
      I could see how students would get stagnant in their writing.
    • mschutjer
       
      Maybe I do not make rubrics correctly...because I really do not see this happening!
  • Look at some actual examples of student work to see if you have omitted any important dimensions.
    • robertsreads
       
      This is a great idea! It's similar to requesting student input without the students feeling pressured to contribute.
    • Wendy Arch
       
      Often this recalibration happens the year after in my experience. As an English teacher, we rubricate everything - for good or bad. I've found that once we ask students to go through a task and use the rubric to assess it, we see where the task, our teaching, and the rubric fail.
    • zackkaz
       
      Student feedback can be just as useful to us to Wendy.
  • a set of standards and/or directions for assessing student outcomes and guiding student learning
    • Wendy Arch
       
      I see the confusion stemming from a linguistic debate about whether "directions" refers to the task requirements (e.g. write a persuasive essay using 5 sources) or the assessment criteria (cites strong and thorough textual evidence). Many times students ask to see the "rubric" when they really just mean the specific task requirements.
  • “performance benchmarks” for the “behavioral objectives” appropriate to each year in the program. E
    • Wendy Arch
       
      I find this interesting that they are assessing "behavioral objectives." Much of what our discussions around grading versus assessing have focused on is the need to grade/assess the demonstrated learning and NOT the behavior which lead to the demonstrated learning.
  • study on student-generated rubrics, they tend to “think more deeply about their learning.”
    • Wendy Arch
       
      I tried having students create their own rubrics for an independent learning project. They were all high achieving seniors near the end of their secondary academic career. And across the board, NONE of them said they enjoyed the process, calling it one of the hardest parts of the project as a whole. ALL said it was very eye opening. Ironically, these high-achieving, point grubbing seniors found it MORE difficult to define for themselves what a "perfect" project would be, then to just rise to standards already set by someone else (me). Having to set the bar themselves made them far more nervous about meeting it than if I had set a goal for them to meet. It does make sense, however. By setting their own standards, they would potentially be letting themselves down if they did not rise to their own challenges. Whereas, if they did not fully meet the criteria on a teacher generated rubric, it did not necessarily reflect badly on themselves.
    • cathy84
       
      Fascinating and insightful!
    • kimgrissom
       
      Wow. Good points!
  • writing a 1000 word essay that “cites x number of sources and supports its thesis with at least three arguments”
    • Wendy Arch
       
      See, these seem more like task requirements rather than assessable rubric criteria
    • annott
       
      Yes Wendy, I agree. This would be an assignment, but not in the rubric.
    • kimgrissom
       
      Yes, and if that's all you want to grade, you could just make it a checklist and save yourself a lot of prep time!
    • tmolitor
       
      I think that a checklist instead of a rubric in that case is a great idea.
  • Of course, a teacher could have the best of both worlds here, by designing a rubric on a PC that allows for the easy insertion of assignment specific traits.
    • Wendy Arch
       
      Is there anyone who DOESN'T do this?
    • annott
       
      Most of mine are the same but then I change the content part for the details of the assignment.
  • A holistic rubric is more efficient and the best choice when criteria overlap and cannot be adequately separated; an analytical rubric, however, will yield more detailed information about student performance and, therefore, will provide the student with more specific feedback.
    • Wendy Arch
       
      Interestingly, until the 2019-2020 school year, the College Board and AP programs have always used holistic rubrics to score the written essay portions of the exams (at least the English Language and Literature exams). These were used because, especially for the third free-response question, students could choose to respond to any aspect of the passage they chose. With the third free-response question, students had a choice about what text to use to respond to a very vague thematic prompt. Holistic rubrics were necessary to meet the needs of all these different approaches. Beginning next year, during the 2019-2020 school year, the College Board and AP program are replacing all holistic rubrics with analytic ones to "more specific feedback on your Instructional Planning Reports about your students' performance." Interestingly, this feedback is not to the students - students never see their rubrics - but to the teachers so the teachers can adjust their teaching. https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-english-literature-and-composition/course/updates-2019-20
    • kimgrissom
       
      That's interesting! The College Board switched to an analytical rubric for social studies a few years ago. It will be interesting to compare those.
    • kimgrissom
       
      In the case of social studies, it gives the student and teacher more specific guidance in what should be included rather than feedback.
  • In addition to these basic directions, you should consider your purpose and audience.
    • Wendy Arch
       
      I mentioned this above, but the College Board and the AP program are changing their use of rubrics from holistic to analytic to provide TEACHERS with a better understanding of student performance and comprehension. It's interesting that the audience for these new rubrics will not be the students who are being assessed, but the teachers who taught them. Who is really being assessed here?
    • cathy84
       
      Great point!
  • we need a meta-rubric to assess our rubric.
    • Wendy Arch
       
      While this makes complete sense and would be a great use of PLCs, my instinctual response was "Oh Geez. Yet another thing..."
  • will lead students to perceive writing as a kind of “paint-by-number” endeavor (Mathews).
    • mgast40diigo
       
      There are some rubrics that I have used that remind of this. Students basically being programmed on what to do to get an A without any deep learning taking place. However, I still see the need for rubrics like this.
    • barbkfoster
       
      I agree. Unfortunately, many times students use rubrics to get the grade they want without focusing on the learning. Maybe it's not the rubrics themselves but how we are using them in the classroom?
    • mschutjer
       
      I feel students are programed to give us what we want and not explore their own learning. So often when I give a writing assignment I hear first, how long does it have to be? How do we get away from that?
  • advocates of rubrics at all educational levels have argued that rubrics provide students with clear and specific qualities to strive for in those assignments that “are open-ended, aligned more closely to real-life learning situations and the nature of learning”
  • Indeed, since rubrics allow for widespread assessment of higher-level thinking skills, performance-based assessment is replacing or complementing more traditional modes of testing; this in turn means that teachers are changing their instructional modes to prepare their students for these tests
    • mgast40diigo
       
      Obviously a good thing with standardized tests focusing more on state standards.
  • Share the rubric with your students and their parents.
    • mgast40diigo
       
      Great for students to know expectations and criteria. Have never thought about sharing a rubric with parents. See the benefits of that as well.
  • “rubrics promote ‘mechanical instruction in writing’ that bypasses ‘the human act of composing and the human gesture of response’” (
  • More conceptually, critics claim that rubrics, in effect, dehumanize the act of writing. According to Thomas Newkirk, an English professor at the University of New Hampshire,
    • mgast40diigo
       
      Curious to know what methods of grading are popular among the critics of rubrics.
  • You can adapt a rubric—
    • zackkaz
       
      Honestly, I feel like this is what I do the most. I adopt a lot of rubrics and tweak them to fit what I want. I feel like in education there is a lot of resources available to me and people way smarter/better than me at their jobs. No point in reinventing the wheel, so why not adopt and tweak to fit the need that I have for my assessment.
  • “The Effects of Rubrics on Learning to Write,” has found that, while rubrics increased her students’ knowledge of the grading criteria and helped most of her students (especially the young male students) do well on the state writing test, many of the young female students, who had been more expressive in previous writing assignments, wrote poorly when writing, as we might say, to the rubric.
    • zackkaz
       
      That's always been a fear of mine with rubrics when writing an opinion or free write. Does this stifle the creativity of some students. It's really interesting to also look at who was seeing the bias as the article states girls/boys. Does it also bias ethnicities?
  • The issue of weighting may be another area in which you can enlist the help of students. At the beginning of the process, you could ask a student to select to select which aspect she values the most in her writing and weight that aspect when you assess her paper.
    • zackkaz
       
      +1 for student choice. Hopefully this would develop lifelong learning.
    • barbkfoster
       
      I think by enlisting the help of students in creating the rubric, it will promote ownership of learning. It should also help students keep in mind what is most important while they are creating their product.
  • “Is the assessment responsive to what we know about how [students] learn?” and “Does the assessment help students become the kinds of [citizens] we want them to be?”
    • zackkaz
       
      As a SS teacher that second part hits home. Will they be a responsible democratic citizen.
    • cathy84
       
      To me, this gets to the content of the assignment...not conventions.
  • rubrics should be used in conjunction with other strategies,
    • mpercy
       
      Rubrics are a great tool but not necessarily the way to go all the time. Students need to be exposed to other strategies as well.
    • kmolitor
       
      I agree multiple strategies should be used as that will help our students grow as learners.
  • Perhaps the greatest potential value of classroom assessment is realized when we open the assessment process up and welcome students into that process as full partners”
    • mpercy
       
      When students are part of the process there will likely be more enthusiasm and buy in from the students.
    • annott
       
      I have to admit, I have not gone this far yet. But it makes total sense, that if students are a part of creating the rubric they would have a better understanding of the expectations.
    • jennham
       
      I agree. It will give them a sense of ownership in their own learning. Even my elementary students would be more than able to help with this. I plan on rolling it out to my colleagues to try with an upcoming paper.
    • whsfieldbio
       
      I have seen this done with second graders. They were not creating criteria based on standards, but rather criteria for quality. The students decided what the quality of presentation and speaking were. They actually were pretty tough on eachother and set the bar high. This is a great process, but can also be a challenge if you have multiple classes and want to have some consensus with evaluating.
  • Revise the rubric and try it out again
    • mpercy
       
      Would this be the point to gather student input? I would want to make sure my objectives were being met and then allow students to input.
  • Each score category should be defined using description of the work rather than judgments about the work.”
    • mpercy
       
      Does this really make a difference to the student?
    • barbkfoster
       
      I like using rubrics so that it takes the teacher out of the grading. I like that communication is clear without bias.
  • When instructors plan on grading
    • Deborah Cleveland
       
      By giving students the langugage to talk about thinking we open the door to them reflecting on their thinking and eventually refining it.
  • , rubrics cannot be the sole response to a student’s paper; sound pedagogy would dictate that
    • Deborah Cleveland
       
      A writing assignment that is part of an authentic learning opportunity that the student chose to participate in might decrease the emphasis on simply meeting the criteria of a rubruc.
  • sions differently if you feel that one dimension is more important than another. There are two ways in which you can express this value judgment: 1. You may give a dimension more weight by multiplying the point by a number greater than one. For example, if you have four dimensions (content, organization, support, conventions) each rated on a six-point scale, and you wish to emphasis the importance of adequate support, you could multiply the support score by two. 2.
    • Deborah Cleveland
       
      I tend to use the "multiply a dimension by 2" method of weighting grades. In writing a particularly like this because it allows you to address things like conventions, but at the same time emphasize orther aspects of writing.
    • annott
       
      I use weight dimensions in History class. I'm not as worried about the writing style, sentence structure etc.... But I'm more concerned with the what they know and if there research is thorough. I still include those things on my rubric, it's just worth less points.
  • The instructor’s comments on papers and tests are done after rather than before the writing, so they cannot serve as guidelines, compromising the value of writing comments at all.”
    • tommuller4
       
      This is very important thing to think about. A student can't make changes to something they are doing after it is already turned in. They may think they are following all things on the rubric correctly but teacher may think differently
  • In any case, withholding assessment tools (whether they are rubrics or more nebulous modes of evaluation) from students is not only unfair and makes self-assessment more difficult
    • tommuller4
       
      Seems kind of stupid to not give the students the rubric for the assignment when they are working on it. You expect them to turn in something worth while without knowing what you want from them.
  • hose students who had been natural writers, those students who had “stylistic voices full of humor and surprises, produced less interesting essays when they followed the rules [as outlined in a rubric]
    • tommuller4
       
      I can see this being true across the board. Lots of time when I start a project the first thing some of the students ask is "what do I need to do to get an A." They don't care about learning the content. They just make their project geared to meet all requirements on the rubric and don't care about anything else.
    • jennham
       
      I hear that comment often. Until our system changes to not be so focused on the grade itself, I totally side with the students. We put so much pressure on kids to achieve and achieve well so that they can apply and receive scholarships, be inducted into NHS, make it into the college of their dreams...I feel we leave them absolutely no room to worry about the learning. Teachers are just as guilty. I can't count the times I have heard, "I don't know why he has a B; there isn't any reason why he shouldn't be getting an A in my class." (This is without me asking why my child has a B instead of an A.) To me that makes the focus on the grade. They never mention what my child is actually learning or not.
  • clear understanding of how rubrics operate can help educators of all levels design rubrics that facilitate, rather than obviate, student learning and teacher improvement.
    • kmolitor
       
      This is so true. Rubrics should be designed to help teachers facilitate learning so it's more student driven which will improve both student learning and allow teachers to improve.
  • Doing so, many educators argue, increases the likelihood of a quality product.
    • tommuller4
       
      I agree you can get a quality product by giving students the rubric up front but I don't think you will get a great product because students tend to not go above and beyond the rubric. They just do enough to meet the criteria for the grade they want. No more and no less.
  • evaluate your rubric
    • kmolitor
       
      I think it is important to continually evaluate your rubrics or any assessments for that matter. It is important to consider if you are assessing what you want/need to and get feedback from students.
    • sjensen21
       
      Stultifying: stunts creativity so that students achieve only what is required. Empowering: clarifies for students and teachers what is expected.
  • no longer appropriate
    • sjensen21
       
      "no longer appropriate" is a bit over-stated. Students in Introductory Statistics still need to know these skills. I agree that we do need to focus more on developing statistical thinking, so more performance tasks (and assessment rubrics) are necessary.
  • features known to the student
    • sjensen21
       
      Sharing the rubric with students at the beginning of the task holds students accountable and gives transparency to the task expectations.
    • cathy84
       
      That, for me, was the primary purpose of the rubric. I wished for students to know clearly what this project should show me of their knowledge and skill. It did always frustrate me that they didn't use it more as a resource as they edited and revised their papers.
    • jennham
       
      I agree as well. I found them useful as student so that I knew exactly what my teacher/instructor expected. I love them as a teacher as they give the students specific talking points before they start their assignment.
  • ull partners
    • sjensen21
       
      This seems like a big time-waster to me.
  • Build a metarubric
    • sjensen21
       
      This is a great checklist for evaluating our own rubrics that we have created.
  • a system which some educators see as stultifying and others see as empowering.
    • cathy84
       
      Not sure why it would be stultifying (which I looked up to be sure I knew what that meant). I mean, how much enthusiasm would a student have toward an assignment?
    • kimgrissom
       
      In some cases, a rubric can be a little too prescriptive and actually curb creativity for students. A more open assignment--for some students--allows for more interpretation or flexibility. I think it really depends on how "tight" the teacher writes the rubric.
    • rhoadsb_
       
      Rubrics can be empowering yes, but not everything needs a rubric in my opinion.
  • gineering programs
  • Closer to home, our own successful Allied Health programs depend on rubrics to both assess and encourage student learning.
  • rubrics can help the student with self-assessment
    • cathy84
       
      This was a big goal of mine as a writing teacher
    • mistermohr
       
      I think this is the biggest benefit of rubrics
  • “In short, explicit performance criteria, along with supporting models of work, make it possible for students to use the attributes of exemplary work to monitor their own performance.
    • cathy84
       
      I found the models to be very helpful for my students. My only problem is often students create something very close to the model. It often was a conundrum for me.
  • Is the description of criteria judgemental
    • cathy84
       
      That's a rule I have violated...and I probably knew best practice, but getting so specific in the criteria makes correcting so laborious
    • jennham
       
      You are so correct. Now that I have read this information, I know that when I would say "good", I meant, "following current conventions." Most 10-year-olds understand "good". Not so much for the other!
  • rubrics should be non-judgmental:
    • annott
       
      I have a hard time keeping judgement out of rubrics.
    • mistermohr
       
      this could be a place where submission into an LMS using blind grading can be a huge benefit! I love blind grading...rarely do I need to know who produced the artifact.
  • rubrics are now used similarly by post-secondary educators in all disciplines to assess outcomes in learning situations
    • annott
       
      As we are to assess the pros and cons of rubrics, I would say this is a con to using them. We need colleges to get on board and use them as well, and some are switching over.
  • solving real problems and using statistical reasoning
    • annott
       
      Rubrics are better at assessing real problems and statistical reasoning.
  • student thinking and not just student knowledge
    • annott
       
      Rubrics are better at assessing student thinking.
  • (
    • annott
       
      I do feel that rubrics are more closely connected with real life situations. In the workforce, you will not be given a grade. Instead, they will evaluate your performance.
    • kimgrissom
       
      True...but sometimes with a rubric. =) I think of the way even my husband's corporate world annual evaluation tool is written.
  • when rubrics are published in the classroom, students striving to achieve the descriptions at the higher end of the scale in effect guide their own learning.
    • annott
       
      This is what we should all be striving for.
  • as long as each point on the scale is well-defined.
    • annott
       
      When looking at standards based learning it is encouraged to have the same scale number for each department. And sometimes there is disagreement between a 3 pt scale or a 4 point scale.
  • modify or combine existing rubrics; re-word parts of the rubric; drop or change one or more scales of an analytical rubric; omit criteria that are not relevant to the outcome you are measuring; mix and match scales from different rubrics; change the rubric of use at a different grade; add a “no-response” category at the bottom of the scale; divide a holistic rubric into several scales.
    • annott
       
      I surf the internet quite frequently, and use other rubrics ideas as a starter for mine. And then I adapt it to my objectives.
  • Steps in developing a scoring rubric
    • annott
       
      This could be shared in Professional Learning Communities.
  • However, for the student to successfully use a rubric this way, the criteria must be made clear to them and the jargon used must not only be understandable to the student but also be linked specifically to classroom instructio
    • kimgrissom
       
      I think this is really key, especially the part aobut being linked to classroom instruction. I've used rubrics by introducing them at the beginning and then using them to score at the end--and felt like students never looked at them and therefore got very little out of them. The key was when I used the rubric during instruction--as an explanation tool, as a peer reflection and self-assessment tool. We just have to be really deliberate and explicit and pulling it out and using it in instruction if we really want students to use it in their process.
    • jennham
       
      I have never used a rubric during instruction, other than to remind them to use it. I am excited to see how it will help them when we use the rubric continuously throughout a project.
    • mistermohr
       
      For me, I don't know how you do this in early elementary. Reading and comprehending "standard" language is not conducive to young readers. (ie subject/verb agreement)
  • maintains the traditional gap between what the teacher knows and what the student knows.
    • kimgrissom
       
      Yes, and some students have more ability to bridge that gap than others. I think this is where we get into equity problems--some students are better equipped (by home life or personality/strength) for school and intellectual processes. In other words, they are more insightful and therefore better "guessers" of what teachers want.
    • jennham
       
      You are exactly correct and I could not have said this better.
  • non-traditional, unsuccessful, or under-prepared students, who tend to miss many of the implied expectations of a college instructor, expectations that better prepared, traditional students readily internalize.
    • kimgrissom
       
      Yes, exactly! We can even the playing field for students by being explicit in our expectations.
  • Pilot test your rubric or checklist on actual samples of student work.
    • kimgrissom
       
      This is a helpful step because one of the downfalls of a rubric is not rewarding something students do well (because it's not on the rubric) or unintentionally rewarding something you don't want students to do.
    • barbkfoster
       
      By piloting the rubric, we are able to make sure we are truly assessing what we intend to. These samples could also be shared with students to practice using the rubric (so they can better evaluate their own work).
    • nealjulie
       
      This is why I like rubrics. It helps guide student learning.
  • “on what students have actually learned rather than what they have been taught,”
    • rhoadsb_
       
      this is the key to a successful classroom. it is not about what you teach it is about what have the students learned. Or it is not about providing time for student to be active, but what have you taught them that will lead to be active for a lifetime!
    • nealjulie
       
      This is an interesting quote about knowing what students have actually learned that what we taught. More of a formative assessment. How is the student's learning progressing and what do we need to do to get them there.
    • nealjulie
       
      This is the tricky part. A well designed rubric that does give the teachers the information that they need to understand what their students have learned.
    • nealjulie
       
      There is a lot of power in students who self assess themselves.
  • are about their potential to harm students learning.
    • nealjulie
       
      I'm not sure how a rubric can harm a students learning.
    • nealjulie
       
      Exactly, it has to be conferring with teachers along the way on their progress.
    • nealjulie
       
      I like this idea of enlisting the help of students.
    • nealjulie
       
      I like this idea of a pilot rubric!
    • nealjulie
       
      These should definitely be a checklist when teachers make their own.
  • “an established custom or rule of procedure.”
    • tmolitor
       
      It's important to have an established procedure for grading so that the grades remain objective.
    • chriskyhl
       
      totally agree and is a large reason have gone to SBL this year. Also have to make sure no gray area in rubric
    • rhoadsb_
       
      We are moving to SBL as well and it already is making a huge difference in the classroom.
  • consistently and accurately
    • mistermohr
       
      I feel that the most consistent and accurate rubrics are checklists. I understand rubrics should not be checklists, but I find they need to be checklist-esque to keep them objective.
  • traits, or dimensions, will serve as the basis for judging the student response and should reflect the vital aspects of the assignment
    • whsfieldbio
       
      This is a great reminder. I know I have failed in the past with having too much on a rubric or too little. Being focused on the vital aspects of the assignment will prevent you from assessing parts that are not important. This will also help students know what the criteria is without worrying about the fluff.
  • rubrics that are outside of the students “zone of proximal development” are useless to the students.
    • whsfieldbio
       
      Wow, rubrics are really challenging to create. In the assess this assignment I started off way to high and would not be in a student zone of proximal development. How does a teacher know thijavascript:void(0)s. I am assuming rubrics that are aligned with grade level standards would be appropriate but I now feel like i need to take a look at more examples. This could be a Con if the rubric creator does not understand this idea.
  • ubrics, Halden-Sullivan contends, reduce “deep learning” to “checksheets.”
    • whsfieldbio
       
      I once heard a speaker say that "rubrics make cooks and we should strive to make chefs." His statement refered to that fact that students simply follow the recipe to complete the task rather than using their own thinking and knowledge to create a product. I think there are rubrics that can do both, but I can also see that this is a concern.
    • mschutjer
       
      I think the deep learning should be coming from the teacher more than the student.
  • “performance benchmarks” for the “behavioral objectives” appropriate to each year in the program. E
    • chriskyhl
       
      totally agree. Find that really interesting since so much research is on NOT grading behaviors and focusing on the learning itself
    • mrsmeganmorgan
       
      I think I would like to see what are these behavior objectives are. Are they really just skills that students demonstrate?
  • Specific rubrics, on the other hand, are particular to a given assignment—one rubric for a narrative essay, another one for an argumentative essay
    • chriskyhl
       
      this is one of the hardest things in SBL or rubric use. They take so much time but have to make sure truly fit an assignment
  • broader and more ambitious
    • kylelehman
       
      This is so true. The objectives are changing and sometimes they are changing in a way that we don't know how to assess them correctly
  • important assessment tool in “achiev[ing a] new vision of statistics education.
    • kylelehman
       
      100%. It is the expectation now that all of our assignments and work have some sort of rubric. Now, it doesn't have to be super detailed but the goal is that students know what they are trying to achieve
  • explicitly delineate the qualities of thought that they are looking for
    • kylelehman
       
      This is key I believe. This is also the #1 problem I see with rubrics today. Instructors need to know every detail of what they are looking for in order to make a rubric work out. With that said, sometimes you think of things late and that makes it hard to get them in the rubric
  • I once gave extra credit
    • kylelehman
       
      I have seen this happen before as well. The way that I look at it, there needs to be an aspect of the rubric that discusses that pieces of evidence from class need to be included.
  • However, for the student to successfully use a rubric this way, the criteria must be made clear to them and the jargon used must not only be understandable to the student but also be linked specifically to classroom instructio
    • mrsmeganmorgan
       
      Some the best teachers allow students student to assess a sample assignment so they can understand the language of the rubric.
    • mschutjer
       
      I agree. This is an important step and sometimes I feel like it is missed, by myself as well.
  • a shred of meaningful content she could meet all the requirements of a state writing rubric he posted in his classroom
    • mrsmeganmorgan
       
      This type of student know the system and how to chase points not learning. Rubrics or other grading tools are about giving feedback to the students so they can continue their learning.
  • The argument against using rubrics
    • mrsmeganmorgan
       
      It's interesting that all of the arguments against rubrics are writing examples.
  • Does the rubric encourage students to be independent writers?
  • Can different scorers consistently apply the rubric?
    • mrsmeganmorgan
       
      I think this is a great question. We might need to talk about it more with our teacher teams.
hansenn

ollie-afe-2018: Building a Better Mousetrap - 3 views

  • we ought to illicit student input when constructing rubrics
    • leighbellville
       
      Student input when creating rubrics would assist them in fully understanding the expectations set forth. It would be interesting to see examples of rubrics constructed with student input.
    • bbraack
       
      Having students illicit input in making of the rubric gives the students ownership and feel like they have a say in what should be assessed.
    • dykstras
       
      This would be tough for me to do in an ALgebra class as a majority of what i am teaching is brand new to them.
    • Kim Foley-Sharp
       
      I love this idea! I think there would be the initial learning curve of how to design a rubric, but a teacher could explain some of the main features/expectations of the projects and then let the students have some say in what excellent would look like etc.
    • carlarwall
       
      Building autonomy in our students and promoting learner agency! What a novel idea.
    • brarykat
       
      Great idea but realistically when would any teacher have time to gather input?  Could it be through exit tickets?  I could see Google Forms be used as a way to collect input. It still would mean dedicated time to review input.   
    • staudtt
       
      I have had mixed feelings with this. For those that have done it do students really help design to further learning? I have had conversations with educators that say in some cases students create simple rubrics to make the expectations easy to attain. Just wondering what experiences were.
    • Jen Van Fleet
       
      As far as the time committment, I don't think it would have to be student created all day every day. I think allowing them to contribute when possible AND pulling out previous rubrics which students contributed on in the past shows the students that the teacher listens to student voice on a regular basis. Not necessarily 24/7. :)
  • dehumanize the act of writing
  • At the beginning of the process, you could ask a student to select to select which aspect she values the most in her writing and weight that aspect when you assess her paper.
    • leighbellville
       
      The idea of asking a student to choose which aspect "she values most" to determine the piece that will be weighted more heavily is an interesting one. I think it lends itself to creating personalized goals with students. Similar to when we ask teachers if there is a specific area they would like to focus on to receive a rating and feedback during an AIW scoring, it could create opportunities for growth and discussion between the teacher and the student.
  • ...67 more annotations...
  • rubrics can help the student with self-assessment; what is most important here is not the final product the students produce, but the habits of mind practiced in the act of self-assessment.
    • bbraack
       
      Though the end product is important, I agree that it is important for the student to think about what or how they are going to go about constructing the end product.
    • jhazelton11
       
      True. If students could accurately self-assess, their end-products ultimately become stronger.
    • stephlindmark
       
      This is when the true spirit of education come through when there is self reflection and self assessment occurs.
    • carlarwall
       
      The best way to get students to use self-reflection and self assessment is for teachers to also model this same practice.
    • dassom
       
      I often forget about the benefit of students being able to self assess. It would not be as useful in probably a math class since it's usually a yes or a no. However in a writing assignment it could help the students see how much work they need to do to get to the next level.
    • blockerl
       
      I agree that it is important to encourage self-assessment. I also like to show students things I have written so they can grade me on the rubric. They enjoy critiquing their teacher. :)
  • produced less interesting essays when they followed the rules [as outlined in a rubric]
    • bbraack
       
      I can see where students would be too concerned with following the rubric in writing, instead of just writing for the fun of it or pleasure of adding things to their writing that they might not when using a rubric.
    • krcouch
       
      I love when they write for fun but they still need to know the basics of grammar and sentence structure etc. and even writing and then going back and doing a self evaluation would be helpful to see if they got all the required items.
    • staudtt
       
      My biggest fear in creating a rubric is just this. How do I write it to encourage going the extra mile and encourage not squash creativity?
  • The second step is deciding who your audience is going to be. If the rubric is primarily used for instruction and will be shared with your students, then it should be non-judgemental, free of educational jargon, and reflect the critical vocabulary that you use in your classroom
    • leighbellville
       
      Purpose and audience are two important considerations when developing a rubric. The point of including "critical vocabulary that you use in your classroom" and ensuring that it is "non-judgemental" are pieces that can be overlooked by educators.
    • stephlindmark
       
      I really like that this emphasizes that the rubric be free from educational jargon.
    • carlarwall
       
      Student friendly language is key if we want the student self reflection to happen.
    • Mike Radue
       
      I think it's helpful to consider / reflect on the notion of the students as our audience in terms of assessment and feedback. Remaining non-judgemental is important to remember in the assessment mode.
  • an analytical rubric, however, will yield more detailed information about student performance and, therefore, will provide the student with more specific feedback.
    • bbraack
       
      I like the idea of having two or more separate scales (analytical rubric). Some parts of an assignment or test might have the student do more and so it should have a different scale. Specific feedback for students is always important so they can understand how they did and what they might need to improve on.
  • Can different scorers consistently apply the rubric?
    • brarykat
       
      I hadn't considered this being an issue until our small group assignment this week.  I've only used rubrics in isolation.  Interesting thought for teachers in department (i.e. Social Studies) using same rubric.
    • leighbellville
       
      Inter-rater reliability is essential. The goal is promoting creativity and creating clear expectations. However, by including too many details, we run the risk of formulaic writing. It is important to ensure students understand the expectations, but also stretch themselves and do not do the minimum required to reach proficiency. On the other hand, when enough detail is not included, then we can run the risk of a rubric that becomes too subjective and then two scorers can review the same piece of writing and score it differently based on their own expectations.
  • stultifying and others see as empowering.
    • Heather Whitman
       
      First of all, I had not seen the word stultifying before! In order for a rubric or other type of assessments to be empowering, students must understand how to use them and have examples that help guide the conversation. Students need to know the expectations and what is considered and exceeds and just beginning. We must put more ownership on the kids' ends to self-assess well before the final due date. We want kids to improve it. I have come to love checklists to help guide this.
    • stephlindmark
       
      I just commented about how students need to see the rubric before hand so they know what is expected of them. I love the idea of using checklists more to help guide the learning.
    • Kim Foley-Sharp
       
      Agreed. What good is a rubric if we don't let the students see it ahead of time? Are we setting students up for failure?
    • emmeyer
       
      Sadly, it is so easy to get wrapped up in all that we have to do in the short amount of time and not show the students the rubric, even when we know that it is more meaningful to show the rubric ahead of time.
    • blockerl
       
      I feel both ways about rubrics. Rubrics certainly help the students and teachers know what is expected out of an assignment, but they can sometimes restrict a student's creativity. I feel like we saw that when we applied our rubric to some of the assignments this week.
    • trgriffin1
       
      I think this is a major problem for a lot of PLCs I work with. Some don't even want students to see exemplars for fear of limiting creativity.
  • post-secondary educators in all disciplines
    • Heather Whitman
       
      I have had quite a bit of training on assessment and rubrics and still feel it is almost impossible to write a good one. Are our post-secondary educators, many of whom don't necessarily have a teaching background, feel comfortable developing rubrics? Who is in charge of this huge task that can be career ending or career beginning for some?
    • nickol11
       
      I couldn't agree more with your thoughts here! And depending on who is assessing your rubric the feedback, grows and glows you receive will also be different. OR what one person is taught as never to include in a rubric another person is taught to always do that.
    • dykstras
       
      Heather, I am with you. Right now I am torn because I am supposed to be assessing my Algebra classes by standards with rubrics created for me at the district level, but everything I read indicates that these should be teacher created. i'm not sure who is more (or less) qualified to be doing this type of work, the individual teachers or the district level decision makers?
  • current goals of solving real problems and using statistical reasoning.
    • Heather Whitman
       
      This perplexes me...As Mike pointed out the need to focus more on the process, do we focus too much on the final product? Can't we have separate rubrics that assess along the way to help with this? It would improve learning but and help teachers truly give a grade with multiple indicators that assess work ethic, collaboration, final product, and the process. I am glad to hear that our focus isn't always on the right answer but creating students who can reason and problem solve.
    • lisamsuya
       
      That idea resonates with me. Rubrics to help students with the process makes sense. Maybe the learning progressions would be helpful for teachers to create rubrics for "along the way."
  • The issue of weighting may be another area in which you can enlist the help of students
    • Heather Whitman
       
      This perplexes me...As Mike pointed out the need to focus more on the process, do we focus too much on the final product? Can't we have separate rubrics that assess along the way to help with this? It would improve learning but and help teachers truly give a grade with multiple indicators that assess work ethic, collaboration, final product, and the process. I am glad to hear that our focus isn't always on the right answer but creating students who can reason and problem solve.
  • “Meaningfully” here means both consistently and accurately—accurately measuring the specific entity the instructor intends to measure consistently student after student.
    • jhazelton11
       
      As a psychology major, this was a big deal in making sure you had sound products you were using. I'm wondering how much we are testing ours today. I know some PLC's that practice scoring examples with rubrics, then discuss, to ensure they are on the same page.
    • brarykat
       
      I see how beneficial rubrics can be in "meaningful" assessment.  It provides clear expectations for both teachers and students, keeps the student focused, and hopefully created to meet standards or other meaningful benchmark.  
    • trgriffin1
       
      I think sometimes the rubric is a tool for the teacher to score and not as much a tool for feedback and encouraging learning (from earlier in the article). When teachers common score, are they using that discussion to shape their instruction and feedback to students? I don't mean to imply they aren't, I don't currently work with a PLC willing to common score. They simply use the same rubric.
  • (whether they are rubrics or more nebulous modes of evaluation) from students is not only unfair and makes self-assessment more difficult, it maintains the traditional gap between what the teacher knows and what the student knows
    • jhazelton11
       
      We are running into this right now with our LMS... the new assessment piece doesn't allow us to upload the rubric. So, kids will have to do tasks without seeing the rubric. This is not okay with teachers, so hoping the tech people will build the rubric options in....
    • stephlindmark
       
      Agreed that withholding assessment tools does a disservice to the education for the students and is can give some teachers a power trip. I am glad to hear the tech at your school are working on this piece and that the LMS has a feature to upload rubric into the system.
  • one rubric can be used to assess all of the different papers assigned in a freshman composition course.
    • jhazelton11
       
      We use a common rubric when assessing special education students with writing goals (although some students have modified or specific rubrics addressing the specifics of their goal).
    • krcouch
       
      I love the idea of common rubrics so that the goals are spelled out. especiallywhen one teacher likes it this way and another likes it this way can be so confusing.
    • emmeyer
       
      I agree, it is nice to have the common rubric that makes all expectations the same.
  • Does the rubric relate to the outcome(s) being measured?
    • jhazelton11
       
      In paper-writing, sometimes we get really caught up in measuring outcomes like mechanics (capitalization, punctuation), and not content. Often we get so caught up in assessing those things, we lose sight of the higher order thinking that we are really trying to measure.
  • non-judgmental:
    • jhazelton11
       
      rubrics are certainly less judgemental when they are used formatively along the way during the process... it's not an end-all "gotcha"
  • system designed to measure the key qualities
    • stephlindmark
       
      The system of a rubric can be very abstract and not concrete if being teacher made. This has pros and cons, one pro if the teacher lets the students see it ahead of time, is that the students know what is expected of their performance.
    • srankin11
       
      Agree! This can be challenging for a new teacher or one that is new to teaching that unit/class. The rubric also allows for standards to be measured in multiple assessments.
  • actually learned rather than what they have been taught
    • stephlindmark
       
      This reiterates to me the difference we are learning between assessing and grading. It is our job as teachers to make sure all students our learning and we aren't just going through the motions of going from chapter to chapter in a textbook.
    • dassom
       
      Teaching is a personal profession and when a student doesn't perform well on an exam it can be a shot to the teachers ego. If we can get teachers to think of rubrics as a way to see if the students have learned it yet instead of just a summative yes or not they got it, it might become less personal and we can start focusing on how to get the students to actually learn in.
  • help instructors in all disciplines
    • stephlindmark
       
      A beauty about Rubrics is they can be utilized in all content areas for all educators.
    • Kim Foley-Sharp
       
      and they can be tailored for the specific assignment or project. I love that rubrics are not content specific and can be designed for individualized, specific things.
  • traditional gap between what the teacher knows and what the student knows
    • stephlindmark
       
      This makes me emotional and the emotion I feel is anger. That there are teachers that are still out there that try to one up the student and have a power trip. As an educator and mother of three students myself I see this and have to play the politically nice card and try to listen instead of get mad during conversations with teachers. This class is giving me knowledge on the importance of assessments and different types.
  • Well-designed rubrics
    • stephlindmark
       
      As stated in one of the videos teachers are not taught in pre-teaching programs how to ask good questions, nor do I think we were taught how to prepare well written rubrics. If rubric are well designed they should not be "formulaic" in their outcomes.
  • But she did it without saying anything coherent
    • stephlindmark
       
      I would say this student was not given a well written rubric.
    • staudtt
       
      Agreed. The rubric apparently wasn't written so that it focused on an outcome the required something coherent.
    • Jen Van Fleet
       
      Leave it to kids to take your words literally in order to drive you figuratively insane. This just goes to show that a rubric shouldn't be driving students to one right answer but rather guiding them towards quality and learning.
    • Kim Foley-Sharp
       
      Absolutely. Kids will pick out one or two words and take them out of context. Is that what the intent of the rubric was? most likely no, but we need to teach the students that the rubric is a guide for expanding their learning with a few checks throughout the process.
  • mitagate both teacher bias and the perception of teacher bias
    • stephlindmark
       
      Anything to mitigate teacher bias is an improvement for many teacher assessments and evaluations of student learning.
    • emmeyer
       
      So true, removing teacher bias is difficult, and when we can do it, it is a good thing.
    • dassom
       
      I love the term real-life learning. Most professions don't have a good and bad type of employee. There are different levels of employees, and there's usually room for improvement.
    • brarykat
       
      In this respect, rubrics protect both the student and teacher. This document removes any possible bias perceived by students and/or parents.
    • blockerl
       
      The problem, which I don't know that it is really a problem, is that grading writing is biased. What I find creative or thoughtful might not be what another teacher thinks. The rubric can assess the prescriptive things like thesis, intro., conclusion, etc.
  • achiev[ing a] new vision of statistics education.
    • nickol11
       
      This is also true for the review systems for many companies. As I talk more and more with my friends outside of education, they talk of the rubrics that are used for their evaluation processes. I think that it is important as we teach students that they are able to relate their learning to rubrics as someday they will have to transfer that knowledge and understanding to their someday job/career.
  • a clear understanding of how rubrics operate
    • nickol11
       
      I really feel like many times when teachers are lost building rubrics they really need to zero in on the criteria needed to meet each indicator level. That said, they also need to model and communicate these items with their students.
    • emmeyer
       
      I agree with both of your points here. The indicator level makes the rubric clear and effective or not so much. Also, it is key for students to know what is expected of them. We, as adults, want to know what is expected of us, but we often think that students don't...which doesn't make sense.
  • wrote poorly when writing, as we might say, to the rubric
    • nickol11
       
      Have we considered to present the assignment to the students with the criteria THEN midway through the creative process bringing in the rubric so that students can assess their own work but still not lose their individuality?
  • Do the students find the rubric helpful?
    • nickol11
       
      I always find it helpful that in designing my rubrics (especially now when our school is building learning targets, assessment plans and more rubrics) that I test them out in my classrooms. They not only provide me feedback to student learning but I also have students provide me feedback as to how they are written, what I can change or add to make them work better for them. It also gives them even further buy-in to what you are doing in the class, as well and shows that you respect that there may be changes in learning but you are there for the student.
  • shared with students prior to the completion of any given assignment
    • hansenn
       
      I think rubrics should always shared with students when they start the assignment. so for me it is not an "IF:
    • dykstras
       
      I agree Noel! Mine are posted along side my standards and learning targets in my room, and constantly referred to.
    • krcouch
       
      I agree completely. I think the kids should know ahead of time what the expectation is.