0.4 A-reef: evaluation

Overview

As discussed earlier in this course, assessment is the process of gathering information about what students know and cando.

E valuating is the process of interpreting and making judgements about that assessment information.

One simple way to interpret and make judgements about student work is to create a rubric (guidelines). In this section you willhave a chance to see rubric samples and you will have an opportunity to create your own rubric.

The eyeglasses we create

If we think about assessment as "casting a net into fertile waters and gathering information", a rubric is like the eyeglasseswe create and use when we look into the net. Rubrics help us to see; they help us to look for certain things we deem important.

A rubric can be issued from a pre-made template or inspired by school or national standards. A rubric can be created by ateacher or group of teachers. It can even be co-created with students.

A rubric can be created before the instruction has taken place in keeping with the "start-with-the-ending" design or during or after the instruction is complete if taking a "constructivist approach."

If a rubric is created before the instruction, it will dictate what we see - or what we look for in our fishing net. In this sense, the rubric becomes a bitlike Escher's painting of the "hand drawing the hand" in that the very rubric we use influences the instruction and the teaching process itself.

Why use rubrics

The advantages of using rubrics (guidelines) in assessment are that they:

• Allow assessment to be more objective and consistent.
• Focus the teacher to clarify his/her criteria in specific terms.
• Promote student awareness about how their work will be evaluated and what is expected.
• Provide useful feedback regarding the effectiveness of the instruction.
• Provide benchmarks against which to measure and document progress.

What is it?

A rubric is a consistent form of evaluation applied to all students. Rubrics may be used "as-is" or they may be combined andmodified in any way that is appropriate for your students. You may find it helpful to review the suggestions for evaluating and selecting rubrics.These items may be used as a checklist.

A rubric is the right one for your school if:

• It addresses the aspects of student work that you feel are most important,
• You and your colleagues can generally agree on the score that should be assigned to a given piece of student work.

A good way to find out which rubric is best for you is to pick a few likely candidates; try them out on actual examples of studentwork; and modify them if necessary. This is often best done in a group setting, so all of the teachers who will be using the rubric can be involved.It's worth taking your time to find a rubric that works well at your school because that rubric will make scoring your students' work easier andquicker.

Most rubrics are focused on particular subjects and grade level(s); if available, that information is often included in therubric listing. Although subject areas and grades are specified for many of the rubrics, you may find that some rubrics can be applied to other subjectsand grades with little or no modification; so if a rubric looks promising, don't be too concerned about the stated grade level or subject. For example,reading rubrics may often be used to assess listening, and writing rubrics can be used to assess speaking content and organization (you would need toadd scales for vocal delivery and physical gestures and behavior).