Assessment Series: Rubrics

1. Assessment Series: Rubrics Molly Herman Baker, Ph.D. Director, Teaching/Learning Center Black Hawk College

2. Assessment in a Nutshell • Auditive Assessments: measures of student learning to issue a grade (e.g., tests, homework assignments) • Educative Assessments: feedback methods to help students monitor their progress and eval. application of lng to novel, authentic situations • Ongoing personal feedback during practice • Forward-looking assessments (apply learning or learned process to novel problems) • Feedback on original products based on criteria

3. What is a rubric? • A document that identifies achievement criteria & standards for a class assignment • Classroom rubrics function as a(n): • Communication tool re instructor expectations (What to do? What to learn to be able to do well?) • Tool for self-assessment (mediocre vs high quality work; what is good enough for an A, B, C?) • Scoring guide for individual student performance (grade) • Effective method to provide feedback to students from instructor, peer, expert (Where can I improve to do better next time? Gaps?)

4. Five Good Reasons to Use One • Rubrics raise the quality of work students produce, in part because they are so specific. • Rubrics make grading more consistent and equitable, feedback more specific. • Rubrics save teachers time. • Rubrics save classroom time. • Rubrics save students time.

5. Assignment Rubric Dev • What are the obj’s for the assignment? • What key criteria will count in your evaluation of the assignment? • Construct a 2-5 point scale for each criteria (standards), writing a statement for each of these poor to good versions of the criteria. • Test for understanding with students or peers

6. What is a rubric? • A document that identifies achievement criteria and standards for a full course or academic program • Program rubrics: • Method for recording a range of learning levels tied to particular quality standards • Communication tool for describing curricular sequencing/progress over time • Planning tool for curricular alignment • Tool for identifying gaps and potential areas of shared responsibility with other departments

7. Why use a program rubric? • Assess the general level of learning provided by a program (e.g., 2-year degree in nursing, general education sequence). • Provide program faculty with information about where improvement is needed in the program’s curriculum

8. Why use a program rubric? • Much learning does not involve “right answers,” but applying it to “authentic” problems • Tests may or may not be the best way to measure success in achieving a particular standard • Much learning is about process rather than what knowledge one knows at a particular point in time. • Do we want to document progress over time, providing feedback along the way?

9. Two Types of Rubrics • Holistic rubrics assess student work or curricular accomplishments as a whole. • Analytic rubrics identify and assess components of a finished product or program curriculum.

10. Holistic Rubric Example

11. Analytic Rubric Example: Presentations

12. Options for Artifacts • Performance over time (e.g., projects, collection of essays, diverse artifacts) • Culminating performance/exhibition (e.g., play, athletic competition, poetry reading, science fair) • Products/portfolios • Process (e.g., logs, drafts of papers, math problems showing all work) shows learning & progress • Best works showcase accomplishments (e.g., collection of writings, art work, critical analyses of current events, lesson plans and materials, snapshots, videoclips, performance reviews by peers/boss, etc.)

13. Use Rubrics to Evaluate…

14. Steps to Develop Program-level Rubrics • Develop programmatic goals (e.g., general education strands) • Articulate indicators of successful completion of those goals (e.g., see BHC core curriculum document) • Clearly identify the scoring criteria (see example programmatic rubric rating scale & “current practice” descriptors)

15. Steps to Develop Program-level Rubrics 4. Select artifacts/evidence that will be collected to document learning progress 5. Develop a curricular alignment plan and assessment timeline.

16. Key Resources • http://www.tensigma.org/rightbars/rubrics_rb1.html#Anchor-44867 (good overview of rubrics & a few examples) • http://www.iccb.state.il.us/pt3/res/link.html (scroll down to “Information on Rubrics” or http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php ) • http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/assess.html#rubrics • http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/rubrics.shtml

17. Let’s Try One!