Using Rubrics WiZiQ Webinar - October 13, 2010 What is a Rubric? Why do we use them?

1. Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program (TEA) & International Leaders in Education Program (ILEP) • Using Rubrics • WiZiQ Webinar - October 13, 2010 • What is a Rubric? Why do we use them? • Designing Rubrics: Best Practices • Rubrics and the Process of Assessment

2. Using Rubrics What is a rubric?

3. What is a rubric? • A rubric is an assessment tool • Rubrics use specific criteriaas the basis for evaluating and assessing student performance • Rubrics are a popular method of “authentic assessment” • There are two basic kinds of rubrics: analytic and holistic

4. A typical analytic rubric is in the form of a chart, with several rows and columns:

5. A typical holistic rubric is in the form of a list: An analytic rubric assesses students on each of several different dimensions of performance. A holistic rubric looks at student performance as a whole. Neither one is better than the other. Consider your students, the learning objectives, and the assignment when you decide which type of rubric to use. We are going to focus on analytic rubrics today.

6. What is a rubric? An analytic rubric always includes the following three elements: • Criteria, or Dimensions of Performance • Levels of Achievement • Descriptors, or Standards

7. Elements of a Rubric L E V E L S O F A C H I E V E M E N T D E S C R I P T O R S C R I T E R I A

8. Imagine you assign your students the following writing exercise: Write one paragraph in English about your holiday vacation. You could grade their work using a simple rubric like this: L E V E L S O F A C H I E V E M E N T C R I T E R I A

9. …or you could use a more complex rubric like this: L E V E L S O F A C H I E V E M E N T C R I T E R I A

10. Using Rubrics Why do we use rubrics?

11. Why do we use rubrics? We use rubrics to … • …provide clarity when assessing subjective assignments (i.e. assignments with no clear right or wrong answer) • …define in clear terms what is “excellent” and what is “poor” • …effectively communicate to students what is expected of them • …have a transparent assessment process • …explain to parents where their child excels and where he/she needs improvement • …provide clear feedback to students

12. Designing a Rubric • The Criteria, Levels of Achievement, and Descriptors will vary. • Some teachers might use one master rubric template that includes all the skills (criteria, or dimensions of performance) that students will be evaluated on during a school year. Depending on the assignment, teachers can pick and chose which dimensions to assess at any time, for any lesson. • Some teachers use the same basic rubric for many different lessons. • Best Practice: Tailor your rubric to fit the assignment and learning objective(s) at hand

13. Designing a Rubric: Criteria These criteria, or dimensions of performance, or skills, show the student what to focus on in this assignment C R I T E R I A

14. Designing a Rubric: Criteria Best practices for Criteria: • Use language and terms that students are familiar with • The criteria should be clearly related to the assignment • Be sure to include only the most essential components of students’ performance for the assignment; too many criteria can be overwhelming

15. Designing a Rubric: Levels of Achievement L E V E L S O F A C H I E V E M E N T Q: How many Levels of Achievement should a rubric have? A: Between 3 and 6 is the most common.

16. Designing a Rubric: Levels of Achievement Best practices for creating Levels of Achievement: • Do not include too many levels (for example, more than 10). It is difficult to reliably and consistently make such narrow distinctions between students’ work. • Consider whether you will use an odd or even number of levels. An odd number is likely to produce a bell-curve of results. An even number will separate the class into those either above or below a certain standard.

17. Designing a Rubric: Descriptors This is the core of the rubric. The descriptors describe and define the characteristics of student work at each level of achievement. D E S C R I P T O R S

18. Designing a Rubric: Descriptors Best practices for creating Descriptors: • Descriptors should reflect standards that are high and attainable. Do not create a standard for “Excellent” that no student can reach. • Phrase the descriptors so that you leave considerable flexibility for students to choose and develop their own content. • Flexible criteria: • Paragraph describes multiple features of student’s home life • Inflexible criteria: • Paragraph includes two sentences about student’s house, one sentence about student’s family, and one sentence about student’s favorite food. • Use language that students will readily understand

19. Designing a Rubric: Descriptors Best practices for creating Descriptors: • Base your descriptors on actual student work that you have seen in the past. • If you are designing a rubric for a lesson that you have taught many times, think about your earlier experiences – • Why did you give Susie’s work 10 points, why was it good? • Why did you give Carol’s work 2 points, why was it bad?

20. Rubrics and the Process of Assessment "For as long as assessment is viewed as something we do 'after' teaching and learning are over, we will fail to greatly improve student performance, regardless of how well or how poorly students are currently taught or motivated." --Grant Wiggins, EdD., president and director of programs, Relearning by Design, Ewing, New Jersey http://www.edutopia.org/teaching-module-assessment-rubrics

21. Rubrics and the Process of Assessment Do your students do self-assessment? Do your students do peer-review?

22. Rubrics and the Process of Assessment • Project Rubric • Students collaborate on a rubric for a project-based lesson, setting goals for the project and suggesting how their work should be evaluated. The teacher and the students create the rubric together. • Team Rubric • Detailed descriptions for tasks that will be done while the students are working as a team. A team rubric states acceptable degrees of behavior, and lists actions or tasks required of each team member for the completion of a successful project. http://www.edutopia.org/teaching-module-assessment-rubrics

23. Rubrics and the Process of Assessment • Apply the rubric during the task to generate feedback, either through self-assessment or peer review • Allow students to revise their work based on the feedback • Apply the rubric again and see how much the students have improved

24. Resources • Rubistar • http://rubistar.4teachers.org/ • Rubistar allows registered users to make exemplary rubrics in a short amount of time. Registered users can save and edit rubrics online. Registration and use of Rubistar is free. • Teachnology • http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/ • Extensive teacher resources for rubrics on the Internet, including tools that help guide you through the process of creating rubrics, plus over five hundred printable rubrics on the web site. • Developing and Using Scoring Rubrics • http://www.uleth.ca/edu/runte/tests/cones/score/rubric.htm • Edutopia • http://www.edutopia.org/teaching-module-assessment-rubrics

25. Task • Answer one of the following prompts on Edmodo: Do you think a rubric should have three levels or four levels? What are the pro and cons for the number of levels you select? OR How can you get your students to use the rubric for self evaluation? • Reply to one or two of your colleagues responses. Try to make sure everyone’s response has at least one reply. • During the next professional development you will be creating a rubric that you can use on a current or upcoming project.