R UBRICS : T HE K EY TO A UTHENTIC A SSESSMENT D R. J ERI K RAVER Professor of English and Director of English Education

M Y B LURB The only way to measure student mastery of the concepts and skills associated with a field of study is through authentic assessment … Such assessments allow students to demonstrate competency... Traditional pencil and paper testing does not offer opportunities for such assessments. But they are easy to grade. And that is their appeal. I want to show you how, through using the assessment tool of the grading rubric, how you can measure students’ mastery of the skills they are learning in authentic--and, thus, meaningful--ways.

T ODAY ’ S T O G O S Authentic vs. Traditional Assessment Establishing Criteria Performance Described Weighty Measures Student Voices Implementation

W HY DO WE BOTHER ? Students are different: some care, some don’t. And you can’t always tell who is who Students majoring in the subject of the course often care more than those who are fulfilling a requirement only No one wants to be overwhelmed with too much information

A UTHENTIC A SSESSMENTS Measure application, not just recollection, through activities that seek to replicate real-world situations or tasks & Depend on RUBRICS for effective evaluation

T HE R UBRIC, B RIEFLY A scoring tool that explicitly identifies components of an assigned task and for each component provides clear descriptions of the performance expectations by indicating various levels of mastery exhibited in the work.

Bonnie Burns, in How to Teach Balanced Reading and Writing “Although it takes time to develop a rubric, it is time well spent because the teacher clarifies in her own mind the desired qualities of the product. Rubrics also help delineate expectations and clarify grading standards for the students. “

H OLISTIC & A NALYTIC R UBRICS Holistic rubrics score the overall process or product as a whole, without judging the component parts separately Analytic rubrics score individual parts of the product or performance first, then the scores are compiled to obtain a total

C RITERION R EFERENCED M EASURES C RITERIA U GLY G OOD F AB

C RITERIA Criteria are the characteristics or elements of mastery performance on a particular task C RITERIA U GLY G OOD F AB (1) Blah blah blahx 1 (2) Yadda yaddax 3 (3) Whateverx 1

W EIGHTED C RITERIA There is the option of assigning to each criterion a “weight” depending on its importance to the task C RITERIA U GLY G OOD F AB (1) Blah blah blahx 1 (2) Yadda yaddax 3 (3) Whateverx 1

D ESCRIPTORS, OR THE L EVELS OF P ERFORMANCE Statements of expected performance at each level of mastery for a particular criterion in a rubric C RITERIA U GLY G OOD F AB (1) Blah blah blahx 1 (2) Yadda yaddax 3 (3) Whateverx 1

T HE G OOD, THE F AB, & THE U GLY C RITERIA U GLY G OOD F AB (1) Thesis Statement x 1 The thesis is not clearly stated in the essay. It is missing either the requisite although or because clause. Rather than indicate a line of argument, the thesis merely asserts a fact. There is a thesis but it does not appear at the beginning of the essay. Both required elements are apparent, but they are not well crafted. Although not a simple statement of fact, the thesis does not suggest an arguable topic. The thesis statement appears at or near the end of the introduction. In includes both an although clause and a because clause. It is not a statement of fact but rather indicates an arguable line of thought.

T HE R UBRIC G OES WITH THE A SSIGNMENT Detailed descriptors allow students to assess their own work before submitting it for formal evaluation C RITERIA U GLY G OOD F AB (1) Thesis Statementx 1 The thesis is not clearly stated in the essay. It is missing either the requisite although or because clause. Rather than indicate a line of argument, the thesis merely asserts a fact. There is a thesis but it does not appear at the beginning of the essay. Both required elements are apparent, but they are not well crafted. Although not a simple statement of fact, the thesis does not suggest an arguable topic. The thesis statement appears at or near the end of the introduction. In includes both an although clause and a because clause. It is not a statement of fact but rather indicates an arguable line of thought.

H OW W E C REATE A R UBRIC 1.Identify the specific, observable attributes or skills students must display 2.If you choose to, assign "points" or percentages to your criteria 3.Identify the levels of performance (“descriptors”) for each of the attributes 4.Inform students of the assessment criteria when making the assignment

W ORK FROM A MODEL There are sample rubrics on the web Rubistar: Rcampus: But remember, they were designed for someone else’s students, content, even teaching style. So revise what you find to work for you.

S TUDENT I NPUT = S TUDENT B UY - IN Student Input … Encourages “ownership” of the assessment process Requires a discussion of what qualifies as successful performance Asks them to identify key principles of a task or occasion Moves students towards abstract, discipline- specific thinking

H OW W E ( AND T HEY ) C AN U SE I T Hand out the rubric with the assignment and encourage students to use it as they write and revise Have students apply your rubric to sample assignments or during peer workshops Have students submit the rubric—one that they’ve completed—with their assignment Evaluate on the announced criteria only Adjust future instruction based on the results of this assignment

G RADING G UIDELINES. Focus on one or two skills per assignment and limit your written comments to those skills Make your comments substantive DO NOT use a red pen; it’s a red flag Invite students to meet with you if they want to discuss their work in more detail

R EMEMBER Written comments have minimal impact Assessment is part of developing the assignment Developing RUBRICS is time well-spent Seek student input Work from a model Train students to use the Rubric