New Zealand’s Moeraki Boulders
Assessment of Attainment and Achievement
I actively research and implement Formative Assessment and Assessment is For Learning strategies. It has been my role in the school to train and support my teaching colleagues in such strategies and to develop materials and resources. I also use Thinking Skills, Concept Cartoons and the Active Assessment Package in my lessons to achieve critical thinking and have seen real improvement in student attainment and achievement. I also use Rubrics which is a scoring tool that lists the criteria for a piece of work or “what counts.” For example, a rubric for a paper or research project lists the items that students must include in order to receive a certain score or rating. Generally rubrics specify the level of performance expected for several levels of quality. These levels of quality may be written as different ratings (excellent, good, needs improvement) or as numerical scores (4, 3, 2, 1) that are added up to form a total score and then associated with a grade (A, B, C).
Heinemann is a publisher of professional resources and a provider of educational services for teachers, kindergarten through college. They strive to give a voice to those who share our respect for the professionalism and compassion of teachers and who support teachers' efforts to help children become literate, empathetic, knowledgeable citizens. Their authors are exemplary educators eager to support the practice of other teachers through books, videos, workshops, online courses, and most recently through explicit teaching materials.
As outlined by Andrade (2000), rubrics appeal to faculty and students for several reasons. First, they are powerful tools for both teaching and assessment. Rubrics monitor and improve student performance by making your expectations clear and by showing students how to meet course expectations. The result is often marked improvement in the quality of student work and learning.
Rubrics can also help students carefully judge the quality of their work and the work of their peers. When rubrics are used to guide self- and peer-assessment, students become increasingly able to spot and solve problems in their own and one another’s work.Additionally, rubrics can reduce the amount of time you spend evaluating student work. You may find that by the time an assignment has been self- and peer-assessed in accordance with a rubric, you have little left to say about it. If you do have a comment about an assignment, you can simply circle an item in the rubric rather than struggle to explain the flaw or strength and figure out what to suggest in terms of improvement.
Rubrics: useful assessment tools
Rubrics are excellent tools to use when assessing students’ work for several reasons. You might consider developing and using rubrics if:
What is a rubric?
A rubric is an assessment tool that clearly indicates marking criteria. It can be used for marking assignments, class participation, or overall grades. There are two types of rubrics: holistic and analytical.
How to make a rubric:
How to use rubrics effectively
I formatively assess my students through a variety of performances of understanding to include peer feedback activities, Walkabout-Talkabout exercises, pupil displays, role play exercises, individual and team Power Point and poster presentations, peer coaching and many others.
My students take ownership over their learning by setting targets for themselves by the regular update of their Student Profiles. They complete self-evaluation sheets at the end of each unit where they assess their effort in class and homework, and their participation in class activities and discussions. They assess each other through self and peer reflection activities and peer feedback. My students are responsible for directing their own learning and achievement and this has proven to promote a positive learning environment for everyone.
As a class teacher, I take great care over the monitoring and tracking of my students. I monitor summative assessments and completion of homework and regularly communicate with parents through diary planners. I further this by using Monitoring and Tracking forms that communicate student progress inter-departmentally and relay any important information or concerns to line managers, Pastoral Care and Support for Learning. In consultation with Support for Learning staff, I implement a target-based learning strategy for selected students in my care to take account of their record of needs and alternative assessment arrangements. I conduct regular informal interviews with selected students at important stages in the curriculum, before assessments and examinations.
I am keen to use the results of student assessment to assist in the evaluation of my own performance, reflecting on lessons taught with a view to developing my skills.
Heinemann is a publisher of professional resources and a provider of educational services for teachers, kindergarten through college. They strive to give a voice to those who share our respect for the professionalism and compassion of teachers and who support teachers' efforts to help children become literate, empathetic, knowledgeable citizens. Their authors are exemplary educators eager to support the practice of other teachers through books, videos, workshops, online courses, and most recently through explicit teaching materials.
- Heinemann cares deeply about teachers.
- Heinemann is wholeheartedly committed to teaching excellence.
- Heinemann is the leader in professional teacher development.
- Heinemann's authors and classroom resources are transformative.
- Heinemann makes good teaching accessible to all
As outlined by Andrade (2000), rubrics appeal to faculty and students for several reasons. First, they are powerful tools for both teaching and assessment. Rubrics monitor and improve student performance by making your expectations clear and by showing students how to meet course expectations. The result is often marked improvement in the quality of student work and learning.
Rubrics can also help students carefully judge the quality of their work and the work of their peers. When rubrics are used to guide self- and peer-assessment, students become increasingly able to spot and solve problems in their own and one another’s work.Additionally, rubrics can reduce the amount of time you spend evaluating student work. You may find that by the time an assignment has been self- and peer-assessed in accordance with a rubric, you have little left to say about it. If you do have a comment about an assignment, you can simply circle an item in the rubric rather than struggle to explain the flaw or strength and figure out what to suggest in terms of improvement.
Rubrics: useful assessment tools
Rubrics are excellent tools to use when assessing students’ work for several reasons. You might consider developing and using rubrics if:
- You find yourself re-writing the same comments on several different students’ assignments.
- Your marking load is high, and writing out comments takes up a lot of your time.
- Students repeatedly question you about the assignment requirements, even after you’ve handed back the marked the assignment.
- You want to address the specific components of your marking scheme for student and instructor use both prior to and following the assignment submission.
What is a rubric?
A rubric is an assessment tool that clearly indicates marking criteria. It can be used for marking assignments, class participation, or overall grades. There are two types of rubrics: holistic and analytical.
- Holistic rubrics group several different assessment criteria and classify them together under grade headings (see Appendix A).
- Analytic rubrics, on the other hand, separate different assessment criteria and address them comprehensively. The top axis includes values that can be expressed either numerically or by letter grade. The side axis includes the assessment criteria.
How to make a rubric:
- Decide what criteria or essential elements must be present in the student’s work to ensure that it is high in quality. At this stage, you might even consider selecting samples of exemplary student work that can be shown to students when setting assignments.
- Decide how many levels of achievement you will include on the rubric.
- For each criterion or essential element of quality, develop a clear description of performance at each achievement level.
- Leave space for additional comments and a final grade.
How to use rubrics effectively
- Develop a different rubric for each assignment. Although this takes time in the beginning, you’ll find that rubrics can be changed slightly or re-used later.
- Give students a copy of the rubric when you assign the performance task.
- Require students to attach the rubric to the assignment when they hand it in.
- When you mark the assignment, circle or highlight the achieved level of performance for each criterion.
- Include any additional comments that do not fit within the rubric’s criteria.
- Decide upon a final grade for the assignment based on the rubric.
- Hand the rubric back with the assignment.
- If an assignment is being submitted to an electronic drop box you may be able to develop and use an online rubric. The scores from these rubrics are automatically entered in the online grade book in the course management system.
I formatively assess my students through a variety of performances of understanding to include peer feedback activities, Walkabout-Talkabout exercises, pupil displays, role play exercises, individual and team Power Point and poster presentations, peer coaching and many others.
My students take ownership over their learning by setting targets for themselves by the regular update of their Student Profiles. They complete self-evaluation sheets at the end of each unit where they assess their effort in class and homework, and their participation in class activities and discussions. They assess each other through self and peer reflection activities and peer feedback. My students are responsible for directing their own learning and achievement and this has proven to promote a positive learning environment for everyone.
As a class teacher, I take great care over the monitoring and tracking of my students. I monitor summative assessments and completion of homework and regularly communicate with parents through diary planners. I further this by using Monitoring and Tracking forms that communicate student progress inter-departmentally and relay any important information or concerns to line managers, Pastoral Care and Support for Learning. In consultation with Support for Learning staff, I implement a target-based learning strategy for selected students in my care to take account of their record of needs and alternative assessment arrangements. I conduct regular informal interviews with selected students at important stages in the curriculum, before assessments and examinations.
I am keen to use the results of student assessment to assist in the evaluation of my own performance, reflecting on lessons taught with a view to developing my skills.