Rubrics

The ideal rubric: Rank/gradient of achievement from novice/beginning to master/exceeding. Avoids emotive words like weak, partially, incomplete. Specific criteria supports objectivity. Subjectivity undermines student buy-in. Specific criteria focusses teacher on currriculum - critical concepts or overarching requirements and identifies required skills/knowledge. Criteria based on Bloom's taxonomy encourages good teaching practice. With the assumption of the lower-order levels being necessary before higher-order thinking, we assign more points to synthesis/creativity and objective evaluation than to recall or ordering of information. Used for students' benefit - defines expectations if provided at the beginning of task, provides opportunity for self and peer assessment. Opportunity for student to identify if the assessment is appropriate - the results do not reflect the effort - with self-reflective question about how much effort, thinking was involved or an invitation for thoughtful questions about the assessment itself. Provides criteria for steps of a process that is to be followed and to what extent the knowledge/skills involved have been mastered. (Novice proficient to master).

Exemplers: - novice, beginning proficiency, advanced proficiency, exemplary; well described, specific criteria of action and reflection of action. - includes self,peer and teacher assessment. Specific criteria, ticklist. - curriculum based therefore (too) broad criteria; beginning, approaching, meeting, exceeding described using Bloom's taxonomy - Uses Bloom's taxonomy to define specific criteria. Terrible gradient. of student work into excellent, adequate, and inadequate samples. Levels 2 and 4 describe work that is between these anchor points. Other educators argue that an even-point scale (four or six levels) forces more care in judging than an odd number does; it prevents assessors from overusing a middle category for work that is difficult to assess.
 * Many designers of rubrics advocate a five-level scale. Levels 1, 3, and 5 are developed from an initial sorting

Rubrics are assessment tools that identify criteria by which student processes, performances, or products will be assessed. They also describe the qualities of work at various levels of proficiency for each criterion. The following types of assessment rubrics may be used in classroom assessment: • **General rubrics** provide descriptions of proficiency levels that can be applied to a range of student performance processes, performances, or products. Using the same rubric for similar tasks helps teachers manage marking assignments based on student choice, and helps students internalize the common qualities of effective processes, performances, and products. • **Task-specific rubrics** describe the criteria used in assessing specific forms such as the use of a balance, writing a laboratory report, or calibrating CBL probes. Complex student projects may require a different rubric for each phase (for example, a group inquiry project may require a rubric for collaborative work, information-gathering processes, oral presentations, and written reports). • **Holistic rubrics** are used to assign a single mark to a process, performance, or product on the basis of its adequacy in meeting identified criteria. • **Analytic rubrics** are used to assign individual scores to different aspects of a process, performance, or product, based on their specific strengths and weaknesses according to identified criteria. See the Rubric for the Assessment of a Decision-Making Process Activity in Appendix 6. • **Checklists** are lists of criteria that do not distinguish among levels of performance. They are used to assess the presence or absence of certain behaviours, and are most suitable for assessing processes (for example, “Did the student perform all the necessary steps?”). Because they require “Yes/No” judgements from the assessor, checklists are easy for students to use in peer assessment. • **Rating scales** ask assessors to rate various elements of a process, performance, or product on a numerical scale. They do not provide complete descriptions of performance at various levels.

Why Teachers Use Assessment Rubrics
The best assessment tasks ask students to perform the sorts of scientific literacy tasks they will be called upon to perform in real-world situations. They allow students to demonstrate not only the declarative knowledge they have gained, but also the interplay of attitudes, skills, and strategies that constitute their learning. Authentic assessment tasks invite a range of responses and allow students to express their individuality. For all these reasons, assessing scientific literacy is a complex matter.

Assessment rubrics
• help teachers clarify the qualities they are looking for in student work; • ensure that all students are assessed by the same criteria; • help teachers communicate the goals of each assignment in specific terms; • allow teachers within schools, school divisions/districts, and the province to collaborate in assessment; and • play an important part in instruction. How Assessment Rubrics Enhance Instruction The best assessment tools do not simply sort and score student work; instead, they describe it in specific terms. This assessment information • helps teachers adjust instruction to meet student learning requirements; • tells students what teachers expect and will look for in their work, and helps them to focus their efforts; • allows students to assess their own work using the criteria teachers will use to set goals and to monitor their progress; and • aids in the development of metacognition by giving students a vocabulary for talking about particular aspects of their work.

How to paper:

http://rubistar.4teachers.org http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/assess.html http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/rubrics.shtml http://sllo.tamu.edu/rubrics