This document discusses using rubrics to inform and assess student learning. It defines types of rubrics and their importance in providing quality feedback. Rubrics should communicate criteria for judging student work and provide feedback for growth. The document provides guidelines for writing effective rubrics and examples of how rubrics can benefit teachers, students, and parents.

1. Using Rubrics to Inform and
Assess Student Learning
Vanguard Training for Balanced Assessment

2. Module Goals
 Define types of rubrics
 Determine what constitutes quality
feedback for students
 Identify criteria and levels of
proficiency and their importance
 Analyze student work using a rubric
and checklist

3. Enduring Understandings
(participants will understand
that…)
 High quality rubrics are a vital part
of the assessment process
 Effective rubrics inform the teacher
and student of criteria for judging
student work
 Well-written rubrics provide quality
feedback essential to student
growth

4. Essential Questions
 In what ways might the use of rubrics
improve the assessment process?
 How are rubrics used to inform
teachers and students of varying
levels of understanding?
 To what extent can rubrics provide
valuable feedback necessary for
improved student learning?
 How should the different levels of
quality, proficiency, or understanding
be described and distinguished from
one another?

5. Strategic Goal:
Recognizing that the long range goal of the
VBCPS is the successful preparation and
graduation of every student, the near term
goals is that by 2015, 95% or more of VBCPS
students will graduate having mastered the
skills that they need to succeed as 21st
century learners, workers and citizens.
Compass to 2015

6. Strategic Objectives
1. All teachers will engage every student in
meaningful, authentic and rigorous work through
the use of innovative instructional practices and
supportive technologies that will motivate
students to be self-directed and inquisitive
learners.
2. VBCPS will develop and implement a balanced
assessment system that accurately reflects
student demonstration and mastery of VBCPS
outcomes for student success.

7. VBCPS Outcomes for Student Success:
Our primary focus is on teaching and assessing those
skills our students need to thrive as 21st century
learners, workers and citizens. All VBCPS students will
be:
 Academically proficient;
 Effective communicators and collaborators;
 Globally aware, independent, responsible learners
and citizens; and
 Critical and creative thinkers, innovators and
problems solvers.

8. PLCs
STUDENTS
Resilience
8

9. Opening
•Review the piece of student work and checklist
provided
•How does the checklist inform the teacher of the
student’s progress?
•How does the checklist inform the student of
his/her progress?
•How does the checklist inform the parent of their
child’s progress?
•How will the teacher justify the grade to the
student and parents?

10. Paragraph/Essay Writing Rubric
Content (20) _________
Paragraphing (10) _________
Sentence Structure (10)
_________
Topic Sentence/Paragraph (10) _________
Details/Body Paragraph (10) _________
Concluding (10) _________
Transitions (10) _________
Word Choice (10) _________
Spelling (10) _________
Total (100) _________

11. Identifying Clear Criteria for
Student Understanding
Why do we need clear criteria?
— Addresses the fact that understanding within open-
ended prompts and performance tasks is subjective
— Allows students to demonstrate varying degrees of
understanding
— Allows for consistency in grading
— Highlights most revealing and important aspects of the
work--not just those easy to see or score
— Lets students know up front what is required to be
successful
— Derives criteria from established goals (i.e. EU & EQs)

12. Using Criteria to Develop Rubrics
Rubrics are a way to communicate
to students what is considered
important and how a product/task
will be evaluated as well as their
degree of understanding /level of
performance.

13. Types of Rubrics
Analytic - divides a product or
performance into essential traits
or domains so that each can be
judged separately.
Holistic - gives a single score of
the entire product or performance
based on an overall impression.

14. A quality rubric has
language that is…
◦ specific
◦ measurable
◦ observable
◦ understandable
◦ matched to task and KUD’s
◦ provides directions
◦ positive

15. Guidelines for Writing Rubrics
 Do not include numbers in your levels of
understanding (3 examples; 2 examples; 1
example; 0 examples)
 Ensure that the language that separates the
levels of performance/understanding allows
for clear understanding of the differences
between the levels
 Avoid negative language
 Be careful translating rubric score into a
grade
 Involve students in the process
 Criteria should be based on KUD’s of the
unit-neatness and creativity should not be
included unless they are a KUD

16. What does this rubric tell you?
 Analyze the rubric
 Identify what the student should know,
understand, and be able to do
 What does this rubric tell you the
teacher values in this task?

17. The Benefits of Using Rubrics
 Provides clear goals for the learner
 Grade assigned to student work is
defensible to stakeholders
 Allows for fair and consistent grading
 Provides opportunities for learners to
self-assess
 Allows for varying degrees of
understanding to emerge
 Supports self-directed learning

18. Revisit Student Sample and
Rubric
 Review the piece of student work and
rubric provided
 How does the rubric inform the teacher
of the student’s progress?
 How does the rubric inform the student
of his/her progress?
 How does the rubric inform the parent of
their child’s progress?
 How will the teacher justify the grade to
the student and parents?

19. Designing a Rubric
 Review the performance task that you
brought to the training.
 Identify one piece of criteria that your
task will measure
 Complete the Getting Started With
Rubrics activity

20. Quality Feedback…
 Informs stakeholders of a student’s
level of proficiency
 Supports learning because it reduces
the uncertainty
 Provides students with the opportunity
to improve performance
 Supports goal setting and individual
reflection

21. References
 Understanding by Design; Grant
Wiggins and Jay McTighe
 Assessment Strategies for Self-
Directed Learning; Arthur L. Costa and
Bena Kallick
 Scoring Rubrics in the Classroom;
Judith Arthur and Jay McTighe

22. 22
Evaluative Criteria/Rubrics
Ticket-Out-of-the-Room
Name: _____________________
Questions Comments, Suggestions, Ideas, & Questions
In what ways did the content and activities of
today’s workshop enhance your understanding
of performance assessments?
What questions do you have as a result of
today’s workshop?