As students of the not so distant past, we all have likely had experience with rubrics our teachers provided. The assessment tool was first introduced in the 1970s and has become more widely used recently. Some teachers have embraced the shift, while others although they create rubrics when required, barely meet the requirements. I am a firm believer that rubrics help teachers and students alike to give and get more equitable education.
Rubrics allow teachers to outline with specific detail exactly what they are looking for in each category of assessment. This gives all parties involved much more clarity than any other spoken or written instruction. Students receive the rubric and are free to study exactly how they are to execute the test or assignment to earn full marks. Beyond this clarity, rubrics also offer protection for both parties. Teachers have a concrete description of exactly what they graded and are more likely to grade consistently and fairly when having this tool. Students are protected by the rubric because it makes there teachers accountable to the given guidelines and thus grading becomes more transparent. There are so many more benefits to giving assessment more structure and clarity. Rubrics should be embraced by all teachers and students and continue to be used on a more frequent basis for a better education.
I agree with you Lori. I think that rubrics are a great tool and should be used whenever possible. I have to admit I'd never really thought about how the rubric actually protects students. It makes sure that each student is being marked on their own merits, and that their work is not being compared to the work of others. Being fresh out of teacher's college, I also have to admit that I'm not really to sure about how to go about constructing a rubric, as assessment and evaluation was not talked about very much in my classes. Thanks for sharing the links!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I really think that rubrics are useful tool to be used by teachers and students. It does give all parties involved much more clarity than any other spoken or written instruction. Students most of the time forget requirement when you tell it to the verbally but if the have the tool in their hands it would be appreciated.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nicole; I never thought about using a rubric for protection, but it does make a lot of sense.
ReplyDeleteI feel like when I was in school, rubrics weren't really used until they started to use the categories. When the categories came in to play, now we were getting rubrics to show how we were going to be marked. But unlike my mixed feelings on the categories, I think rubrics are an excellent tool because like you said, they definitely make the marking more transparent. Thanks for posting!