Rubrics! Judging Writing
My first teaching experience with rubrics was a student teacher. The lead teacher gave me a stack of middle school papers with a rubric and said “Grade these”. No explanation of the rubric, assignment, or objective of the assignment.
As a teacher, I have had the experiences of complete freedom in assessment as well as experiences where the institutions directed the assessment. Many times, the initial creation of an assignment makes creating an effective rubric difficult. When left to my own devices, I have created rubrics using the assignment objectives and criteria. When using an institutionally-dictated rubric, I try to discuss with the students how I will interpret the rubric for each individual assignment.
Throughout my career, my experiences with rubrics has been influenced by my role as a standardized test rater for Education Testing Services (ETS) and the International Baccalaureate (IB) exams. Each standardized test rubric has its own emphasis and objectives. As Bean states in Engaging Ideas, “closely related to the problem of the universal reader is the problem of the generic rubric- the dream that a single one-size-fits-all rubric could be applied to a variety of writing contexts” (Bean, Engaging Ideas, 278). Many of the ETS rubrics are holistics, while the IB rubrics are more analytic. By gaining experience with these types of rubrics, hearing and participating in multiple discussions with raters and mentors concerning the use of these rubrics, and seeing the impact of these rubrics on my students as well as my son (adding clarity sometimes, while other times heightening anxiety due to interpretation issues), I feel I’ve been able to make my assessments more democratic in nature as I have the rationale to back up my choice to assess work beyond the rubric.
*As a little side-note, I have been present in many South Florida Higher Education Institutions’ departmental meetings discussing rubrics; I have served as a rater for two different WAC programs using institutional/ accreditation-minded rubrics. And I agree completely with Bean’s statement, “But the processes by which individuals make judgements about writing are surprisingly complex, and controversies concerning evaluation of writing are among the most heated in composition studies” (Bean, Engaging Ideas, 267).
I completely feel you on creating rubrics. I have gotten better at doing it over the years, but it still is a daunting task. It's funny how many faculty think that using institutionally adopted holistic rubrics lessens the work of providing feedback on student essays/grading.
ReplyDeleteYes! Creating effective rubrics takes time, a lot of hard work, tons of critical thinking, a clear purpose, negotiating with students, and lots of revising! I have been teaching one course for over 3 years now, I am still revising and editing the rubrics I use to grade various assignments! I think that the moment we think that the rubric is perfect, it probably isn't. We are just probably tired of having to keep developing and improving our course! Haha. :) But, yes, I also think that collaboration and seeking the advice of other faculty helps in informing better rubric construction. And, by all means, we have to include students in the dialogue! If we don't listen to them, we might as well just stop attempting to use rubrics, because they are fundamentally dependent on students understanding how they work and what they mean! So, we have to make sure they do! :) Great post!
ReplyDeleteI too have done rating for ETS so I can both (commiserate) and relate to how this has shaped your experience with rubrics. I myself do more holistic assessment, providing criteria for students at different points in the semester and then using that criteria to provide holistic assessment of the project.
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