Blogging How to Create and Use Rubrics: Part 2

What Not to Grade:  My rubric has criteria that are not aligned to my intended learning outcomes.

Brookhart sure does pack a punch in Chapter Two, "Common Misconceptions About Rubrics."  I was quickly taken aback as the author made me think twice, and then three and four times, about the purpose and outcomes of using rubrics.  According to Brookhart, many of the rubrics commonly used or circulated on the Internet are simply tools that measure compliance and not learning. (Ouch!) Brookhart also makes note of the prevalence of "so many near-miss — engaging but "empty" —classroom performance tasks." (17)  (Ouch, again!)

This chapter warns against "confusing rubrics with requirements and quantities" and discusses the misguided nature of creating rubrics that are simply checklists in disguise:  "What is at issue is the use of task-based (rather than learning based) rubrics that count or enumerate aspects of the directions students are expected to follow.  The resulting "grade" is a measure of compliance and not learning."  (21) This certainly gives me something to ponder as I set a new course within my own classroom.

Self-Reflections

Q:  Think about a performance assessment that you have used and scored with rubrics.  Were the criteria in the rubrics about the task or about the learning outcomes the task was intended to have students demonstrate?  Do the task and the rubric criteria need modification, and if so, what would that look like?
 A. I have used rubrics to grade two assignments and to grade participation in a Socratic Seminar.  The first assignment was a Glogster project.  I found the evaluation process to be tedious for that rubric, but upon reflection, I see that that rubric was partially based on the criteria for the task and didn't really measure the learning outcomes.  That rubric definitely would need to modified.  On an interesting note, I felt very frustrated by the whole assignment.  I noticed that the "A" students earned A's, the "B" students made B's, and so on.  I felt that, with just weeks to go before the state exam, I didn't have time for something that did not improve students outcomes.

Q: Were you familiar with the argument against rubrics that merely summarize the requirements of the task, as opposed to rubrics that describe evidence of learning?  If the argument is new to you, what do you think of about this issue now?
A.  I was not aware of this argument.  I agree that rubrics that merely summarize the task requirements would not provide the evidence needed to assess learning.  I am trying to adopt a SBG (Standards Based Grading) model in my classroom, and I was struck by Brookhart's criticism of neatness as a criteria — a fairly common grading practice — when neatness is not one of our learning goals as defined by our standards.