DEVELOPING RUBRICS FOR WRITING ASSESSMENT

EDG 754Julie Bastow

Meaghan GauthierCourtney Huff

“When we focus our attention in one area, we can reach a state of purposeful action that yields powerful emotional, physical, and professional results” (Gallagher, 2009).

As noted in Transforming Professional Development into Student Results by Douglas Reeves

TWP—The Power of Focus2007-2011

Year 1:Cohort of 15 Teachers – Focus: Theory & Practice

Year 2: 4 Pilot Schools 60 Teachers – Focus: Theory & Practice

Year 3: Full Implementation 100+ Teachers – Focus: Theory & Practice

Year 4: Continued Full Implementation 100+ Teachers-Focus: Assessment Practices

What is the problem?

Writing assessment across grades K-6 is vastly inconsistent1. Expectations vary from school to

school.2. Expectations vary across from teacher

to teacher across a grade level.3. Levels of student feedback is

inconsistent.4. Some teachers use formative, some

only summative forms of assessment.

“Research indicates that the score a student receives on a test is more dependent on who scores the test and how they score it than it is on

what the student knows and understands”(30).

Classroom Assessment & Grading That Work by Robert Marzano

Evidence

Five Teacher’s Point Assignments by Items

ITEMTeache

r1 2 3 4 5 6 Total

1 Points 10 15 10 5 5 5 50

% 20.0 30.0 20.0 10.0 10.0 10.0

2 Points 25 25 25 5 5.6 5.6 90

% 27.8 27.8 27.8 5.6 5 5

3 Points 45 15 15 5 5 5 90

% 50.0 16.7 16.7 5.6 5.6 5.6

4 Points 20 18.8 18.8 12.5 12.5 12.5 80

% 25.0 20 20 10 10 10

5 Points 20 20 20 10 10 10 90

% 22.2 22.2 22.2 11.1 11.1 11.1

Source: Classroom Assessment and Grading That Work by Robert Marzano

Five Teachers Total Scores for 10 students on a 100-Point Scale

Teacher

1 2 3 4 5

1 65 75 80 50 60

2 78 91 50 86 74

3 90 70 82 100 85

4 65 70 50 70 60

5 82 92 72 72 100

Source: Classroom Assessment and Grading That Work by Robert Marzano

Local Examples

EVALUATING ESSAYS SAMPLE 1 EVALUATING ESSAYS SAMPLE 2

____Introduction____3 detail paragraphs____Conclusion____Publishable quality

Possible 4 points each______ =______%=______

4 = Got it3= Getting it2= Trying1= Little effort0= No effort

Writer’s Workshop Essay Unit

Mastery

Progressing

Needs Improvement

Thesis statement

3 support reasons

Support includes details or examples

Use of transition

words

Conventions

Why is this a critical issue?

Autonomy in grading can lead to individual biases

How do you convey to parents individual growth?

Many transient students—movement causes problems

Grade may reflect behavior vs. meeting the objective (proficiency)

Inconsistency in level of implementation of curriculum

There is no standard—everyone sets their own

How do we compare kids to kids if our grading practices are different?

Where is our target if we are all focusing on different pieces?

Student feedback is not clear enough

Source: Professional Development Session with APS Teachers K-6, January 21, 2011

Plan of Action - Timeline

Fall 2010 – TWP Assessment Training 1 Learning Targets:

Develop a solid understanding of balanced writing assessment.

Develop practical assessment rubrics for “action research” in the classroom.

Collaborate with colleagues on research-based strategies

Results: Teachers narrowed their assessment lens for each unit.

Plan of Action – Timeline

Winter 2011- TWP Assessment Session (APS) Learning Targets:

Connect how previous work has led to today’s training

Understand the importance of writing rubrics which measure performance

Contribute ideas to the development of common writing rubrics

Results: Teachers were able to share their beliefs regarding grading practices and contribute ideas to the development of rubrics.

Personal Narrative Writing – 2nd

Level 4.0 In addition to Level 3.0 performance, the student writer: 

Genre   

Process   

Mechanics  

Level 3.0 Genre Focused small moment story (elaborating a single event or short sequence of events).

Includes details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings. Uses temporal words to signal event order (first, then, next,

etc.). Writes a close-in story ending.

Process Independently generates a topic, drafts, and begins a new piece when finished.

Willing to edit and revise with teacher support.Mechanics By end of year, students should be able to:

1. Capitalize proper nouns.2. Use apostrophes to form contractions and frequently

occurring possessives.Level 2.0 Genre  

Process 

 

  

Mechanics  

Plan of Action - Timeline

Spring 2011 – TWP Assessment Training 2 Learning Targets:

Develop Levels 2 and 4 on the common writing rubrics for units that align with CCSS

Horizontal and Vertical Alignment Understand how to use rubrics with student

samples Create conversion table for grading Implement rubrics in classrooms

Two Levels of Assessment

1. Teachers will use rubrics once they are developed. They will be adapted based on feedback.

2. To determine the quality of the rubric, we will rate it for Content, Clarity, Practicality, and Technical Quality using the ETS Metarubric from the book entitled, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning.

CurriculumCurriculum

Aligning GLCEs to Common Core State

Standards (CCSS)Scope & Sequencing

Writing Workshop Alignment –Narrowing the Lens to align with CCSS

AssessmentMarzano PD Best

Practices in Assessment and Grading

Marzano Process applied to developing common

rubricsTeachers practice using

rubricsTeachers work to gather

samples from the classroom to use as

anchor sets

Leadership/Teaching

TWP Trainings: 2010-2011 Balanced Writing Assessment

1. Formative Charts 2.Common Rubrics

3. On-going PD provides professional feedback and

reflection of teaching practices