Expanding My Assessment Toolbox

I’ve been trying to break away from how I’ve been evaluating and assessing my students. It has gotten very easy to fall into the same routines and assessment styles that I experienced in math class as a student where most assignments are graded based on accuracy and not much room for my students to create and reflect on my instructions. Lately, however, I have been pushed and challenged to find new ways to weave different styles and elements into my assessments. This adventure has led me to discover a newfound appreciation for rubrics. Up until now, I have always avoided rubrics because I was unsure how to properly integrate them into mathematics. As a student, the only time I encountered rubrics was during English class when I had to write an essay or create a presentation. Due to this, the concept of rubrics has always been explicitly tied to these forms of assignments that I’ve very rarely - if at all - used in a math setting.

As I’ve tried to tie in areas for feedback within my instruction, it has always felt forced and foreign with the types of assessment being done. With the inclusion of a rubric, however, giving feedback to my students should come more naturally in tandem with the lesson. According to Wiggins and Frontier (2022), “A well-constructed rubric can provide the basis for specific feedback that is understandable to the learner, ensuring the learner knows exactly what they have done well and what they need to do next to improve.” The use of a rubric gives my students a visual outline for what their feedback will entail. They are able to see the areas they excelled, the areas they struggled, and get a clearer understanding of what components I’m looking for in their work at that moment.

The use of rubrics will also allow me to incorporate more creations and projects into my instruction. In the past, it was always difficult to move away from the accuracy component of my students’ work, and I felt that if I tried to have them create some type of media that it would take away from the time and practice required to work through mistakes to reach mastery. However, as stated by Montenegro and Jankowski (2017), “Rubrics, when they undergo a culturally conscious development process and are shared with students, can be a way to accurately assess learning for all students while allowing variation in how the learning is demonstrated (p.12).” I am able to assess as many different components as I need, including solving a math problem correctly and accurately, as long as they are included and described in my rubric. 

As the new school year approaches, I am excited to continue to integrate this new tool into my classroom. I believe that it will serve as a vehicle for authentic feedback and unlock new activities to do with my students. For my students, I hope they interpret more criteria for evaluation as more chances to succeed.

References:

Montenegro, E., & Jankowski, N. A. (2017). Equity and assessment: Moving towards culturally responsive assessment. (Occasional Paper No. 29). University of Illinois and Indiana University, National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA).

Wiggins, G., & Frontier, T. (2022, April 1). How to provide better feedback with rubrics. ASCD. https://ascd.org/el/articles/how-to-provide-better-feedback-through-rubrics

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