Authentic Assessment With Rubrics

Link

This web site was produced to support a staff development session I led for 30 electives teachers. They are often unengaged during professional development and it is unusual that they participate in something they can apply in their own professional practice. I wanted to introduce them to the concepts of backward design and authentic assessments. By the end of the 2 hour session, each teacher had produced a good rubric for scoring a performance task, using Rubistar or a provided template

Audience:

Middle school physical education, art, choir, band, and computer elective teachers attending a district-wide staff development fair

Evidence:

Feedback forms filled out after the session and comments from two administrators present were very positive. The teachers were overjoyed to have a topic they could apply. Many of them took me up on my offer to provide additional help via email after the session. Ultimately, the teachers collaborated and shared the rubrics they created and made them, along with their associated performance tasks, part of the curriculum.

Reflection:

This was the ideal audience for this topic! Coaches and fine arts teachers live and breathe performance assessment. I didn't have to spend any time at all on selling them the concept. After an overview of assessment in general, we looked at performance assessment specifically. We examined the characteristics of good rubrics and one "really bad" rubric. With the supporting materials from the web and session handouts, each teacher created a rubric for a performance task tied to one of his/her standards (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills or TEKS.) I was a little bit worried when two principals plopped down for the session, but they were very complimentary and asked if I would present to their entire staffs.

The big caveat is that this district still does not use performance assessment and rubrics much because it does not value having multiple measures of assessment. Student portfolios are given lip service, but are really just repositories of random student work. Teachers focus on the high-stakes end of the year TAKS test and the district nine-week assessments, all multiple choice except for the writing portion of the ELAR test. The pressure to have kids perform well on the district tests is extreme since teachers' scores are broadcast and compared on the district intranet. Under these conditions, it was hard for backward design and authentic assessment to flourish but I tried to spread my subversive thinking where ever I could!