Using Rubrics as a Teaching Strategies for Measuring Student Progress

Troy Wittman speaks to my heart, my passion, and my concerns about education in the United States today. Please take 15 minutes and listen to his TedX talk. He’s controversial. You may not like what he has to say. All the more the reason for you to watch!

 

I encourage the use of rubrics because of all the benefits research on their use as teaching strategies indicates. That said, I also encourage the use of quick, one minute, assessments (exit tickets, etc.) on a daily basis. The question I often get is “Do I grade them?” We, as a profession, are obsessed with grading; tagging students with an A,B,C,D, or, F. I don’t feel, nor do I advise, that we grade everything. Even rubrics do not have to result in a “grade.” I think the point that Mr. Wittman makes is that we are too “grade” and “test” obsessed and it’s hurting our kids. I agree. We need to find a balance.

I agree that the Common Core State Standards, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (and all the CCSS standards renamed by states trying to avoid the issues around the term “Common Core”), and many other systems of “standards” in use today have tremendous potential to bring back differentiating instruction, hands on learning, more focus on technology, etc. However, as I coach teachers, I’m sensing and feeling their anger, frustration, and panic about the standardized test that will assess students’ growth on the “standards” in their states.

Many are so concerned about the fact that the test is going to assess mastery on topics their students are not developmentally ready for, especially when assessing students with special needs and learning disabilities. Some teachers are paralyzed by the fear. Some are chucking all known DI strategies because they take too much time to implement. Some are trying to cover two to three years of material in one year to get their students ready for the test. Top that off with the fact that teachers are panicked because, in some cases, their teacher evaluation depends on how their students do on those tests.

I had a teacher say to me recently, “Why would I want to co-teach, or have an inclusive class, when my evaluation will depend on my students’ test scores? The teacher down the hall, who has all high level kids, will get a better evaluation than me simply because she doesn’t have kids on an IEP.”

This is the state of education today and I find it disheartening. Troy Wittman uses rubrics, as he states in his talk, however, it’s not the only tool he uses. He also made it clear that he’s fortunate to work with a school that does not foster teaching to the test… a school that is not creating a culture of fear over test scores.

Teachers are not the only ones who are fearful. School administrators are fearful of the tests also, and that fear trickles down.

As I watched the video myself, I could hear the cries of the teachers I’ve coached and presented to over the past few years in my mind – rebutting… “But in MY school, we could not do what you are doing Mr. Wittman, because …”

We need to find a balance…


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