In the past few years, teachers have been designing and implementing
more effective rubrics through collaboration with the coach, who keeps
them in a rubric portfolio.
observation, conferences, inservice
workshops, and teacher reflection.
Portfolios have also been influential
in establishing more teacher and stu-
dent accountability for assessment as a
shared vision of what matters.
Currently our work with assess-
ment, driven by a Middle States Ac-
creditation for Growth (AFG) goal,
is focused on increasing Quadrant D
assessments to improve the learning
experience and increase retention
through relevant applications. This
goal, based on the ideas outlined in
William R. Daggett’s book, Rigor and
Relevance From Concept to Reality,
challenges teachers to design lessons
that push students into higher-order
thinking and help them find relevant
connections and applications for cur-
ricular content. Daggett describes
this rigorous student performance as
“the ability to gather knowledge from
a variety of sources to solve a complex problem.” In short, we identify
Quadrant D as high levels of Bloom’s
Taxonomy combined with relevant
connections, as demonstrated through
multidisciplined, real-world applica-tions. Culminating assessments ultimately allow multiple pathways to
demonstrate learning and often yield
unpredictable outcomes. This project-based approach requires a facilitated
process that allows students to “find
their own way” to a rich understanding. As teachers review portfolios and
modify assessments to hit this criteria,
coaching support becomes invaluable
as teachers seek to improve instruction by adopting new strategies and
technologies.
Rubric Evolution
When we started our rigor and relevance initiative, we found that in
addition to the creativity required to
design relevant application projects,
teachers also found a challenge in designing rubrics to accurately measure
this level of application. They found
solid rubrics to be time consuming to
create, and many found it difficult to
quantify and fully articulate varying
levels of rigor and relevance. In many
cases, scoring guides were merely
checklists that students could complete satisfactorily with minimal effort. The desire was to develop rubrics
that both guide and measure more
meaningful performance. In the past
few years, teachers have been designing and implementing more effective
rubrics through collaboration with
the coach, who keeps them in a rubric portfolio. When working with a
teacher to design a lesson, especially
summative assessments that incorporate technology, the coach usually
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