Action Research Plan Essay, Research Paper
Do Rubrics Enhance and Improve Students? Writing Products?
Research:
H. Andrade. (2000). Using Rubrics to promote thinking and learning. Educational Leadership. ASCD. Volume 57 NO. 5. February.
Instructional rubrics help teachers teach and evaluate student work, and creating rubrics with the students help can be very instructive. Andrade?s article defines what a rubric is and supports why they are a good assessment tool. The article asserts why instructional rubrics support learning, how they provide students with necessary feedback, and how they help students develop their understanding. The article also provides support about how rubrics provide clear expectations for students, and support good thinking. The article also includes data that suggests that self-assessment using a rubric has a positive effect on most students? writing. The article also introduces and supports the concept of blending instruction and assessment for more effective teaching.
Moskal, Barbara M. (2000). Scoring Rubrics: What, When and How? Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 7(3). Available online: http://ericae.net/pare/getvn.asp
The article support that scoring rubrics provide at least two benefits in the evaluation process. First, they support the examination of the extent to which the specified criteria has been reached, and second, they provide feedback to students concerning how to improve their performances. The article also supports that if these benefits are consistent with the purpose of the assessment, that a scoring rubric is likely to be an appropriate evaluation technique.
Using generalizability theory to estimate the reliability of writing scores derived from holistic and analytical scoring methods Educational and Psychological Measurement; Durham; Jun 1999; Carl W Schwartz; Stephen R Hooper; James W Montgomery; Melissa B Wakely; et al;
This research examined whether or not the rubrics used to assess writing for the NAEP test are reliable. Two separate studies were listed for this source. The results from both studies suggested that individual differences among students contributed most of the variance to writing scores. Well-trained raters did not contribute significant amounts of variance to writing scores, but there was sizable variance in the scores attributable to the interaction of students and raters. The reliability coefficients tended to increase as the number of raters increased. However, the specific use of these writing scores was an important consideration in the reliability of the scores.
Writing by the Rules No Easy Task; ‘Rubrics’ Can Help Students Focus on Basics, but Some Teachers and Parents Say They Squelch Creativity
The Washington Post; Washington, D.C.; Oct 24, 2000; Jay Mathews;
This article presents research that some teachers find that rubrics stifle student creativity. It also emphasizes that teachers hold many different views about the value of rubrics. Some teachers will not assign writing tasks without a rubric because they feel the rubrics set important guidelines. The article presents support for both sides of the argument. This article reports research that states that writing is too personal and varied an enterprise to be amenable to scoring by rubric. It also suggests that standardized scores with a writing rubric also present a validity problem. Rubrics incorrectly imply that good writing is the sum of the criteria on the rubric, and that the criteria on the rubric are sufficient for good writing. The author asserts that writing that does not conform to the criteria on the rubric is not good.
Introduction to Scoring Rubrics. http://intranet.cps.k12.il.us/Assessments/Ideas_and_Rubrics/Intro_Scoring/intro_scoring.html
This website is an introduction to using rubrics as a form of alternative assessment. It includes a definition of Performance Assessment, and research about why scoring rubrics are important. The website also contains research about the most effective elements of a scoring rubric, and distinguishes between analytical and holistic rubrics.
Combining scores from analytical rubric scales. Finally, the sight explains the most effective way to use a rubric in the classroom.
Interview Questions:
Do you use Rubrics when you assign writing?
What type of writing assignments do you think are best suited for using rubrics?
Do you think scoring rubrics enhance student writing? How do you think that students? writing products improve from using scoring rubrics?
Do you think a scoring rubric could stifle a student?s creativity? If yes, how, and if no, why not?
Survey Questions:
1. I like to know the specific guidelines for what it takes to create an A paper.
Strongly Agree Agree Unsure Disagree Strongly Disagree
2. I think that specific guidelines stifle my creativity.
Strongly Agree Agree Unsure Disagree Strongly Disagree
3. I have been assessed using a rubric and I found it helpful.
Strongly Agree Agree Unsure Disagree Strongly Disagree
4. I think that scoring rubrics help me to know exactly what my teacher is looking for in a paper.
Strongly Agree Agree Unsure Disagree Strongly Disagree
Another way of collecting data:
I think comparing the products of students that were given a rubric to the products of students who weren?t would be a good way to test if rubrics were effective in enhancing students? work.