Star Rubric
As we began our journey 6 years ago we realized that our assessment practices contradicted many of our beliefs, damaged our students’ mindsets and created equality and status issues in the classroom. We have come a long way and in this post we are going to share a few iterations for our grading strategies that better align with our beliefs and have helped our students grow.
At the start of our journey students would receive their summative assessments with a score and with their incorrect questions marked wrong. At first we thought it was good for students to work through all their mistakes and correct them, but we realized that there were a lot of equity and mindset issues with this practice. Students would compare how they did to their peers and some students would get a heightened status if they didn’t have any missed problems. We would give students class time to work through their mistakes with their peers, but often students were embarrassed to have their test out in front of their peers. Having 34 students in a class meant that we often couldn't help all our students find their mistakes and correct them. Additionally, it seemed inequitable that some students had many problems to fix while others had a few or none. This wasn’t what we had in mind, so we decided to change our assessment practices!
The big change came a few years ago when we decided not to write a score or grade on students’ assessments. In fact, we wouldn't mark any problems on the assessment correct or incorrect. Instead we only wrote feedback. The feedback would either be comments such, “I like the strategy you are using” or a question that would help students to either discover a mistake they had made or to extend their mathematical thinking. To make this equitable every student would receive 2 questions or comments. We love the equalizing effect of this strategy. No longer did students sit next to peers who might have missed every question versus peers who got everything right. EVERYONE had 2 questions to think about.
Students were now more open to working with their peers. Not having the score or grade on the assessment allowed students to feel comfortable having their assessment out in front of their peers as well. Most importantly, not having a score or a number on their assessment allowed students to focus on learning rather than labeling themselves with a score or grade. However, we soon realized that writing such thoughtful feedback for all our students was not sustainable for us as teachers. So we came up with a strategy we call, “Star Rubric”. We don’t love the name, we are open to suggestions, but we do LOVE the strategy and how it supports ALL our students and avoids the previously mentioned status issues.
How it works...
After our students take a summative assessment we sit down and look thru a few samples of students’ test to see if we can identify patterns of common misconceptions and mistakes. On a separate document we then record a list of questions or comments we would have written down on the test to address the misconception or mistake. To save us time we encode each question or comment with STAR #. For example, this is a question from one of our assessments
At the start of our journey students would receive their summative assessments with a score and with their incorrect questions marked wrong. At first we thought it was good for students to work through all their mistakes and correct them, but we realized that there were a lot of equity and mindset issues with this practice. Students would compare how they did to their peers and some students would get a heightened status if they didn’t have any missed problems. We would give students class time to work through their mistakes with their peers, but often students were embarrassed to have their test out in front of their peers. Having 34 students in a class meant that we often couldn't help all our students find their mistakes and correct them. Additionally, it seemed inequitable that some students had many problems to fix while others had a few or none. This wasn’t what we had in mind, so we decided to change our assessment practices!
The big change came a few years ago when we decided not to write a score or grade on students’ assessments. In fact, we wouldn't mark any problems on the assessment correct or incorrect. Instead we only wrote feedback. The feedback would either be comments such, “I like the strategy you are using” or a question that would help students to either discover a mistake they had made or to extend their mathematical thinking. To make this equitable every student would receive 2 questions or comments. We love the equalizing effect of this strategy. No longer did students sit next to peers who might have missed every question versus peers who got everything right. EVERYONE had 2 questions to think about.
Students were now more open to working with their peers. Not having the score or grade on the assessment allowed students to feel comfortable having their assessment out in front of their peers as well. Most importantly, not having a score or a number on their assessment allowed students to focus on learning rather than labeling themselves with a score or grade. However, we soon realized that writing such thoughtful feedback for all our students was not sustainable for us as teachers. So we came up with a strategy we call, “Star Rubric”. We don’t love the name, we are open to suggestions, but we do LOVE the strategy and how it supports ALL our students and avoids the previously mentioned status issues.
How it works...
After our students take a summative assessment we sit down and look thru a few samples of students’ test to see if we can identify patterns of common misconceptions and mistakes. On a separate document we then record a list of questions or comments we would have written down on the test to address the misconception or mistake. To save us time we encode each question or comment with STAR #. For example, this is a question from one of our assessments
If a student made a mistake on this problem then they would get "STAR 1" written next to the problem on their test. Then they would look and the Unit 6 Feedback document to decode what "STAR 1" means.
Now when our students receive their assessments back every single student receives 2 star questions to reflect upon and work on. What the students don’t realize is that these questions are targeted specifically for them and chosen by us. #differentiation
We strive to push every student to extend their learning and grow as a mathematical thinker no matter where they are at. The students that did get a perfect score also get two STAR questions. What all the students don't realize is that the questions they got are extension questions. When our students get these from us we usually give students a few minutes to process the questions independently and then we encourage them work on their responses to the feedback questions with their peers.
Links
UNIT 6 Test
Unit 6 Star Questions
WHAT OUR STUDENTS THINK...
“I think that not seeing a score on my assessment has really helped me because know I don't compare myself to others like I used to and I don't feel bad that I might have gotten a lower score then they one they did. I also think that not seeing a score but getting feedback instead has helped me become a better thinker because now I have to evaluate the feedback and figure out want I could improve on.”
“I feel good not seeing a score on my assessments because it allows me to really focus on how i did and how I can improve.”
“I really enjoy not seeing a score on my tests because seeing a score makes me nervous if it's not a perfect score and I feel discouraged but not seeing it just makes it seem like I'm just not there yet but I will be.”
“It kind of relieves me because if I get a low grade I always felt bad like I couldn't do anything to fix it but I love how my teacher just gives me feedback and says that I can improve next time all I need to do is study on my weak areas and grow them.”
We strive to push every student to extend their learning and grow as a mathematical thinker no matter where they are at. The students that did get a perfect score also get two STAR questions. What all the students don't realize is that the questions they got are extension questions. When our students get these from us we usually give students a few minutes to process the questions independently and then we encourage them work on their responses to the feedback questions with their peers.
Links
UNIT 6 Test
Unit 6 Star Questions
WHAT OUR STUDENTS THINK...
“I think that not seeing a score on my assessment has really helped me because know I don't compare myself to others like I used to and I don't feel bad that I might have gotten a lower score then they one they did. I also think that not seeing a score but getting feedback instead has helped me become a better thinker because now I have to evaluate the feedback and figure out want I could improve on.”
“I feel good not seeing a score on my assessments because it allows me to really focus on how i did and how I can improve.”
“I really enjoy not seeing a score on my tests because seeing a score makes me nervous if it's not a perfect score and I feel discouraged but not seeing it just makes it seem like I'm just not there yet but I will be.”
“It kind of relieves me because if I get a low grade I always felt bad like I couldn't do anything to fix it but I love how my teacher just gives me feedback and says that I can improve next time all I need to do is study on my weak areas and grow them.”
