Bring on the rubric

This post will be a small rant about grading rubrics..... 4th grade grading rubrics.

As an aside - I'm a believer in rubrics.  As an engineer, I especially like that they make it easier for me to grade things like essays, projects, and papers by quantifying the components.

BUT, as a user of rubrics, I realize that you need to either make your instructions match your expectations (rubric), or make you expectations (rubric) match your instructions.  Which is why I was super annoyed that Jacob earned 27 of 50 points on his non-fiction book report, when he did exactly what the instructions said, but not what the rubric graded him on.

Let me give some examples along with an easy fix for the teacher to make their expectations more transparent.

Instruction: "Using complete sentences, tell about 5 or more interesting facts you learned from reading the book"

Rubric: "5 or more interesting facts using a total of at least two sentences per fact"

Score: 5/15 because he gave five facts with only one sentence each (why half the expectation was only 1/3 of the points is another point to ponder).

Jamie's Instructions Recommendation: "Write about 5 or more interesting facts you learned from reading the book, using at least two sentences for each fact." 

(with a note that the teacher is actually asking the students to "write" about the facts and not "speak" about the facts, so "tell" is really also not the correct word here)

Instruction: "Did you like the book? Did you think the book did a good job of teaching you about the topic? Would you recommend this book to a friend? Using complete sentences, explain your opinion of this book."  (this was written just as I have in one paragraph)

Rubric: "Opinion paragraph written using at least 5 complete sentences" and a second one "Recommendation paragraph including at least 5 sentences"

Score: 2/7 because I guess he wrote just one 5 sentence paragraph that answered the questions listed in the instructions.

Jamie's Instructions Recommendation: Split into two parts if there are two paragraphs required.  Part 1: "What is your opinion about the book?  Did you like the book?  Did you think the book did a good job of teaching you about the topic?  Write a full paragraph answer."

Part 2: "Would you recommend this book to a friend?  Why or why not?  Write a full paragraph answer." 

(with a note that the teacher is actually asking the students to "write" about the facts and not "speak" about the facts, so "tell" is really also not the correct word here)


See.  Not so hard to make them match.  Seriously - he'll do what you want him to do, just be clear about what you want him to do.