Rubrics
As we have been investigating and discussing assessment in our current New Learnings and New Literacies course, I have been thinking through my own assessment tools and overall philosophy. Just this morning, I kind of “stepped back” and questioned, “What needs to be assessed in my music classes?” Is the answer simply, “If I’m teaching, then I should be assessing it”? And, a further question/challenge is how can I assess individual students in such large ensemble/group-based classes (for example, my smallest choral class this year is 55 students, and my largest is 95)?
I have found rubrics to be one of the most efficient, accurate, clear, and thorough assessment tools that I can have employed in the last few years. I find that rubrics present some clear strengths:
- Instantaneous grading
- Assesses specific areas
- Can be weighted or not
- Provides specific feedback on areas that need improvement
- Clearly indicates what standards are addressed
- Indicates criteria for grading
- Can be done in stages
- Flexible as individual or group grade
- Gives precise idea on where students are developmentally
- Measures multiple skills and knowledge
- Can have numeric/calculable value (if desired)
For example, the link below shows a rubric that I have developed and revised several times that I find to be an outstanding tools when listening and assessing individual student’s singing performance.
As always I welcome any comments or questions. Thanks for reading…
