Abstract:

Assessment is a topic that has long evoked debate and discussion for all involved in education. Assessment of learning has traditionally been the way teachers collect and analyse information to make sense of student progress against an established standard. Moving through the 21st century, a greater focus has been placed on assessment for learning and its influential role in measuring learning growth in education.

Seemingly, the focus of this school-based study was to try to make sense of the purpose of assessment in schools in 2019 and beyond, through the voice of students. The questions proposed have been trying to make sense of are; How will developmental rubrics impact student learning? What metrics will be used to measure impact? How will educators define learning in order too accurately measure impact?

The data was collected from Year 8 English and Humanities students. These students were selected at random which was implemented to reduce potential bias in the student responses. Strategically, the Year 8 English and Humanities classes were taught by the Heads of Department, who were supportive of the research study. The data was collected within a 10-week timeline through Qualitative methods of in-depth interviews and staff and student feedback via an online Survey.

There were two key themes to emerge from this study. Firstly, there was a clear student focus on Marks/Grades. The term ‘mark’ or ‘marks’ appeared overwhelmingly in the student responses particularly when students were asked, “What’s the first part of the rubric the student looks at and why?”. It was predicted prior to this research, based on anecdotal and research backed evidence, that students would look to their total grade or percentage mark first before reading the comments or criteria within a rubric outlining improvement/deficiency feedback. This prediction has been supported within the evidence presented in the study. All students eluded to the fact that the first thing they looked at was the percentage score.
The second key theme to emerge was centered around the value of rubrics. Evidence presented in this paper, proposed that select students viewed rubrics to be constricting which could potentially stifle creativity. This paper discusses potential areas of improvement with rubric writing and the pragmatics on incorporating this within ones teaching praxis.

Overall, there were significant implications that have emerged from the study. These relate to how students can be educated on how rubrics support their learning which can result in improved learning outcomes, combined with the importance of self-assessment. Literature points towards the ever growing and easily overlooked skill of self-assessment within current education practices. Anecdotally, teachers can make the assumption that self-assessment is an inherent skill that all students possess and that they don’t need to be taught or continually reminded on how best to use a rubric to reflect on their learning.

This research suggests that self-assessment needs to be explicitly taught to students. Furthermore, it is important that schools provide staff with expert professional learning on the purpose, design and evaluation of effective rubrics that enhance student learning, as developmental rubrics contribute significantly to the transformation of assessment practice.

Keywords:

Assessment, formative assessment, rubrics, feedback.