The effect of the use of a rubric in teacher assessment

• Main Author: Shepard, Marilyn Maffei
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Subjects: education, curriculum and instruction
• ISBN: 9780542344404; 0542344408

The Massachusetts Educational Reform Act of 1993 and the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2003 brought standards, assessment and accountability to the forefront of education reform. The focus on accountability for student learning outcomes created a tension in school districts forced to reconcile their existing internal accountability systems with those imposed externally through state and federal mandates.
This study looked at the grading practices of elementary teachers in one Massachusetts district. Teachers were asked to assess student compositions using two formats. First they used the district's internal accountability system of a report card and its corresponding letter grades. Second they used the state's accountability system of a rubric and its corresponding numbered criteria. The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of the state's rubric resulted in consistency in grading across three variables: grade level taught, years in teaching, and teacher role or responsibility.
The study revealed that inconsistencies in grading existed in all three variables reviewed whether teachers used the district's format or the state's format. The study also revealed that teachers appear to disregard the wording of the district and state grading systems to superimpose their own schema using categories of top, middle and bottom. Special educators in this study required the highest scores to achieve each category. Greater differences existed in all three categories when teachers graded writing content as opposed to writing conventions. This study showed that while the use of the rubric was shown to have a statistically significant effect in some cases, it was not enough to bring consensus in all cases.
Under No Child Left Behind all children must be proficient in English Language Arts, which includes writing, by 2014. Any variation in teachers' assessment could negatively impact student achievement. Students, teachers and parents need clear goals and a clear and consistently applied grading system to monitor students' progress toward standards and goals.