Eight Easy Steps for Implementing the North Carolina Graduation Project Rubrics Presented by Valorie Hargett, Section Chief English Language Arts 6-12

Eight Easy Stepsfor Implementing the

North CarolinaGraduation Project Rubrics

Presented by

Valorie Hargett, Section Chief

English Language Arts 6-12

Middle and Secondary Division

Department of Public Instruction

Why Rubrics??

• To define excellence and to help students achieve it.

• To empower students in becoming self-reflective, life-long learners.

• To communicate goals and results to all stakeholders involved in the educational process.

• To assist teachers, school-based leadership and community at large in becoming effective assessors and evaluators who consistently and accurately score students’ work.

Rubric and Assessment Vocabulary

• Rubric• Criteria• Descriptors• Scoring Rubrics

– Holistic Scoring– Analytic Scoring– Coaching Rubrics

• Quality Level• Exemplars• Anchors

CommunicationA Common Language

• Rubric– Creates a powerful

communication tool that assesses students’ work

– Clarifies and conveys the vision of excellence

– Provides a set of criteria for a particular task to determine the performance level of the student

– Provides a rationale for assigning a defensible score to student work

• Criteria– Determine the essential

characteristics of a learning task for attaining high quality results

• Descriptors– May or may not exist

within a rubric– Articulate clearly what is

expected from students at each level of performance for each criterion

Scoring

• Holistic Scoring– Assigning a single score to “work” based on an overall

impression – most appropriate at system levels.

• Analytic Scoring– Assigning separate scores for each criterion –

most appropriate for classrooms.

• Quality Levels– The defined levels of quality identified for the

criteria/dimensions in a scoring rubric (e.g., exemplary, satisfactory, developing/emerging, resubmission necessary, etc.).

Scoring Aids

• Exemplars– Examples of superior work

• Anchors– Examples of “work” that provide clarification of

criteria

Timeline for Exemplars and Rubrics– Summer 2008 – State Exemplars and Anchors– Fall 2008 - Distribution

North Carolina Graduation Project: Rubric Components

• Paper – The criteria address quality characteristics of the major

components in writing a paper on the student selected topic of interest.

• Presentations (Examples: acting & recitals)– The criteria address quality characteristics of predictable

performance actions, applicable supporting materials, and the student’s effectiveness in the performance.

• Products (Examples: books, posters, and models)– The criteria address quality characteristics of the product

and its effectiveness.• Portfolios (Example: Electronic Portfolio)

– The criteria address quality characteristics of the student’s academic and/or personal growth over time.

Coaching Rubrics

• All NC Graduation Project Rubrics may be used throughout students’ middle and secondary years as coaching rubrics until the final stages of completing the project.

• The students are successful when all the criteria are satisfactorily completed for the NC Graduation Project.

Assessment/Evaluation

• Assessment - the gathering of information regarding specific criteria in order to change our teaching and learning behavior to improve the student’s academic performance.

• Evaluation - the gathering of information regarding specific criteria in order to score, label, grade, or document performance.

Eight Easy Steps for Implementing the North Carolina Graduation Project Rubrics

Step One:– School-based leadership of middle and secondary schools

commits to school-wide implementation of NC Graduation Project Rubrics (NCGPRs) across all disciplines and forms a committee/subcommittee to ensure sustainability.

• Leadership values, understands and reflects on importance of the NCGPRs implementation in all classrooms.

• Principal and leadership share information on the NCGPRs with teachers, support staff, families and community, thus creating a shared vision of excellence for all students.

• Principal forms a NCGPRs Committee/subcommittee of stakeholders to support and ensure shared leadership for students and teachers implementing NCGPRs.

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Step Two:– Principal and the NCGPRs Committee/subcommittee develop

an action plan for school-wide implementation of NC Graduation Project Rubrics (NCGPRs) across all disciplines.

• Opportunities for teachers to use NCGPRs across disciplines

• Timeline for introduction and use with all stakeholders

• Scope and sequence for points of entry to use NCGPRs across disciplines

• Staff development for understanding the NCGPRs with all stakeholders


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Step Three:– Conduct initial professional development activities

on NCGPRs.

• Graduation Project Coordinators conduct initial training and identify possible other trainers to support in grade level meetings and sustainability of the rationale and principles of rubric effectiveness and continued implementation.

• Graduation Project Coordinators develop evaluation form, and participants evaluate effectiveness of professional development in relationship to practical classroom application.


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Step Four:– Integrate NCGPRs in classroom instruction at the beginning

and throughout the school year in all disciplines.

• Teachers use NCGPRs and reflect on the instructional and implementation process.

• NCGPRs Committee/subcommittee develop evaluation tool for effective use and teacher implementation of GPRs twice a year.

• NCGPRs Committee/subcommittee analyzes for effective implementation and notes modifications/adjustment to make in order to provide support for teachers and students.


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Step Five:– Provide on-going professional development based on data

from evaluation tool(s).

• Principal provides resources for on-going professional development, opportunities for teacher reflections and feedback on the effectiveness of NCGPRs with students.

• Formative and summative evaluation of practices and implementation NCGPRs help to ensure all students are reaching the goals intended.


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Step Six:– Develop an infrastructure to support the

committee/subcommittee for the NCGPRs.

• School leadership creates policies, time, personnel and training to support the implementation of the NCGPRs.

• The infrastructure ensures that the NCGPRs remain a visible priority in the school. Therefore, the infrastructure is more likely to be sustained over time.

• School leadership review all school activities (discipline areas, student support systems, co-curriculars) to maximize the integration of the NCGPRs in order to practice, reinforce and assess the skills students are learning in NCGPRs.


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Step Seven:– Create and nurture partnerships with families and community

concerning the importance of achieving excellence for all.

• Establish partnerships that engage the expertise of families and community members.

• Partnerships have potential for additional financial resources and convey external expectations to sustain the rationale and principles of NCGPRs.


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Step Eight:– Communicate, communicate, communicate

• School leadership regularly shares information about the implementation and effectiveness of the NCGPRs.

• School leadership celebrates success with staff, families students, teachers and community members.

• Great communications aids in additional support and maintaining good enthusiasm.


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Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Do rubrics have a corresponding numerical scale?– It is a local option to determine if the rubrics will be used

with a numerical scale. The state policy requires “successfully completing.”

Q. May the rubrics be modified to reflect district or school priorities?– Additional criteria may be added. – No criteria may be removed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How will the graduation project be recorded in a student’s transcript?– The standardized transcript is currently being modified to

include the four components of the graduation project.

School Based Leadership Team

Commitment (Principal)

Partnerships

Communications

NCGPRs Committee/

SubcommitteeAction Plan

Professional Development

School-wide Integration of

NCGPRsFormative & Summative

Assessments

Infrastructure forSustainability (MS)

NCGPRsLeadership


Begins

Bibliography

• Arter, J.A., and J. McTighe (2001). Scoring rubrics in the classroom: Using performance criteria for assessing and improving student performance. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

• Bellanca, J., C. Chapman and E. Swartz (1994). Multiple assessments for multiple intelligences. Illinois: Skylight Training and publishing Company.

• Chappuis, J, and S. Chappuis (2002). Understanding school assessment: A parent and community guide to helping students learn. Portland, OR: Assessment Training Institute.

• Chappuis, S., Stiggins, J. Arter, J. and Chappuis, J. (2004). Assessment for learning: An action guide for school leaders. Portland, OR: Assessment Training Institute.

• Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning (2006). CASEL practice rubric for schoolwide SEL implementation.

• Gregory, K., C. Cameron, and A. Davies. (2000). Self-assessment and goal setting. Merville, BC: Connections.

• Guskey, T.R. (2002). How’s my kid doing? A parent’s guide to grades, marks, and report cards. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

• McTighe, J. and G. Wiggins (2004). Understanding by design. Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

• Munk, D.D. and W.D. Bursuck (2003). Grading students with disabilities. Educational Leadership, 61(2): 38-43.

• O’Conner, K. (2002). How to grade for learning: Linking grades to standards, 2nd ed. Arlington Heights, Il: Skylight.

• Stiggins, R.J. (2005). Student-involved assessment for learning. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Video Resources

• Web site for national anthem is: http://www.nba.com/blazers/features/Cheeks_Anthem_Assist-73713-41.html

• The Fischbowl Web site for Did You Know is: http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/06/did-you-know-20.html

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Eight Easy Steps for Implementing the North Carolina Graduation Project Rubrics Presented by Valorie Hargett, Section Chief English Language Arts 6-12