Alix Horton
Last time, I argued that rubrics really are a good thing, despite Alfie Kohn. However, I wrote assuming that the rubrics teachers are using to have rich conversations are good rubrics.
Alfie Kohn, as I noted previously, says that, “Some insist, against all evidence to the contrary, that there’s no problem as long as one uses a good rubric.” I’m actually going to argue that, for the uses I described in the previous post, a good rubric is essential. If your purpose is to have rich conversations about what students have mastered and where they need to go, instead of measuring, quantifying, or reducing students, the rubric you use matters.
Which raises the question- what makes a rubric “good”? I’ll start with the kind of rubric I used to write. Here’s a short section of a rubric from a multi-genre research paper:
Genre #1
Follows genre conventions? _____/ 5
At least three facts? _____/ 5
Citations? _____/ 5
Total: _____/ 15
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