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Facilitating a Rubric Development Conversation

Why a facilitator?

Having or designating a facilitator during the rubric development discussion enhances the overall quality of the conversation by ensuring balanced participation, creating a safe space, and managing time and progress. Having someone in the facilitator role contributes significantly to fostering effective communication, promoting collaboration, and ultimately achieving consensus among team members when identifying rubric criteria and rubric-level descriptors. 

Finding Common Ground for the Academic Focus and Creating Criteria for the Rubric

Scenario 1: All members of the group are similar content and grade band

This scenario is the easiest to find common ground. Narrow the choices of standards to the content area everyone on the team has in common. If you are an elementary group, looking through the ELA anchor standards or math practice standards is a good place to start.

Some questions that may help the team find common ground:

• What is an area of constant concern?

• When considering testing data, which area could use the greatest improvement?

• What essential standards (power standards) are used across the grade levels in this group?

• Do you all do writing, research, or presenting in your classes? Perhaps an ELA, social studies or science standard would help find a focus.

• Do you do calculating or data analysis in your classes? Perhaps a math or science standard would help find a focus.

If the team chooses a focus area based on a standard, read the descriptors for that standard. Look for phrases that are observable, measurable, and desirable that are likely to change. Think through several units to be certain that the activities and practice students are likely to do will give ample opportunity to gather observational or student work evidence sufficient to allow for assigning rubric scores across the criteria. It is helpful for each teacher to share some ideas of observable or assessable examples for each rubric criterion.

Some examples of academic focuses and criteria are located below.

Scenario 2: All members of the group are similar content but different grade bands

This scenario helps members find commonalities across grade levels. Narrow the choices of standards to the content area that all team members have in common. If you are an elementary group, looking through the ELA anchor standards or math practice standards is a good place to start.

To help identify commonalities, first read math practice and/or ELA standards. 

Some questions that may help the team find common ground:

• Where do you see commonalities across grade levels? What does that look like in higher grade levels? Lower grade levels?

• What is an area of constant concern?

• When considering testing data, which area could use the greatest improvement?

• Are there any essential standards (power standards) used across the grade levels in this group?

• Do you all do writing, research, or presenting in your classes? Perhaps an ELA, social studies or science standard would help find a focus.

• Do you do calculating or data analysis in your classes? Perhaps a math or science standard would help find a focus.

If the team chooses a focus area based on a standard, read the descriptors for that standard. Look for phrases that are observable, measurable, and desirable that are likely to change. Think through several units to be certain that the activities and practice students are likely to do will give ample opportunity to gather observational or student work evidence sufficient to allow for assigning rubric scores across the criteria. It is helpful for each teacher to share some ideas of observable or assessable examples for each rubric criterion.

Some examples of academic focuses and criteria are located below.

Scenario 3: Members of the group have diverse content and either similar or different grade bands

This scenario requires more discussion than the other two to help team members find commonalities across content areas and potentially grade levels as well. A good place to start is to look through the ELA anchor standards or math practice standards to find one or two examples that might work for everyone present.

Some questions that may help the team find common ground:

• Do you all do writing, research, or presenting in your classes? Perhaps an ELA, social studies or science standard would help find a focus.

• Do you do calculating or data analysis in your classes? Perhaps a math or science standard would help find a focus.

• What is an area of constant concern?

• When considering testing data, which area could use the greatest improvement?

If the team chooses a focus area based on a standard, read the descriptors for that standard. Look for phrases that are observable, measurable, and desirable that are likely to change. Think through several units to be certain that the activities and practice students are likely to do will give ample opportunity to gather observational or student work evidence sufficient to allow for assigning rubric scores across the criteria. It is helpful for each teacher to share some ideas of observable or assessable examples for each rubric criterion.

For example, if an art teacher is using the same data tool as a math teacher, having an academic focus of Math Practice 8: Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning (Wisconsin Standards for Mathematics, pg 23) may be a stretch for an art teacher to incorporate in a meaningful way. On the other hand, an art teacher may find Math Practice 7: Look for and make use of structure (Wisconsin Standards for Mathematics, pg 23) applicable because many of the math practice descriptors could be observed as the rubric criteria in the art classroom, i.e. students look closely to discern a pattern or structure, students can recognize the significance of an existing line in a geometric figure, students can shift perspective.

Some examples of academic focuses and criteria are located below.