If your block has a written response and you do not hand score it, your report is incomplete and your students look worse than they are.
Embedded Files
If we cannot agree on a score, neither can the report.
If we cannot agree on a score, neither can the report.
Calibration is not about being strict. It is about scoring the same way your colleagues do.
SEE IT IN ACTION
Item 7: three students, three scores
Item 7: three students, three scores
Explain why 3/8 + 2/8 = 5/8 and not 5/16. Worth 2 points.
Score Rubric Students Anchor Response
Score Rubric Students Anchor Response
2 Explains what the denominator names 4 “The 8 tells how many pieces the whole got cut into. That does not change when you put pieces together.”
1 Correct conclusion, no reasoning 11 “It is 5/8. I know because I did it that way in class.”
0 Added denominators, restated or blank 9 “You add the tops, and you add the bottoms. So it is 5/16.”
Eleven students got the right answer and could not say why. Only the written item shows that. What made the 2 a 2: the student names the unit, says what stays the same, and counts in the unit.
TRY IT IN 10 MINUTES
Calibrate yourself
Calibrate yourself
Cover the score column. Score the three anchors. Did you match?
Pull three of your own students' responses. Initials only.
Score each, then compare to the anchors.
Unsure? Find the rubric words that decide it.
Write one feedback question for each score.
Frames and Templates
Feedback, one question per score
Feedback, one question per score
Score Ask the student
Score Ask the student
2 "Does your rule work for 2/5 + 1/5. Prove it"
1 "Discuss with a classmate who thinks it is 5/16."
0 "Show 3/8 with a fraction strip. What does the 8
tell you?
Ready to calibrate with your team?
Ready to calibrate with your team?
Real, already scored student writing, plus a 15 minutes routine for your PLC.
COMMON TRAPS
Why good teachers score the same repsonse differently
Why good teachers score the same repsonse differently
Scoring the answer
5/8 is correct, but the rubric scores the reasoning.
Reading into the answer
Score only what is on the page.
The last paper you scored
Compare to the anchors instead.
Undefined words
Agree as a team on what “explains” means.
TERMS TO KNOW for scoring writing (Click to expand)
TERMS TO KNOW for scoring writing (Click to expand)
Math written responses use the same idea with one rubric.
Math written responses use the same idea with one rubric.
Rubric: The scoring guide. It describes what each score point looks like.
Anchor paper: A real student response that shows one score point. Score against anchors, not against the last paper you read.
Calibration: Scoring the same responses as a team until you agree. The goal is consistency, not strictness.
Annotation: A note explaining why a response earned its score, tied to the rubric’s words.
Traits: The separate parts of writing, each scored on its own. ELA writing has three:
Organization/Purpose (4 to 1): A clear focus, held through the whole piece, with a beginning, an end, and transitions.
Evidence/Elaboration (4 to 1): Details that support the ideas, explained and connected. In narrative writing, this trait is called Development/Elaboration.
Conventions (2 to 0): Grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. They’re scored only here, never in the other two traits.
Purpose: What the writing is meant to do. Each purpose has its own rubric.
Narrative (grades 3 to 8): Tell a story.
Opinion (grades 3 to 5) and Argumentative (grades 6 to 11): Take a position and support it.
Informational (grades 3 to 5) and Explanatory (grades 6 to 11): Explain a topic using sources.
Performance task: A set of activities built around one scenario. It ends with a full piece of writing and takes one to two class periods.
WATCH IT
Tools
Tools
Smarter Annotated Response Tool (SmART)
See how student writing is scored: response types, interactive rubrics, and rationales.Where you score constructed responses.
The offical Smarter Balanced full write rubrics, every purpose
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