Journal 6 The Trouble with Rubrics - NETS-T V

Kohn, Alfie. (2006). The trouble with rubrics. English Journal, 95(4). Retrieved on October 10, 2009 from http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/rubrics.htm

Alfie Kohn discusses the pro's and con's of rubrics-based assessment and his own mixed feelings about the effectiveness of using rubrics to assess student learning outcomes. Rubrics are the prevailing assessment tool not only to assess student outcomes, but at times to formulate instructional strategies and curriculum. The rationale for using rubrics is that they provide a detailed and "authentic" assessment of student achievement.

Rubrics-based assessment provides the following advantages:

• a "quick and easy" uniform guide to assessment
• authentic and detailed assessment strategies
• uniform standard of assessment
• objectivity on the part of the assessor
• specific guidelines for scoring, especially of organizational strategies
• justification for an assigned grade.

Disadvantages of rubrics-based assessment include:

• built-in self-justification of current teaching practices
• pseudo-sophisticated means of assigning grades to students
• removes the "human" part of evaluating student work
• ineffective with open-ended discovery-based learning strategies
• promotes inequitable standardization in which teachers "discover" rather than "decide" upon student grades
• narrow criteria of rubrics do not promote student-centered learning
• can be misused to drive the curriculum rather than support it by assessing its outcomes.

Rubrics can be helpful in the initial stages of curriculum design to develop appropriate assessment tools and strategies. They should not be used to determine the curriculum. Insofar as rubrics illuminate curriculum standards, they can play a constructive role in curriculum design and implementation. There are only three reasons to assess student work:

1. rank students against each other
2. motivate students to work harder
3. offer meaningful feedback to students to help them make sense of what they learn.

To assess the "rubricized" assessment process, teachers and administrators need to answer the fundamental question: "Why teach?" Rubrics can help provide a structure and a platform for learning, but there is a delicate balance between authentic assessment and vacuous learning outcomes. Teachers and students alike need to take risks in the learning process in order to center education for on the student and secondarily on making sense of learning.

Yes, we've got trouble with Rubrics, "right here in River City."

How will I use rubrics in my classroom?
I would hope to develop rubrics that are as authentic as possible with only as much detail as to be useful. Rubrics can provide a guide for students in their learning activities and can give focus to their research. We need to find an appropriate balance between empowering students and spoon-feeding - or should that be computer-feeding - them in the learning process. Facts and information are similar to tech tools in that they are just the beginning of learning, not an end in themselves.

What are the limitations of rubrics?
Rubrics cannot take the place of the teacher's careful assessment. In my classroom, I hope to be able to preserve and present "human" aspects of student learning and interactions that defy "rubric-ization". When students make sense of what they learn - and not just quantify it - then they have accomplished meaningful goals. We need to bring more thinking and in-depth assessment back into the classroom. We now have the technology tools to facilitate that process, NOT to supplant it.

Why teach?
In her book of that title, Sonja Nieto presents responses to that question from multiple new and veteran teachers. Most respondents are genuinely concerned with helping students make sense of their learning in order to help them make sense of the world. None of these essays make any mention whatsoever of the importance of rubrics in that process.