New Standards Type Grading Conference Model
This model for administering, writing rubrics, and grading large scale
on-demand performance tasks is based on the model developed by the New Standards Assessment Project. The New Standards Project is a joint program of the Learning Research and Development Center at the
University of Pittsburgh and the National Center on Education and the
Economy. For more detailed information contact:
New Standards Project
Mathematics Offices
University of California
300 Lakeside Drive
18th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612-3550
Grading Conference: Brashear High School
Step 1:
An on-demand performance task is written by the teachers, to be
administered as a semester final examination. This task is usually written by a teacher and refined and edited by several others before being reproduced and administered. Directions for the administration of the task are specified, including time constraints, technological recommendations, etc.
Step 2:
After the test is administered, a sub-group of teachers meet to write
a scoring rubric based on the actual student responses, following the guidelines established by the New Standards Program. The rubric is written for a 0-4 scale where 0 represents no response or an off-task response, and a 4 represents a response that completely accomplishes the task. Additional papers are selected as "benchmarks" for each score, and others are selected as "fence sitters" (e.g., papers that do not neatly fall into one category).
Step 3:
All of the teachers in the project attend a workshop where the
rubric is presented, discussed, refined, and applied in an attempt calibrate the scoring.
Step 4:
All the teachers double score all the student papers in one room
during an afternoon workshop.
Step 5:
Teachers debrief by having a discussion about the integrity and the
authenticity of the task, their students' performance, the implications for instruction, and producing future tasks.
The following sample examinations have been developed according to the New Standards Type Grading Conference Model by the
PUMP Algebra Project
for Ninth Grade Algebra.
Maintainer: tutor-help@andrew.cmu.edu
(last updated September 17, 1996)