Chapter 8, page 190
Learning Goal #4: Causes of the Great Depression. Students will understand several of the most
important economic causes of the depression.
The teachers will use quizzes to assess how well the students are doing in achieving these two goals.
Now the teachers have completed the first step—deciding on their core learning goals. Next they
undertake the second step of constructing rubrics that correspond to each of the four learning goals. In
other words, for each of the four learning goals, the teachers construct a rubric to track students’ progress
during the unit. Rubrics are helpful because they help teachers identify, for each learning goal, exactly what
students have mastered, and what they have not yet mastered. The teachers can then track how well
students are progressing on the learning goals captured by each rubric. Let’s illustrate how this works with
specific examples.
This page and the next page show the rubrics the teachers construct for the two writing strategies
(argument construction and considering counterarguments) that they want to focus on. The teachers will
assess how well students are doing on each strategy by evaluating students’ written essays.
RUBRIC FOR ARGUMENT CONSTRUCTION
Definition of Level Example
Level 4 Position plus
evidence explained
plus inclusion of
some reasoning
that shows why
the evidence
supports the
position.The main cause of the Depression was the collapse of the US stock
market on October 29, 1929. One source of evidence for this is that
worldwide economic decline occurred very rapidly after this event.
The government reports of 1928, 1929, 1930, and 1931 show that
the economy was strong until October 29, and decreased about that
time. When one event quickly follows another like this, it is strong
evidence that they are causally connected. <<< The last sentence
explains why the evidence presented can be taken as support for the
claim that the stock market collapse was the cause of the depression.
>>>>
Level 3 Position plus
evidence explainedThe main cause of the Depression was the collapse of the US stock
market on October 29, 1929. One source of evidence for this is that
worldwide economic decline occurred very rapidly after this event.
The government reports of 1928, 1929, 1930, and 1931 show that
the economy was strong until October 29, and decreased about that
time. <<< The evidence is elaborated with more detail. >>>
Level 2 Position plus
evidence
mentionedThe main cause of the Depression was the collapse of the US stock
market on October 29, 1929. One source of evidence for this is that
worldwide economic decline occurred very rapidly after this event.
<<< There is evidence mentioned, but it is just mentioned, and not
elaborated or explained at all. >>>
Level 1 Position only The main cause of the Depression was the collapse of the US stock
market on October 29, 1929. <<< There is a position, but no
argument of any kind in support of this position. >>>
Level 0 No position <<< At this level, the student does not take an identifiable position at
all. >>>Notice that this rubric can be used to determine how well students have progressed toward mastering
argument construction in their writing. For example, a student at Level 2 has mastered some components of
writing good arguments, but has not yet mastered the components that are emphasized in Levels 3 and 4.