Chapter 8, page 193
Now, using these rubrics, each teacher can track each and every student’s progress at each
assessment point (at the end of weeks 2, 4, and 6).
For example, here are the results for one student, Janice, after week 2. Note that Janice’s teacher
has this information for each and every student.
Argument
construction
(0 to 4)
Generating
counterarguments
(0 to 4)Understanding
consequences
(0 to 3)Understanding
causes
(0 to 4)
Week 2 3 0 1 2
The teacher can also look at how all the students in her class are doing:
Argument
construction
(0 to 4)
Generating
counterarguments
(0 to 4)Understanding
consequences
(0 to 3)Understanding
causes
(0 to 4)
Week 2 Level 4: 0%
Level 3: 12%
Level 2: 32%
Level 1: 52%
Level 0: 4%
Level 4: 0%
Level 3: 0%
Level 2: 12%
Level 1: 4%
Level 0: 84%Level 4: 52%
Level 3: 28%
Level 2: 20%
Level 1: 0%
Level 0: 0%Level 4: 8%
Level 3: 8%
Level 2: 40%
Level 1: 4%
Level 0: 40%Using this information, the teacher adapts her instruction for this class, and for individual students.
Here is what she does for each goal:
Argument construction. The teacher has learned that most students are at Level 0 or Level 1. This
means that they are not even mentioning evidence for their positions at all (or, in the case of one student,
not even mentioning a position). She designs and leads a lesson focusing on the importance of providing
positions and evidence, and showing students how to do this in their writing. She also encourages them to
elaborate on their evidence so that readers will understand what they mean when they write about evidence.
She presents lots of examples of how to do this.
Janice is doing well on this goal in comparison to other students, so at this time the teacher does
not offer additional instruction to her.
Generating counterarguments. Almost no students are at Level 0, which means that they are not
considering alternative positions at all. The teacher conducts another lesson on how to consider and write
about alternative positions and arguments, and she urges them to do this in their writing from now on.
Janice’s level is the same as most of her classmates, so the teacher does not provide any additional
assistant to Janice at this point beyond what was covered in the class lesson.
Understanding consequences. Students are doing relatively well on this goal. A majority (52%)
are already at Level 3, with the other 48% at Level 3 or 2. The teacher decides to provide feedback to small
groups of students who are not yet at Level 4, showing them how to improve their writing on quizzes to
include elements of consequences that they are not yet writing about.
On Janice’s paper, the teacher notes specifically where Janice has fallen short on this goal, and she
provides examples to Janice of what she could write that would be better.
Understanding causes. The teacher has found that most students are at Level 0 or Level 2. Level
0 means that students are just listing causes without explaining any; Level 2 means that students are
explaining no more than one cause. The teacher leads a discussion on the idea of multiple causation; she
starts with examples that students are more familiar with, and then moves back to the Great Depression.
The class agrees that many complex events have multiple causes. The teacher encourages them to apply
this idea to their work with the causes of the Great Depression. She also spends additional remedial time