Assessment Tools
Instructor Guide

"Grading the final paper was not such an overwhelming task this year
because I already knew the students had been successful.

I knew they had learned something.

They were familiar and comfortable with the library and the inquiry process.

This was what was important to me and what I had struggled with in the past.

The final written paper, then, became less a measure of learning."
Julie Sumrall, Freshman Intensive English Teacher, Jefferson High School

The goal of an assessment tool is to give students the opportunity to clearly understand the teacher’s guidelines and expectations for being successful before the inquiry process begins.  

Objectives:

1.      Students will have a rubric to refer to for educator expectations and evaluation of the inquiry research process.

2.      Students will have a rubric of expectations for evaluating the product (s).

3.      Students will have a rubric for evaluating on-task behavior and organization (the Research Journal).

Educators will need:

Rubrics for the Research Journal, Process, and Product

or Checklist for the Research Journal, Process, and Product

Teacher and Library Media Specialist together will:

• Use the suggestions to develop a rubric for evaluating the inquiry process in   Grading – The Process
• Use the suggestions to develop a rubric for evaluating the product in Grading – The Product
• Use the suggestions to help develop a rubric for evaluating the journal in Grading – The Research Journal

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ACTIVITIES TO MEET OBJECTIVES	All resources are available in Adobe PDF
	ELEMENTARY RESOURCES	SECONDARY RESOURCES	Big6™ COMPATIBLE RESOURCES
WHAT IS A RUBRIC? In Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning (1998), rubrics are defined as a “scaled set of criteria that clearly defines for the student and the teacher what a range of acceptable and unacceptable performances looks like.”
WHY USE RUBRICS? Rubrics take the guesswork out of evaluating student work and progress by describing expected action.  Beforehand, expectations for excellence and quality are established and shared with students.  Students know what grade/points each level of effort will procure them.  It includes criteria for what the educator thinks is exemplary, satisfactory, and unacceptable.
Rubric Design Helpful Hints: 1.      The rubric should ideally be 1 page, but no longer than 2 pages. 2.      Each rubric should have increasing levels of ability. 3.      Each level should have clearly defined terms, easily understood by the child, of what is expected  Top
VARIATION—Instead of the educators developing the rubric guidelines, hold a class discussion and allow the students to take ownership of their learning by helping to create their own requirements for excellence.
SAMPLE RUBRIC:		Fill in Templates:    All on One Page    Final Product	Fill in Templates:    All on One Page    Final Product
VARIATION--Are we suggesting too many rubrics for your students to handle?  Try merging them together and making it simpler.  Have one rubric (see the template above) that fits on a single page with a section for evaluating each important area.
What do I do if I don’t like rubrics? Use a checklist rubric.  A checklist is a guide through the process and product.  Just like a any rubric, the checklist would be given to the student before any work begins, so that the student knows what the expectations are and can excel toward those expectations.  See Evaluation Checklist-the Product and Evaluation Checklist-the Research Journal for examples. Top
SAMPLE CHECKLIST:		Final Product Research Journal Sample for:    4x6 Card Book    Scrapbook	Final Product Research Journal Sample for:    4x6 Card Book    Scrapbook

·        Feder-Feitel, Lisa.  “Rubrics Are Red Hot!:  What Rubrics Can Do for You and Your Students.”  Creative Classroom  November/December 2000:  54-56.

·        Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning.  Chicago:  American Library Association, 1998.

·        Joyce, Marilyn Z. and Julie I. Tallman.  Making the Writing and Research Connection with the I-Search Process.  New York:  Neal-Schuman, 1997.

·        Sumrall, Julie.  <jsumrall@lsc.k12.in.us>.   "Inquiry quotes."  E-mail to Leslie Preddy <lpreddy@mdpt.k12.in.us>.  1/14/02, 2:26 pm.

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Model developed by Leslie Preddy, Library Media Specialist

with a grant from the

Indiana Department of Education-Office of Learning Resources
 

"Student Inquiry in the Research Process" developed based on the elements of

Information Inquiry designed by Dr. Daniel Callison, Indiana University and

LMS Associates, publishers of School Library Media Activities Monthly

 S.I.R.P. developed in 2001                               
 Website created in 2002

 Last Update: April 3, 2010

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