*The following post was written by Renee Boss and recently published on the Teaching Channel's blog. Renee was recently chosen as a member of Achieve's EQuiP Peer Review Panel.
My bet is if we place fifty educators in a room
with a rubric and piece of student writing, we’re likely to come back with
numerous different scores on that piece of writing, and we’re likely to notice
a variety of interpretations of the rubric’s criteria as well. However,
if we have a shared understanding and we calibrate with one another on the use
and interpretation of the rubric, then the rubric becomes truly effective in
informing our instruction and improving student learning.
Improved student learning is exactly what drives
those of us who serve on the EQuIP Review Panel. When we first began working
together, we calibrated on multiple lessons as a large group before beginning
to review Common Core aligned lessons and units individually and in small
groups. Since you, too, strive for improved student learning in your
classrooms, we thought it might be useful to offer a few tips and suggestions
for you to consider when you use the EQuIP tools in your own professional
learning communities.
1. Assign a facilitator if
you don’t have one already. As Review Panel members we take turns serving as
facilitator or “lead reviewer.” The point here is that one person takes the
responsibility each time you meet to
·
collect all the feedback
·
ensure all group members feel comfortable contributing
·
keep the group moving and on track during tough conversations
On your own (an important part of the process is
individual examination and evaluation of the lessons and units before talking
with colleagues)
2. Closely read and examine
the same exact lesson materials and associated texts, graphics, tasks, rubrics,
etc. This might be a lesson you have created or an open source lesson you wish
to evaluate for use in your own classroom.
3. Closely read and examine
the EQuIP rubric dimensions and criteria. The best way to familiarize yourself
with the rubrics is to use them, but this close read before you get started
with a review lets you see what you will look for when you evaluate the lesson.
4. Re-read the lesson
materials and make initial evidence based evaluations for all the criteria in
the four dimensions. As you will notice in the EQuIP Review Panel videos, you
might check all the boxes in a particular dimension even if you feel there’s
still room for improvement on a specific criterion.
Toward the collective
5. Before beginning
the coming to consensus part of a review, begin moving in that direction by
having each member of the team state aloud, one at a time, a score for each of
the rubric dimensions without explanation, elaboration, or justification (the
facilitator makes note of all the scores). It’s important not to elaborate or
cite evidence at this point because hearing how your team members rate each
dimension allows you to see how aligned you are with one another before you
begin justifying a rating and influencing each others’ thinking.
As a group
6. Discuss any differences
in the scores and why people scored differently in each rubric dimension (pay
special attention to areas where there’s a greater gap between team members’
scores). If you have areas with larger gaps, the best thing to do is go back to
the Common Core Standards. In the EQuIP mathematics video, you see teachers
doing this as they discuss using versus finding standard deviation. Thinking
and talking about the standards in a meaningful way allows us to teach the
standards better and impact student learning.
7. Have group members
explain and justify scores by pointing to specific evidence in the lesson. This
is where different perspectives and thinking about your own students matters.
If you are adamant that a particular criterion is/is not met, you can defend
your rating with specific criterion-based evidence.
8. Discuss any issues
centered on differing interpretations of the rubric and how the criteria are
applied. The conversations often help you see another person’s perspective and
reasoning for a rating, and this improves your understanding of the rubric, the
standards, and ways to teach the standards effectively.
9. Come to consensus on
overall ratings for each dimension as well as on an overall rating for the
entire lesson or unit. It’s important to note that you are not averaging scores
together for a final score. Rather, through discussion and professional
agreeing/disagreeing, you determine together a final rating for each dimension
based on evidence within the lesson.
The EQuIP Review Panel, spent time calibrating
all together on at least two lessons before we went into our smaller groups to
rate lessons and provide official feedback. Our group facilitators decided we
were ready to move on to the real thing when our scores in step five above were
closer together than they were apart. As you work with your own teams, you may
also decide to calibrate all together on a couple of lessons before working in
smaller groups.
By giving everyone time to examine the same
materials individually and then collectively, it encourages team members to dig
deeply into each criterion in the rubric and it ensures a shared understanding
of the intent of the criteria as well as how we might apply it as a reviewer.
This entire process promotes a precise use and application of the rubrics, and
it promotes the professional expertise of educators as well. When scoring is
calibrated, each lesson or unit receives the same score regardless of whom on
the team scores it because all team members are interpreting and applying the
rubric in the same way.
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