Assessing Thinking 2

Designing Effective Projects : Teaching Thinking

Assessing Thinking

Building Rubrics That Assess Thinking
Even a partial list, like the one below is a place to start building a rubric that will give learners direction on how to develop and demonstrate a thorough understanding of a subject. The next step, of course, is to fit these expectations to your learners.

Grades 1-3	Describes different points of view about the environment States an opinion about what to do about the environment Supports the opinion with facts from credible sources Explains how the actions of humans affect the earth and all other living things
Grades 4-5	Describes important issues about the environment and how different people see those issues differently States an opinion about what to do about the environment that considers more than one point of view Supports the opinion with facts from credible sources on different sides of the issue Describes how the earth, people, animals, and plants interact with each other
Grades 6-8	States an opinion about the environment that addresses the concerns of different points of view Supports the opinion with credible information from several sources Describes the complex ways in which people, animals, and plants interact with the earth and what role individuals and families should play in these interactions
Grades 9-12	States an opinion about the environment that addresses the concerns of different points of view and is ethically consistent Supports opinion with credible information from sources with different perspectives, including scientific, political, and economic perspectives Draws conclusions about the impact of a variety of proposed actions on humans, animals, plants, and the earth

Specifying the kinds of thinking that a project requires not only helps learners know what they need to do to meet the requirements, but also helps teachers identify skills that they need to teach.

Marzano and his colleagues (1993) describe in detail levels of performance related to different thinking skills described in the Dimensions of Learning model. These descriptions can help teachers begin to think about how to describe thinking in products.

Examples of Marzano’s Generic Rubric
Reasoning Strategy: Analyzing Perspectives. Identifies an issue on which there is disagreement

Level of Performance	Description of performance
4	Identifies and articulates implicit points of disagreement that are not obvious but are the underlying cause of conflict
3	Identifies and articulates explicit points of disagreement that cause conflict
2	Identifies and articulates issues that that are not points of disagreement as important issues of disagreement
1	Ignores explicit and implicit points of disagreement

Reasoning Strategy: Decision Making. Makes a selection that adequately meets the decision criteria and answers the initial decision question

Level of Performance	Description of performance
4	Selects an alternative that meets or exceeds the criteria and that represents a well-supported answer to the initial decision question. Provides a useful discussion of issues and insights that arose during the selection process.
3	Successfully answers the decision question by selecting an alternative that meets or exceeds established criteria
2	Selects an alternative that does not entirely conform to the learner’s assessment of the alternatives
1	Makes a selection that does not appear reasonable or cannot be justified by the learner’s evaluation of the alternatives

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