qualitative grading

Quantitative & Qualitative Grading

Image by: Sal Falko

When it comes to creating rubrics for students, it is important to include the quantitative and qualitative aspects. I never understood what makes an A, an A because there are so many other aspects to consider when grading the quality and quantity of one’s work. As a student myself, I sometimes find it frustrating the way some teachers grade, and I am always questioning for an explanation. This is probably one of the most important reasons to create a clear rubric, which indicates whether the student is exceeding, meeting or not meeting the criteria.

Well, I finally created my first rubric. Out of all of my education major courses, I have not yet been assigned to create a rubric, although I have seen them many times. The rubric I created was for a problem based learning project I have been creating on water resources. Water Conference Presentation RubricI choose to have the students perform a final presentation either live or on video to present their solutions. Several portions of my rubric include both quantitative and qualitative grading.  The portions that are graded include: graphic organizer, visual graphs and data charts, presentation content, and oral presentation. They all include descriptive information that represents the quality of their work. Some portions also include a quantity, for instance, visual graphs and data charts. Students are to complete a certain number of this product in order to meet criteria. If the student goes beyond that number, they are obviously exceeding. If the student does not meet all the criteria, then they will lose points based on their situation. To make it easy, I just included point sections for exceeds, meets and does not meet criteria with exceeds being the highest weighted. If the student does exactly what is expected of them, then they will only receive a B. If the student puts in more effort and goes above the expectations, then the student will have achieved an A with outstanding effort.  I feel like if a student just shows up to school and does their work, then did a good job, but could have done better; hence the reason for a B. There are more details to my rubric, so I will just include a picture if you want to look it over.

Grading can become a sensitive subject, and the information should clearly indicate as to what constitutes the grade received. Once students know what is expected of them, they have a higher chance of aiming for those A’s.

Related articles