Formative Assessment

Exemplars is designed to help teachers integrate formative assessment into their classrooms.

Our rubrics and performance tasks provide material that teachers can use for assessment, and that students can use for peer- and self-assessment. Additionally, these tools help teachers define for their students what type of performance meets the standard.

In addition to providing teachers with examples of student work at various levels, our anchor papers also provide students with a concrete understanding of what work meets the standard and why.

Students can also use our rubrics and annotated anchor papers to compare their work to during peer- and self-appraisals. This process demonstrates success as well as offers opportunities for refinement. Based on student performance, teaching and learning strategies can be adjusted.

To help students and teachers become familiar with rubrics and the idea of self-assessment, Exemplars provides an Introduction to Using Rubrics that offers examples of how some teachers have used generic rubrics (not tied to a particular subject area) to help their students get started.