The Benefits of Peer- and Self-Assessment?

Students internalize the criteria for high-quality work.

Students who see clear models of work that meet the standards and understand why the work meets the standards will begin to make comparisons between their performance and the Exemplars presented. As tasks become more complex and open ended, it is essential that more than one model be provided to assure that students understand different strategies to meet the standards.

Students understand the process of getting to the standard.

Rubrics should show students where they have been, where they are now, and where they need to be at the end of the task. Describing progressive levels of performance becomes a guide for the journey, rather than a blind walk though an assessment maze.

Teachers involve students in the monitoring process and shift some of the responsibility for documenting and justifying learning to the students.

Research has demonstrated that high-performing learners do the following:

Self-monitor
Self-correct
Use feedback from peers to guide their learning process

Student rubrics, written to identify the essence of the expected learning, can be an excellent vehicle for reflective thinking and peer conferencing.

Students understand that standards are "real" - achievable - and that exceeding the standard is both possible and desirable.

Traditionally, many "good students" have done only what has been asked of them. The Exemplars rubrics define high-quality performance at the Practitioner level but also suggest that more learning is possible. Excellence is not quite as subjective as it has been in the past and students are encouraged to begin to define why their work exceeds the standards.

Parents understand expectations and assessment criteria.

When students can articulate to their parents (before, during and at the end of the task), what the standards of performance are, a clear and positive message is received. Parents generally want to support their child's learning and feel helpless, sometimes, because they are unsure of what open-ended tasks are intended to teach. Student rubrics remove the educational jargon yet still describe meaningful learning. Many teachers find rubrics useful during parent conferences as they review work samples.

"By introducing Exemplars we have come to realize that we were providing the foundation for our teachers to begin moving toward formative assessment practices"

C. Carlton
Interdisciplinary Curriculum Specialist K-12
Nashua, NH