On Assessment and Rubrics

As a young aspiring music educator, I've spent a great deal of time assessing my own core values and tying them to my philosophies on teaching; but I really haven't flushed out my thoughts on assessing my own students. I've recently read Alfie Kohn's article The Trouble with Rubrics.  As of right now I am not the biggest fan of rubrics.  I believe that a major goal of education is to create engaged citizens who are capable of thinking intelligently on their own.  In my opinion, rubrics, in some cases, stifle a students' ability to think for themselves.  In this post I aim to do three things: 1) Modify the rubric to inspire creativity, 2) Present an extreme alternative for assessment in the music classroom, and 3) How I would assess my music students as of right now in my limited thoughts towards assessment.

Kohn argues that because of rubrics, "They [students] tend to think less deeply, avoid taking risks, and lose interest in the learning itself."  So how can we create a rubric that encourages students to think critically and take risks?  I suggest creating rubrics that clearly states what constitutes "B", "C", and even "D" work, but not A work.  Rather, in the "A" column I might write, "An A exceeds the expectations laid out in this rubric."  Now if students want to get an "A", they need to go beyond the comforts of the rubric.  They are encouraged to take risks, be creative,  and think more critically than before.  Is this a perfect solution?  I don't know.  It's merely a thought to be shared with all of my readers.

Now for the extreme alternative.  Below is a talk from Benjamin Zander titled How to Give an A.  It's rather lengthy but rather fitting for this conversation and definitely worth a watch.  

Overall I love this talk and there are plenty of ideas that I really really like.  The challenge is pulling it off in our current education system.  I would absolutely love it if my students shouted "HOW FASCINATING!" every time they made what I call a "good" mistake.  As for his grading policy.  I can certainly see how this would work with intrinsically motivated collegiate music students; and how a tenured college professor can get away with it.   I can't really see his grading policy work with compliant or disengaged students at the elementary or secondary level.  Although I'd like to try it out at some point in my teaching career, I don't know any school administration that would let his grading policy fly in their school.  I'd love to hear your thoughts so please post comments!

I agree with Natalie that grading, especially in the music setting, should be individualized based on the student's ability to improve their performance in the class over time.  In the music classroom, students can really vary in experience, talent, motivation, and interest; and a one size fits all model doesn't really work.  Student's should be assessed in relationship the their own abilities and their potential.  Even if a student shows great improvement, they still might fall short of the national music standards.  Does this mean they're a failure?  Absolutely not!

As I stated in the beginning of this post, my thoughts on assessment are still quite primitive.  Over time and through experience I hope to flush out a true philosophy on how to assess my students.  I hope to grade my students in way that encourages students to take risks and strive do perform at their absolute best.  I look forward to reading my peers' thoughts on rubrics and assessment in hopes of learning new ideas on the matter.