Uncle Wiggin's Rubric on Task Design

by Ned Miller
 

 

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Practical

Low-cost task can easily be set up, facilitated, and assessed by any classroom teacher.

Low-cost task can be set up, facilitated, and most teachers can assess.

Task is either not time efficient, is expensive, or hard to set up/assess.

Very high cost and /or time consuming or not assessable.

Engaging

All learners are likely to be excited about task and committed to finish task.

Learners will tend to stay engaged and finish task.

Task is interesting to many, but some won't stay engaged or finish.

Students may view the task as boring/irrelevant.

Valid

Task forces students to zero in on those outcomes for which it was designed.

Task addresses the outcomes that were desired.

Task may aim student effort in the desired direction, but no focus.

Task does not do what it proclaims to do.

Authentic

An event with implications beyond school--real application is an integral part of the task.

Task has value beyond school--is a simulation or near to life as practical.

May be an attempt to make task realistic, but mainly a school event.

No attempt to tie to real life. May have use only in school.

Content

Content is interdisciplinary, specific and critical with eternal value. Essential questions guide studies.

Content is multidisciplinary limited, worthy, important, and enduring.

Content is one discipline and nice, but its value is questionable.

Content is minor, irrelevant/missing.

Perform

An archivable performance or product is produced using an array of knowledge and skills.

Student required to use a performance or produce a product.

Learner invited to use a performance or product to show knowledge.

No performance or product--task may be procedural.

Thinking

Requires learner to use higher order thinking-several complex thinking skills.

Requires learner to use at least one complex skill.

Learner is encouraged to use higher order thinking.

Student may use a procedure or follow directions.

Multiple Paths

Has wide variety of possible path or products.

Has multiple paths or products.

Possible paths limited.

Only one way to get only one answer.

Communication

Exchange of information among learners and teacher and learners is essential. Learners also required to communicate the process they designed or used.

Communication among learners and teacher and learner is promoted and cultivated. Learners focus on the process they used.

Communication is possible and sometimes encouraged but students may give little to process.

Task is designed without interaction or communication desired or possible. Students are not aware of process.

Assessment is useful to learner

Useful to the learner from the beginning. Learners required to self-assess and calibrate their scoring and are required to reflect and focus on quality. Never uses quantities.

Available to learner before task is begun. Learners required to self assess. Reflection on quality is required. Does not rely on quantities.

Assessment is available to learners before task is complete but learner does not reflect on quality. May use 80% or 5 of 9, etc.

Assessment not available to learner or not useful to learner--there is no focus on quality. May use quantities.

Assessment is valid

Uses discriminators of quality to measure the abstract and conceptual. Includes higher level thinking. Assessment is valid--students cannot score well or poorly due to unrelated factors. Measures a specific target

Measures important concepts and complex thinking. Does not include items of low consequence. Students must understand the concepts to score well.

Assessment measures meaningful items but concrete and discrete rather than conceptual. May have items of limited significance or try to measure too many items .

Unimportant items are assessed (due to ease of grading?) or--the assessment does not measure what it says it measures.