Mastery is one buzzword that everyone in education loves to throw around, but no one likes to actually define. This is because mastery looks different in every classroom, so it is truly subjective. In this blog post, we’re dissecting grading strategies and math rubrics for summative assessments to ensure your students are set up for success.
There is a common misconception that students are learning just to get good grades in order to get into a “good” college. Since working in higher education, I realized that many colleges aren’t just looking for straight A’s anymore and neither are education professionals. There is much more to learning than just spitting out facts.
The idea behind truly understanding a concept is that the students are able to take what they’ve learned in the past and apply it to real world problems and scenarios. We want our students to know exactly why the Pythagorean Theorem works, not just how to substitute numbers into a formula.
It is this kind of problem solving and critical thinking that will get students ready to succeed in the adult world.
What does mastery look like?
It’s important to think about what mastery looks like in your classroom. This is what I picture. My students are able to go above and beyond surface level problem solving. I imagine it as a student having the knowledge and ability to teach the topic to another student or explain their thinking in detail to the teacher.
Once they have fully grasped the concept and can analyze and apply it, then they have mastered it. Mastery takes a lot of critical thinking and real-world applications to accomplish, rather than just a few good scores on summative assessments.
There are a lot of ways that math teachers can challenge their students to think deeper.
Let me give you an example. Proofs in Geometry are often the hardest topic for many students. For most of them it’s the first time that a math teacher has asked them “why does this make sense.”
It is easy for them to memorize formulas and solve equations, but now they have to explain their thinking and that is a difficult task for some. They need to be able to not only remember that vertical angles are always congruent, for example, but also how that is one of the many steps to prove that the two given triangles are congruent.
How often are you giving formative and summative assessments?
You can assess student understanding and performance every single day. Of course this doesn’t mean that you need to be assigning quizzes and tests multiple times a week.
There are lots of ways that you can monitor your students’ progress qualitatively. Honestly, you are probably already doing this without even realizing that you are assessing your students!
You can get so much insight into what kind of formative and summative assessments work best for each student and what supports need to be put into place to give your students the best chance of succeeding in your class.
What kind of feedback do your math rubrics give your students?
One mistake that I see math teachers make is not giving students the rubric for summative assessments ahead of time. It should be clear from the beginning exactly what the teacher is expecting from their students.
Let’s take a look at this math rubric example:
There’s a lot to unpack with this style of rubric. First of all, math rubrics are incredibly subjective no matter how you set them up. There is always going to be bias between teachers about how summative assessments are graded.
In a competency based education system, administrators and teachers focus only on how well a student can show their understanding of the material. However, in a traditional setting, students are assessed on punctuality, neatness, and even communication.
It’s important to think about what is important to you and your department in terms of math and real life skills. There needs to be a common consensus throughout the school for how students are being assessed.
Does your school care only about the content and standards? Or do you want your students to be learning skills that will prepare them for life after high school? What does “exceeding expectations” look like in your classroom or school?
Then, you’ll need to think about how this will be conveyed to the students and parents. Like I mentioned before, your students need to understand how they are being assessed.
Transparency is key when it comes to assessment and helps your students be as successful as possible.
It may help to take some time when first assigning summative assessments to explain the rubric in detail, so that your students understand it. So often students see a rubric like the one shown above and just shove it into their backpack never to be seen again.
Being clear in your expectations is one of the best ways to make sure that your students will take accountability for their learning.
Let's Recap
- Figure out what grades mean in your classroom and what you want your students to achieve by the time they leave your class.
- Find ways to challenge your students to apply their thinking rather than just regurgitate information. You can do this by adding critical thinking questions and real world applications to your routine.
- Be clear and consistent in your math rubrics and grading practices to ensure your students (and their parents) understand your expectations.
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