How to Evaluate Student Papers Fairly and Consistently

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Decide the value of the evaluation

Will students have a chance to revise?

Decide the value of the evaluation Will students have a chance to revise? If so, make extensive comments on drafts and use formulative rubrics.

Decide the value of the evaluation Will students have a chance to revise? If so, make extensive comments on drafts and use formulative rubrics. If not, make focused, but few comments and use summative rubrics.

When will you return the graded papers? a. Before the last day of class? b. At the final exam? c. After the semester is over?

What do you want students to do with your comments?

 Will students have a chance to revise?  If not, consider having 2 deadlines for the paper: 1) A week early– you will make in-depth comments 2) A week later—few if any comments beyond the rubric; but students may NOT argue the grade

Decide the value of the evaluation Is this a high- or low-stake assignment?

Consider reading student papers all the way through before marking the rubric or making comments

Why?

After reading the student’s paper, decide on 3 main points to make

How do I decide what is most important?

Use Beth’s 7 levels of evaluating student papers

 Include no more than 3 comments per page  Praise  Briefly summarize student’s good points and areas that need work

One way to help students understand how you will evaluate their work is to prepare an annotated sample of student work

Prepare an annotated sample of student work Discuss the annotated sample in class

Prepare an annotated sample of student work Discuss the annotated sample in class Post the annotated sample for students to use as a reference

Another way to evaluate student papers consistently and fairly is by creating rubrics.

Holistic Rubric: A grading sheet that considers the work as a whole Analytic Rubric: A grading sheet that breaks down the assignment into parts and sometimes assigns each part a certain number of points or a percentage of the grade

Writing Assignment 2A FormatIs the paper in proper format? Is the paper the appropriate length (3-4 pages), double- spaced in 12 pt. font with 1-inch margins? 1 ContentDoes the paper contain 6 points or topics like those used in lecture titles? 6 Does the paper include a description, as well as the author‘s feelings, of each attribute? 1 Research Sources Is each point or topic supported by a scripture and quote from an LDS General Authority or other Course texts? 3 Are the quotes cited accurately in a footnote or endnote, including the author, title, publisher information, and page number? Are the scriptures cited accurately, including Chapter and verse of the reference (e.g. 3 Nephi 11:29)? 3 StyleIs the paper clear, understandable, and fun to read?.5 Are the sentences complete, clear and direct?.5 Can your reader understand what you have written?.5 Is your spelling and grammar correct?.5 Total16 Additional Comments and/or Suggestions:

 Consider eliminating point totals from rubrics

 Make more comments on drafts than on final papers that cannot be revised  Consider using analytical rubrics for drafts and a holistic rubric for the final paper

 The fair and consistent evaluation of student papers begins with the creation of the writing prompt.

 The evaluation must be aligned with the prompt and with in-class explanations.

Make Helpful Comments ◦ Focus more on global issues than local ◦ Be respectful, challenging, and specific

Do the comments you have made on the student’s paper reflect the grades you marked on the rubric?

For example, on the rubric do you indicate the most serious problem is the thesis? Yet, do your marks on the student’s paper suggest that grammar and punctuation were far more of a problem?

Build student confidence before offering suggestions for improvement

It might be tempting to begin editing the paper, but this isn’t helpful for the student. Though it isn’t the most “obvious” guidance, the student first needs guidance on structure, organization, and content.

Then, simply comment at the end of the paper that the student will also need to do some major editing after the final revisions have been made.

Look at the focus, structure, support, paragraphing. What is the thesis statement?  Does it explain what the reader will be arguing?  Does it indicate what the main ideas of the paper will be, those that might correspond to the major headings?

 Provide needed guidance without taking away students’ authority over the paper  Be specific!  Limit comments on correctness and style

Don’t waste time making comments on papers that are irrelevant to your criteria

Does the paper have so many problems that you would have to write a great deal to guide the student?

 Instead of making any comments, simply invite the student to your office and explain that you won’t give the student a grade on the paper until it has been revised and edited thoroughly

Is the comment necessary? Is the same information already on the rubric?

 Remember less is more; limit your comments to what matters most.  Do not use comments to “justify” your grades; use them to help the student become a better writer

Students often do not understand our comments: Study reveals percentage of students who typically understand faculty comments: ◦ 54 percent of students assessed were very fairly confident ◦ only 5 percent were very confident ◦ 40 percent said they did not understand what the comment meant

 Students in two studies wanted both positive and negative feedback.  For example, “I want to know what I did correctly on my papers, not just what I did wrong” generated a mean response of 4.49 (out of 5.0).

 Negative feedback tended to be more specific than positive feedback  When offered, positive comments tended to be vague, such as the word “good” scrawled down the side of a paper.

1) Re-grade the first paper or 2 after you have graded all of the other papers. 2) Randomly look at your comments and graded rubric. 3) Compare some of the papers that have similar scores.

 Post the rubric again on the day you return the papers and comment in general about the papers  e.g., “Most students had a clear thesis that guided the organization of the paper”  “Some common problems included failing to provide evidence for some of the claims”  “Many of the papers included too many quotations instead of evidence that the author synthesized the content and actually has an opinion on it”

 If you have required drafts of the paper, have students write a memo telling you explicitly what changes they will make and why  When students are required to do drafts, be sure to have them return those marked drafts with your comments when they submit the final paper  Or have students explain how they have responded to each comment you made on the draft

 Final exam reflection  Final 10 points of the paper’s total = reflection  Memo listing how students would address your comments in a next version

 Assign students to revise the assignment prompt and/or rubrics

Your role is not simply to attach a numerical score on a student’s paper – it is to help students become better writers!