“Criteria and Validity”

Chapter 8 is focused in the importance of Validity and Criteria in every assessment in order to identify students´ learning. Every performance task that a teacher tests, must be valid to show evidence that students have achieved understanding if not our teaching process is not going to be effective. In this chapter we will analyze through three different main ideas, the concepts of Criteria and Validity related with rubrics and the importance of reliability in every assessment.

Every teacher has his or her own criteria to assess and to make a judgment of an evaluation. As teachers when we establish our criteria to evaluate, we are making a judgment of what we want our students to answer and respond in their assessment, therefore to reach quality in students´ performance. It is fundamental that students are well informed about each teachers´ criteria to evaluate to succeed, because each one is going to evaluate according to their own criteria and most of the time students must adequate to each teachers´ requirements. For example, a research project can be graded with a high mark because of having many information, numerous quotes of authors that support the ideas but maybe the information is not well organized or even well analyzed. Teachers tend to believe that a good paper involves a lot of information but thinking on this they are only getting away from their real objective, looking for understanding.

What we obtain with criteria is what we call rubrics. They are the guide that helps teacher to score the assessment according with their own criteria. Rubrics are needed when we are evaluating not a yes or no answers, is when we assess about the quality of a performance (subjective assessment). Rubrics are useful for students when they have to write a paper or other kind of assessments because it is a guide for them to point what the teacher wants in the evaluation. This rubric must be clearly explained and well organized so it can merely show evidence that what is asked for is valid and can make judgment of an accurate understanding.

As we have being studying, validity is everything in assessment. If a test is not valid, it is does not prove us that our teaching has been effective or either if our students have learnt. It is so common that teachers after designing an evaluation material, they realized that it was not what they were looking for or sometimes it does not show a real understanding. Tests must show evidence that it is measuring what we really want to evaluate, that is why rubrics are so important and fundamental when we are evaluating. Because they are a guide that helps us to think about what are we really waiting for our students to perform. For example, in an English class, the teacher proposes the class to have a different way of evaluating. At first the teacher wanted to test a comprehension reading in order to assess understanding and comprehension until she thought that her idea was an interesting proposal. She told them to join in groups of 6 and make a role play of the story instead of having a comprehension test. The teacher and the students are very motivated and interested in the new project but the teacher is not showing evidence that their students are able to comprehend a story in English. Maybe a role play is a fun activity where students can practice there English and at the same time it foments group work but they are not being tested of what they are supposed to.

To conclude, teachers must have clear there own criteria to evaluate in order to create rubrics to have a well organized evaluating process. Many validity problems relies in rubrics because they are not well formed or even they does no fit with what teachers really expect.