[ola] Re: rubrics, please

  • From: Arnold Bleicher <arnoldb@xxxxxxxx>
  • To: OLA Listserve <ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2013 08:43:26 -0700

Good point Carrie. Yet the Performance Descriptors are based on the
Proficiency Guidelines but are incremental steps along that path.
Performance is more closely tied to classroom curricula where proficiency is
not. 

And just because it might be a challenge to make the switch from grading to
performance outcomes does not mean it's not worth the continued fight to do
so. Like I said, we have to keep pushing that door open and it takes time
and persistence. 

arnold 

From:  Carrie Duff <cduff@xxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To:  OLA Listserve <ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date:  Wednesday, March 13, 2013 5:52 AM
To:  OLA Listserve <ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject:  [ola] Re: rubrics, please

Let's not forget the ACTFL Performance Guidelines for K-12 learners which
are more geared for rubric creation than the Proficiency Guidelines.  The
former are designed to set learning goals and tangible outcomes, the latter
for assessing performance of learners in real-life situations.  The
Performance Guidelines provide a lot of rich language for distinguishing
progress in Interpersonal, Interpretive and Presentational tasks.

Carrie

On Mar 13, 2013, at 8:32 AM, Ashley Uyaguari wrote:

> Hi all, 
> We've been working on this at our school too. The tough part is that our
> schedule is by grade, so we see kiddos in 6th grade, 7th grade and 8th grade.
> Some kids in 8th grade, for example, are new to the school and have never had
> Spanish before. Also, everyone has had different past experiences with
> Spanish. 
> 
> The way I'm dealing with it now is charting individual student progress with
> individual student goals. If a student starts at an NL in 7th grade, his/her
> goal is NM by the end of the year to earn an A.
> 
> While if a student starts at NH, I'll want to see progress toward IL (I'm
> still learning how long that might actually take them). This is the first year
> that I'm working with the ACTFL levels so it's tricky. And although it's not
> ideal to have the kiddos all mixed in together, I think it can still work.  So
> far, kiddos are still making their own progress. I've had to do
> differentiating for homework and class expectations for output, but we're
> still able to work together as a community.
> 
> Now that we are all doing OLA at our middle school and students are having
> similar experiences in each grade level, the hope is that we should have more
> students at the same level each year (except the arrival of new students,
> which will not change at this charter school). At the high school they will
> have more luck separating classes by level.
> _______________________________
> Additionally, I agree with Arnold that if a student meets the goal set for
> him/her, he or she should earn an A (Or a "P" at my school). Especially when
> we're talking about language acquisition which isn't something that can be
> controlled like some other learning; it's a process that takes time.
> 
> I also wonder about situations like this: if a student exceeds expectations by
> moving from an NL to almost an NH in one year, but then the next year her
> acquisitions slows down a little bit. She does still improve and develop
> within NH proficiency, but does not meet the next level yet. What do you do?
> If you look at her growth for two years, she is exceeeding expectations. But,
> for only the second year, it may appear that she's not.
> 
> My thought is that it would be difficult for all students to continue to
> exceed expectations year after year even if they are excellent students and
> consistently demonstrate growth.  Doesn't that growth merit an A?
> Does that make sense?
> 
> This is a very interesting conversation. Thank you for all of your ideas.
> 
> -Ashley

Carrie Duff
Francis W Parker Charter Essential School
49 Antietam Street
Devens, MA  01434
cduff@xxxxxxxxxx

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