Doug Lemov's field notes

Reflections on teaching, literacy, coaching, and practice.

08.10.15 Dylan Wiliam advises: Forget the Rubric; Use Work Samples Instead

In their new book, Embedding Formative Assessment, Dylan Wiliam and Siobhan Leahy make a simple, interesting, and really useful suggestion. Instead of using a rubric to communicate expectations for a given piece of student writing, Wiliam and Leahy suggest using work samples, instead–ideally two or more. “Rubrics,” they note, “rarely have the same meaning for students…