Our word assessment derives from the Latin verb for “sitting down beside.” In self-assessment, we metaphorically step outside ourselves, looking more objectively from that new perspective. Learning is the continuous process of assuming external perspectives as a way to understand ourselves. Sadly, assessment in education is too often treated as mere evaluation at the end of a process or an issue of assigning a grade. Ideally, it should be an ongoing activity at the center of learning. A wise communicator assesses and reassesses rhetorical matters like subject, purpose, audience, and situation throughout the composing and delivery processes. Assessment-as-learning integrates observation, criteria-based judgment of performance, and formal feedback.
For ISUComm Foundation Courses, assessing student performance is central to student learning. Why are responses to student assignments so critical? Because they explicitly and supportively guide student improvement; they map out revision strategies; they encourage the voice of a trained and interested reader; they document performance levels for individual students and for the program as a whole; and of course, they explain a given grade.
However, none of the above-listed purposes for response to student assignments can be realized if students do not receive one assignment back with your feedback (completed rubric, marginal and end comments, and grade) before the next one is due. For most of the assignments in English 150 and 250, this means the preceding paper must be graded and responded to before the peer-response activity date for the next assignment. If instructors fall behind on providing feedback to students on their work, the ability of students to learn and improve is compromised. When grade appeals result from this situation, it is difficult to determine what grade students might have received had they received full and timely feedback. You must return each assignment with full feedback before the next assignment is due. The Director of ISUComm Foundation Courses pays close attention to the course evaluation item that asks students in each section of English 150 and 250 if they received each paper back before the next one was due, and if the rating is low on this item, you will be asked to improve that aspect of your teaching promptly in the next semester in order to maintain your assistantship or to receive satisfactory ratings on your annual term faculty reviews.
The ISUComm Rhetorical Matrix outlines general guidelines for assessment in English 150 and 250 based on the five components of the rhetorical model that underpins the program’s approach to composition.
Since final course grades reflect the performance of individual students, the majority of assignments should be composed individually. Participation, quizzes, daily work, oral reports, notebooks, and collaborative assignments should represent a smaller portion of the final grade. You may also want to combine collective and individual assessment for collaborative projects. In a group oral presentation, each student might construct two or three slides or present one section of the material and be graded individually on that portion of the assignment. Groups might be graded as teams for data collection and a collaborative proposal but then produce and present individual posters based on the group research. Such activities give students opportunities to perform in diverse settings with feedback designed accordingly.
Read more about assessing student performance at each of these links: