Traits Rubric Analysis

For this assessment, I used the Traits Rubric for Grades 3-12 which effectively evaluates ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions and presentation of a given writing piece. The rubric served as a assessment for fact/measurement, “to measure what exist in the learner” (Serafini, 2010). This assessment allows the teacher to assess many components of a student’s writing, and allows for a score in the different facets of writing in which we must consider when putting a score or grade to the writing. The writing used is an expository piece that informs the reader about pink dolphins. The assessment doesn’t focus on one part of the writing, so this writing was acceptable and compatible with the rubric. This assessment

He uses vocabulary that is accurately domain-specific, but at a basic level. The basic message is conveyed but lacks creative choice. The mechanical parts of speech are developing. The picture created by the student’s writing is fairly clear but not vivid. “Also people of the amason rain forest believe that pink dolphins are magical creatures that can turn into people?” The students sentence structure is mechanical and lulling, and the rhythm is lacking completely. The variety of sentences include a statement or a question, that’s it. The student attempts to connect the sentence for a smooth essay, but is most clearly developing at best. This is supported by the 10 of 24 the student scored. Regarding the student’s conventionality, spelling, punctuation, capitalization and grammar need extensive work, based on the students score of 12 out of 30. Amazon rain forest is written as “amason Rain forest”, as an example. Lastly, the presentation of the writing is fair, and mostly experienced for the writer. Font size and white space make it simple to read through most of the piece and doesn’t seem cluttered or messy. For this final section, the writer scored 18 out of 24. Summing the score of each section, the student test 150 out of 198, which results in C level work for a sixth grade

I am able to evaluate each part of a writng piece and easily identify the areas of improvement. The only con of the rubric/assessment is that is lacks a leveling score. Since it is meant to be used from 3 to 12 grade, the 3rd grader may score terribly low, but it would be age appropriate. There is no list as to how the scores correlate to grade based performance. While I know this writer is not successfully writing at a 6th grade level, I am not actually sure what level it is at. I suspect he is writing at a third or fourth grade level, but with little certainty. As a teacher, I would reserve the use of this rubric to the students that demonstrate the most deficiency in their writing. It is a hearty rubric, with seven sections of scoring and evaluation. To complete one for each of my thirty students would take and a lot of time from the feedback giving time. As mentioned several times, this rubric has many categories and places to score. This a major strength since I can evaluate the whole student systemically. A weakness is the length. 14 pages for a rubric is just not simplistic, however the descriptions for the score and assessment item are well-written and easy to apply to the writing. The extensive nature of this assessment is both a strength and a weakness, depending on time and resources available, and how many students the teacher is evaluating in this way. Regarding the changes to this