Scoring     Criteria       Level Four       Response       Level Three       Response       Level Two       Response       Level One       Response     Introduction     Standards &     Skills     Assessment     Items  Scoring     Criteria     Student     Samples

Scoring Criteria - Introduction The scoring of alternative assessment items by teachers requires the use of item-specific scoring rubrics that are based on predetermined generic scoring criteria. Generic scoring criteria contain descriptions of several different dimensions, as well as different performance levels, and they can be applied across different goals and objectives. Scoring rubrics are developed for individual test items, which are written to measure student success at achieving specific goals and objectives. They describe student performance in each dimension of the criteria and at different performance levels. Unlike objective assessments, such as multiple-choice, alternative assessment items generate student responses that vary greatly with respect to the prescribed criteria. The highest level response approaches that which would be expected of an expert in the discipline. At the lowest level, there is little evidence of ability to meet any of the criteria established to judge performance. Teachers must use subjective judgment to determine where a student's response belongs along this continuum. Whether alternative assessment items are scored by an individual or by a group of teachers, maintaining consistency of judgment and fairness in the scoring process can be a major problem. The use of item-specific rubrics that reflect predetermined scoring criteria increases greatly the likelihood that teachers will be consistent and fair in the scoring of alternative assessment items. Ideally, classroom teachers working together or independently would decide on scoring criteria for the subjects they teach, then develop their own scoring rubrics for each alternative assessment item they use. Teachers know better than anyone else the goals and objectives of the courses they teach. This knowledge allows them to create valid alternative assessment items and scoring rubrics that can be used to determine student performance. The scoring criteria for the geography items in this document contain two dimensions--Knowledge of geography, and Organization and development of responses, and four performance levels--Four, Three, Two, and One. Each scoring rubric in Student Samples addresses each dimension of the generic scoring criteria and describes student performance at each of the four levels for each alternative item that was field tested. The goals and objectives assessed by each item in Assessment Items are tied to both the national and state standards in geography. Both the scoring criteria explicated below and the item-specific rubrics in Student Samples are provided for teachers to use directly with their classes or as prototypes for developing their own criteria and rubrics.