Rubistar Website/ Rubrics in General (double post for Modual 3)

Personally I think that the Rubistar website is a great tool for teachers. Instead of spending so much time creating your own rubrics you are able to use other teachers as well as get suggestions from the template itself. If there is anything you disagree with you can just take it out and if there is anything that you think should be included that wasn’t, you can simply add it! Despite the ease of use of the website I do believe that sometime Rubrics are not the best way to assess a students’ performance. There are some assignments or tasks that cannot be assessed you and kind of a format. It is up to the teacher to decide when and where the use of rubrics is applicable.

Cal State Teaching Credentials

So, I have decided to apply to Graduate School in California and figured that I should also look into what the requirements are to gain your certification there. Being that I will be certified in New Jersey and will have taken the Praxis I was wondering if the credentials would transfer over. This is what I have found out:
In order for a person to become certified to teach multiple subjects in California when prepared out of state and having taught for less than two years the following requirements must be met:
1. Baccalaureate or higher degree from a regionally-accredited college or university
2. Basic Skills Requirement. Individuals may be issued a preliminary credential prior to satisfying the basic skills requirement but must complete the requirement within one year of their credential issue date.
3. Comparable teaching credential earned in a state other than California based upon completion of a professional preparation program (or alternative program) in elementary education, including student teaching, taken at a regionally-accredited institution where the program was completed
• The credential does not have to be valid at the time of application
• A photocopy of the out-of-state credential is acceptable verification of this requirement (front and back as applicable)
• The subject area listed on the out-of-state credential authorization must correspond to the subject area sought
• If the out-of-state credential is issued in a subject other than elementary or self-contained teaching, the individual will be issued the preliminary credential but will be required to meet California’s subject matter requirements (see Terms and Definitions) before the clear credential may be issued

Fairness in Assessment

Fairness in assessment means that an assessment should allow for students of both genders and all backgrounds to do equally well. All students should have equal opportunity to demonstrate the skills and knowledge being assessed. The fairness of the assessment is jeopardized if bias exists either in the task or in the grader/ teacher.

The concept that assessment should be fair covers a number of aspects. Ideally an assessment should not discriminate between students except on grounds of the ability being assessed, so cultural differences (for instance) should not have an impact on the assessment although in some instances this cannot be achieved (for instance essay writing generally seeks to test the ability to write grammatical English among other things and a non-native English speaker is inherently at a disadvantage in this situation). Ideally an assessment should not distinguish between students with different backgrounds although in some cases this is impossible to achieve.

Assessment is ...

Assessment is

• Summative assessment is generally carried out at the end of a course or project. In an educational setting, summative assessments are typically used to assign students a course grade.
• Formative assessment is generally carried out throughout a course or project. Formative assessment, also referred to as "educative assessment," is used to aid learning. In an educational setting, formative assessment might be a teacher (or peer) or the learner, providing feedback on a student's work, and would not necessarily be used for grading purposes.
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• assessment can be based on a variety of information sources (e.g., portfolios, works in progress, teacher observation, conversation)
• feedback to the student can be verbal or written
• used to inform instruction
• no grade is given
  
• occurs throughout the learning process all the way up to the time of summative assessment