Creating High-Quality Classroom Assignments

Research indicates that the quality of classroom assignments makes a difference in student learning. Moreover, assignment quality varies between teachers even within the same school and there is room for improvement in many of the assignments that teachers provide to students. Assignment quality, as described in this book, puts into practice powerful research-based concepts for teaching. To support teachers in developing, reflecting on, and fine-tuning the assignments they create, this book presents a series of dimensions (or rubrics) with benchmark examples from elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. The purpose of these rubrics is to serve as diagnostic tools to assess the strengths and weaknesses of an assignment, as well as to guide the creation of new assignments for students. Questions also are included at the end of every chapter to guide reflection on a specific dimension of assignment quality. Topics cover: Choosing the right text, Setting clear and rigorous learning goals, Developing an assignment activity that gives students a chance to apply complex thinking skills, Developing clear and rigorous grading criteria, Communicating the expectations for high quality work to students, Writing high quality assignment directions, Providing comments that support student revision, Aligning the learning goals with the assignment activity and the grading criteria. Will be useful to teachers for self-assessment purposes, collaborative professional development settings, or as a basic text in teacher education courses.

Lindsay Clare Matsumura is a research associate at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on assessing instructional quality and tracing the influence of reform policies on classroom practice.