This past summer AOI conducted a series of focus groups with faculty to identify strategies they are using to recognize and support students who seem to be destined for failure in their class. In other words “Early Alert and Retention” practices were the focus.
Low-stakes formative assessments evaluate students with little to no effect on final grades and can ensure that midterms are not the first communication of performance level for students providing students and faculty an “early alert warning” for students who are struggling.
Rubrics enable students to reflect on their progress as they work. They also support students in giving and receiving constructive feedback to one another. The exercise of creating a rubric is itself beneficial in that it challenges you to identify the criteria by which learning will be assessed.
A rubric is a coherent set of criteria for students’ work that includes descriptions of levels of performance quality on the criteria. —Susan M. Brookhart, What Are Rubrics and Why Are They Important? How to Create and Use Rubrics for Formative Assessment and Grading. ASCD, 2013
Impactful student experiences promote deep learning resulting in increased student curiosity, attention, and passion. Using impactful practices allows for greater student success/retention and saves you time in the long run.