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High School (9-12) Assessment

Assessment Rubric

Student performance on the tasks is evaluated in three areas: research process, product, and communication. The high school level rubric guides teachers and students in assessment. For ongoing formative evaluation, students should receive the scoring criteria at the beginning of the learning experiences. This allows students to refer to it frequently throughout the project. Students and teachers should regularly evaluate the student's progress and revise plans as necessary.

High School Assessment Rubric

Use this to help you evaluate student performance on the tasks.

download High School Assessment Rubric

The high school level projects are scored on the following components.

  • The final product—the tangible end result of the student's project that is of professional quality
  • Process record—the documentation of the in-depth research investigation
  • Communication—the presentation of the final product and a question-and-answer session


Scoring Dimensions

Nine scoring dimensions capture the critical attributes of learning that gifted and talented students should achieve by the end of their K-12 public school experience. The dimensions incorporate the features of a variety of curricula while affording students opportunities to develop professional-quality work. The nine scoring dimensions are discussed below.

  1. Knowledge and skills are the sum of what has been learned, including new understandings and abilities, related to the topic of study. In this system, knowledge and skills are based on the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).
  2. Innovation and application are the creative use of knowledge and skills learned in the course of the project as demonstrated in the final product.
  3. Analysis and synthesis are the thinking processes in which whole topics are separated into their constituent parts for study and reconstituted to form a new, coherent whole.
  4. Ethics/unanswered questions include the development of a project in alignment with rules or standards of conduct governing the field of study. Additionally, this dimension considers the student's awareness and treatment of issues related to the study that lack a consensus among professionals in the field.
  5. Multiple perspectives encompass the ability to examine an issue from more than one point of view, including the ability to separate one's own point of view from those of others.
  6. Methodology and use of resources cover the use of principles, procedures, practices, and references of the field of study to guide, but not limit, the project.
  7. Communication is the use of written, spoken, and technological media to convey new learning.
  8. Relevance and significance include the potential impact of the project on the individual student and other social groups, as well as the field of study.
  9. Professional quality is the nature of the project that suggests that the skills and knowledge demonstrated in the product are comparable to those of a person engaged in the field of study as a livelihood.
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