Student-directed assessment and rubric construction in education

¶ … construction of created rubrics of checklists of goals have become increasingly popular as a way of rending the educational process more effective and efficient. Student-directed assessment involves students actively in the process of assessment and achieves the dual goal of student empowerment as well as ensures that real learning has taken place. "Constructing or drawing up rubrics jointly with students prior to them undertaking the related lesson or task provides an even richer, more authentic, learner-centered and empowering authentic assessment experience than merely providing them with a teacher-designed rubric" the latter of which may not be meaningful to them (Litz 2007). This is often called "negotiable contracting" and reflects the belief that "students who are given a role in the assessment process and provided with the appropriate direction by their teachers are able to accurately evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and better pinpoint areas where they need to focus their efforts for improvement"(Litz 2007). It is often said that the best way to truly learn something is to teach it and student-directed assessment actively involves the student in the process of instruction and curriculum construction.