Scales and rubrics are essential for tracking student progress, and tracking progress is necessary for celebrating success. The desired joint effect of the strategies associated with these three elements is that students understand the progression of knowledge they are expected to master and where they currently are along that progression. When learning goals are designed well and communicated well, students not only have clear direction, but they can take the reins of their own learning. As Robert J. Marzano (2017) articulates in The New Art and Science of Teaching, students must grasp the scaffolding of knowledge and skills they are expected to master and understand where they are in the learning, and this happens as a result of the teacher providing and communicating clear learning goals.
Element 1: Providing Scales and Rubrics
Scales and rubrics articulate what students should know and be able to do as a result of instruction. The content in a scale or rubric should come from a school or district’s standards. As an example of how teachers might do this, we include the learning progression for mathematics from Achieve the Core (n.d.) in figure 1.1 (page 12) and in figure 1.2 (page 13) for secondary-level mathematics.
For element 1 of the model, we address the following two specific strategies in this chapter.
1. Clearly articulating learning goals
2. Creating scales or rubrics for learning goals
Source: Achieve the Core, (n.d.).
Figure 1.1: Learning progression for mathematics, grades K–8.
Source: National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2013.
Figure 1.2: Learning progression for mathematics, secondary level.
Clearly Articulating Learning Goals
Mathematics learning goals are most effective when teachers communicate them in a way students can clearly understand; however, students must also feel as though they “own” the goals. Student ownership is the process of allowing students the freedom to choose their goals and take responsibility for measuring their progress toward meeting them. Student ownership occurs most effectively when students are able to connect to mathematics using natural, everyday language. Stephen Chappuis and Richard J. Stiggins (2002) explain that sharing learning goals in student-friendly language at the outset of a lesson is the critical first step in helping students know where they are going. They also point out that students cannot assess their own learning (see element 2, tracking student progress, page 18) or set goals to work toward without a clear vision of the intended learning. When they do try to assess their own achievement without understanding the learning targets they have been working toward, their conclusions can’t help them move forward.
The following three actions will help teachers communicate learning goals effectively so that students can connect to mathematics.
1. Eliminating jargon: Eliminate jargon that is intended for the teacher and instead incorporate empowering language that provides focus and motivation.
2. Making goals concrete: Communicate learning goals with vivid and concrete language.
3. Using imagery and multiple representations: Promote mathematics concepts as visually connected to numerical values and symbols.
Table 1.1 provides some examples of these three actions.
Table 1.1: Actions for Communicating Learning Goals
| Strategy | Description |
| Eliminating jargon | Instead of using the language from the standard to create the learning target, use vocabulary and terminology that make sense and are motivating, and then explicitly teach new vocabulary words. |
| Making goals concrete | Use language that clarifies what the student is doing and how. |
| Using imagery and multiple representations | Encourage students to represent their mathematics learning goals in different forms, such as with words, a picture, a graph, an equation, or a concrete object, and encourage students to link the different forms. |
Eliminating Jargon
Learning goals can be difficult for students to grasp when they contain pedagogical jargon and seem to be crafted more for education experts than for students. We don’t mean to discredit the use of academic language; however, when academic language becomes a barrier because it prevents students from connecting with the material, teachers have to re-evaluate how they’re communicating about mathematics. When learning goals are ambiguous, they don’t provide the focus, motivation, or inspiration students need to reach targets. Mathematics teachers must align learning goal language to desired learning outcomes for students using everyday language and connect it to academic language by showing the students the goal written in various ways. Judit Moschkovich (2012) states that instruction needs to move away from a monolithic view of mathematical discourse and consider everyday and academic discourses as interdependent, dialectical, and related rather than assume they are mutually exclusive. Additionally, learning goals should make appropriate connections to academic language when scaffolding is present. Figure 1.3 shows a standard followed by the rewritten student-friendly, jargon-free statement for two grade levels and algebra II.
Figure 1.3: Transforming a learning goal by eliminating jargon.
Obtaining student feedback is the best way to determine if learning goals make sense to students. Creating a focus group of students (a committee to eliminate jargon) that vet learning goals is a strategy to ensure your learning goals are student friendly. In this process, the teacher asks students in the focus group to circle nouns and verbs that seem ambiguous or don’t seem very connected to everyday language.
Figure 1.4 is an example of how a student focus group would provide feedback on the first draft of a learning goal.
Figure 1.4: Transforming a learning goal with student feedback.
The students from the group in figure
