How to Write Critical Assessment in College Review

If you are a professor at one of the growing numbers of colleges that employ alternative methods of assessing students to traditional letter grades, you will probably be asked to write critical assessments of your students' performance at the end of each term. Hampshire, Reed, and a number of other colleges are employing this nontraditional technique of assessment, which is growing in popularity. Unlike traditional methods of grading, writing a critical assessment gives the professor the opportunity to describe thoroughly how the student meets the goal and expectations of the course.

Instructions

    • 1

      Your school probably has its own guidelines for writing this assessment, so do check with your Dean and in your Division Office for a template you can use. Since you are teaching at a school that uses narrative evaluations instead of traditional grades, you may well have been encouraged to have your students create portfolios encapsulating the best of the work they have done for you this semester, along with their own self-assessment essays. Gather these materials.

    • 2

      While reading through each student's portfolio, look for evidence of creative learning, independent decision-making skills, problem-solving abilities, evidence that he has learned how to learn, evidence he can work collaboratively, and evidence he has acquired the ability to manage himself in his chosen field. Address each of these criteria in your narrative evaluation. Be as precise and specific as possible.

    • 3

      Having read your student's self-assessment and written your detailed narrative, it is now time to decide what sort of academic credit your student will receive for the work he has done in your class. Most schools that use this assessment method mark student work as either satisfactory, unsatisfactory or incomplete. Make the final judgment fairly and honestly. Take pride in teaching at an academic institution that is making strides in eliminating grade-grubbing and grade-inflation.

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