Across the negotiating table, teacher and class arrive at a consensus that is mutually acceptable. The result is that students feel like valued participants in the assessment process. Thus, they are motivated to strive toward those criteria-based standards. The contract process can be used independently of a formal evaluation and can serve a variety of purposes. Some lessons do not call for formal assessment.
Negotiable contracting is ideal for such a lesson.
For example, if students are to work together in groups, negotiable contracting is helpful in setting up expectations such as cooperative roles, research materials and formats for charts and graphs. The rubric is an important element of using negotiable contracting for formal assessment. A rubric is a carefully designed ratings chart that is drawn up jointly by teacher and students. Along one side of the rubric are listed the criteria that the teacher and students decide are the most important ideas to be mastered in the lesson. Across the top of the rubric are listed the rankings that will be used to assess how well students understand each of those criterion.