At the lowest level, there is little evidence of ability to meet any of the criteria established to judge performance. Teachers must use subjective judgment to determine where a student's response belongs along this continuum. Whether alternative assessment items are scored by an individual or by a group of teachers, maintaining consistency of judgment and fairness in the scoring process can be a major problem. The use of item-specific rubrics that reflect predetermined scoring criteria increases greatly the likelihood that teachers will be consistent and fair in the scoring of alternative assessment items. Ideally, classroom teachers working together or independently would decide on scoring criteria for the subjects they teach, then develop their own scoring rubrics for each alternative assessment item they use.
Teachers know better than anyone else the goals and objectives of the courses they teach.
This knowledge allows them to create valid alternative assessment items and scoring rubrics that can be used to determine student performance. Each scoring rubric in Student Samples addresses each dimension of the generic scoring criteria and describes student performance at each of the four levels for each alternative item that was field tested. The goals and objectives assessed by each item in Assessment Items are tied to both the national and state standards in geography. Both the scoring criteria explicated below and the item-specific rubrics in Student Samples are provided for teachers to use directly with their classes or as prototypes for developing their own criteria and rubrics.