This study aimed to determine if giving high school students a rubric outlining participation expectations and having them self-assess daily would improve classroom engagement. The researcher provided 26 Precalculus students with rubrics and had them grade their own warm-up, behavior, and work completion over 10 school days. Results showed low student participation (32%) and a drop in average daily grade. While 43% felt it encouraged participation, 57% felt it reminded them of behavior expectations. The researcher concluded rubrics could improve engagement but students may need incentives to participate and self-assess honestly, especially low performers.

1. Will giving students specific criteria and an opportunity for direct feedback
to the teacher empower students to improve classroom participation?
An Action Research Report
Brianne Kleinschmidt
bklein2@umbc.edu
University of Maryland Baltimore County/Lansdowne High School
April 2011
Purpose
The purpose of this project was to determine if class work, participation and behavior
could be improved by giving students a rubric outlining exact expectations of students during the
class and having students grade their own performance during each class using the rubric. Prior
to the project, the students’ daily classwork grade was a number from 1-10 assigned by the
teacher based on an overall “feel” of how the student performed that day compared to non-
enumerated expectations. The goal of this project was to make the expectations more clear to the
students to encourage them to work to increase their own grade.
Population and Sample
The project applies to the population of high school students in the United States. The
sample for this project was a single second period Precalculus class held in room 229 at
Lansdowne High School. The 26 students in this class consist of one student in ninth grade,
eighteen students in tenth grade, six students in eleventh grade, and one student in twelfth grade.
There are 9 males and 17 females in this class. The students come from socioeconomic
backgrounds ranging from the lower to middle class. There are 13 minority students in the class.
No students in this class have an IEP.
Time Period of Data Collection
Background data for this project was collected April 4th
-8th
, the first week of the 4th
marking period. The changes studied in the project were implemented April 11th
and ran for a
period of 10 school days, concluding May 3rd
. In the middle of the data collection period was
Spring Break, where students were not in school from April 16th
-25th
. Data was not collected
April 15th
due to the nature of that day’s activity.
Method
The week prior to the start of the project, the classwork grade was assigned for each
student as they had been all year. Once the project was enacted, students each day picked up a
half sheet of paper, imprinted on one side with the daily warm-up and either an exit-ticket type
problem, or the instructions for classwork and homework, and with the rubric on the other side.
Students were instructed that they were being given an opportunity to have a direct impact on
their classwork grade, which makes up 30% of their overall grade. They were to honestly use the

2. rubric to grade their classwork for the day. If I felt they were honest in their grading, they would
receive that grade for the day. They were further instructed that they could improve their daily
grade by meeting the expectations listed on the rubric. At the end of each class, the sheets were
collected, and entered into an Excel spreadsheet for further analysis.
Also, on the last day, a questionnaire was distributed to the class. On questions 1, 3, and 5
students were asked to reflect on their classroom actions prior to the implementation of the
rubrics in areas of participation, behavior, and drill completion. Questions 2, 4, and 6 asked the
students to give their opinion of whether or not they felt the rubric helped them to improve their
actions in these areas.
Results
A key result in this project was the low participation rate. Compared to an attendance rate
of 87%, the student participation rate in the daily rubrics was only 31.5%. Moreover, the eight
students who received less than an 80% on the test given immediately prior to this project had a
participation rate of only 20%. This could indicate that students need additional incentives than
their grade to improve classroom performance. Among those who participated, the average daily
grade dropped from 93% to 88%. There were 3 students who had an upward trend in their self-
reported scores for the time period. Student opinion of the rubric was mixed. 43% of students
stating that the rubric encouraged them to participate more and improved the amount of times
they worked on their drill. 57% indicated that the rubric helped to remind them of appropriate
behavior in class.
I believe that a rubric could improve student class behaviors; however, there are many
items to be aware of. High performing students seemed to gain the most from this activity. They
were the most likely to participate and they were honest and critical of themselves. It was not
measured in this project, but I felt that the number of students who voluntarily participated in
class discussion increased during this activity. This was an item that was mentioned on the
rubric. Prior to the project, the class had about three students who would volunteer to answer
questions during instruction. During the project, this number increased to approximately seven.
Students must have some sort of incentive other than their grade to participate and report
honestly. For this type of activity to work with low performing students, strong support for the
student needs to be present for them to feel comfortable reporting that they are not working up to
standard and feel as though they can reach the standards given.

3. Example Rubric
Score
Warm-up 0
I was late
without
excuse or
made no
attempt at the
warm-up
1
I was not seated, ready to
work at the bell or I
attempted a few of the
problems on the warmup
2
I was seated, ready to work
at the bell and attempted all
the problems on the
warmup.
Participation/
Behavior
0
I did not
participated
in class
discussions
and I was
misbehaving
to the point
of disrupting
my
classmates
1
I was not
disruptive
during
class but I
did not
participate
or pay
attention
2
I followed
along
during
some of
instruction
and I may
have been
talking a
little
during
instruction
3
I was on
task during
discussion,
following
along. I
asked or
answered a
question.
4
I was on task
all class,
following
along, taking
notes, asking
and answering
questions
Classwork 0
I did none of
my
classwork.
1
I attempted
a problem
or two but
made no
attempt to
get help for
what I did
not
understand
2
I attempted
some
problems
and did not
ask for
help, or did
not
continue
working
after help
was given.
3
I
completed
most of my
work
today.
4
I did all my
assigned work
or I did most
of my work
and was
assisting
another
student in
understanding
theirs.
Total
/10

4. Example Questionnaire
Strongly
Disagree
Slightly
Disagree
Neither Disagree
Nor Agree
Slightly
Agree
Strongly
Agree
I was an active participant in the day’s lesson.
1 2 3 4 5
The daily rubric encouraged me to participate more.
1 2 3 4 5
I always behaved in a manner respectful of my classmates and my teacher.
1 2 3 4 5
The daily rubric helped to remind me of appropriate behaviors in class.
1 2 3 4 5
I used to always sit down and work on the drill.
1 2 3 4 5
The daily rubric/drill sheet improved the amount of times I did my drill.
1 2 3 4 5

5. Questionnaire Results
Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6
1 5 5 5 5 5 5
2 5 4 5 3 4 5
3 5 3 5 3 5 3
4
5
6 5 5 5 4 4 5
7 5 3 5 3 3 3
8
9 4 1 3 1 2 1
10 3 5 5 5 4 4
11 3 2 3 2 4 3
12 3 2 3 2 4 5
13
14
15 4 4 4 4 3 3
16
17
18 3 3 5 5 3 3
19
20 4 1 5 4 5 1
21 5 4 5 5 5 4
22
23
24
25
26 3 3 3 5 3 3
Average 4.1 3.2 4.4 3.6 3.9 3.4

6. %
Favorable 64 43 71 57 64 43
% Negative 0 21 0 21 0 14
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
Average Student Daily Scores
and Response Rate
Old Average New Average Number of Valid Responses