Is it possible in SpeedGrader to edit the criteria to make accomodations?

[hawkb]

I need to be able to make a modification for a student that has special needs on a rubric attached to an assignment. Is it possible to make that modification in SpeedGrader for a particular student? In other words, if there is a criteria that does not meet the needs of a student, can I eliminate that criterion for that student while in SpeedGrader? I only want to adjust the criterion for a single student. 

[SusanNiemeyer · Accepted solution]

I don't believe that you can make changes for just one student. 

[hawkb]

That is unfortunate. It would make sense that due to students with special needs, there should be a way to make changes to the rubric for an individual student. Or, at least being able to excuse a student from a criterion. 

[Ron_Bowman]

@hawkb 

What @SusanNiemeyer has stated is correct. 

Are you saying that you want the special needs student to be scored 45/45 instead of 45/50?  Obviously, you could give the student full credit for the criteria they don't have to do, but that is sort of curving their score a little bit.

[hawkb]

Yes, to be able to score an assignment a 45/45 instead of 45/50 is what would be ideal. The idea of making different assignments with different rubrics is not efficient for the teacher so we are wanting to avoid that. 

[Ron_Bowman]

@hawkb 

It sounds like your best option is what I outlined down below this comment.  You just have to explain to the student what is going on with their grade so they don't get  confused.

Ron

[SusanNiemeyer]

@hawkb 

There is a "work around." Create two "sections." Section A will be the regular students. Section B will be the student(s) with special needs.  (VERY IMPORTANT - Create "sections, NOT "groups.")

Then, create two separate assignments: A and B. Assign "Assignment A" to ONLY the students in Section A. Assign "Assignment B" to ONLY the student(s) in Section B.

The students will not see who the other students are in their section. They will only see their own Assignment. They will not be aware of the alternate Assignment.

[Ron_Bowman]

@hawkb   @SusanNiemeyer -

Yes that is definitely a workaround.  Of course you have to create 2 rubrics for the 2 assignments which is a lot of work. Perfectly fine, and I thought the same thing  yesterday when I thought about writing up what I have below.  However yesterday I could not think of the correct procedure for my procedure below for whatever reason.  Then this morning it came to me how to do it correctly.

If it were me, I would do the following (it would have to be explained to the student what is happening with their grade).  I would use the same rubric for both groups of students.  I would add a line into the rubric at the bottom that has the criteria statement of "for adjusting students grade based on answers not covered by the criteria above".  For this criteria you just have 2 options both worth 0 points (I do this all the time in my programming class because students are great at doing wrong things not covered by the criteria).  Then grade all the regular students and never use the last criteria.

for the special needs student, grade their work on all the criteria applicable to them.  Determine their grade.  then you can use the last criteria for fudge points to adjust the overall score for the correct percentage.

For example.  assignment is worth 100 points, and the excused criteria is 10 points.  So if the special needs student scores a 90/90 (get all their parts correct), then you just add +10 in the adjustment box and put in a comment as to why that is there.

if they get an 80/90 = 88.89%, then you can add 8.89 into the score box and once again provide an explanation.  This gives the student an 88.89/100 which is the correct percentage.

The above is a little bit of work, but less than creating 2 assignments and 2 rubrics.

And for anyone wanting to know, you can add negative points in the adjustment box score in a rubric as well (I do that all the time)

[SusanNiemeyer]

@Ron_Bowman @hawkb 

I see what you're doing with the points, but I think that adding in weird point values will be confusing to the students and their parents. If I were the student or a parent, I'd be super perplexed about getting 8.89 "bonus" points.

Two assignments with two rubrics is more work for the instructor. However, it would provide much clearer feedback to students with special needs. At my community college, I occasionally come across students who are on the autism spectrum. With these students, I have to be especially conscientious and clear about my grading policy and my feedback.

[Ron_Bowman]

@SusanNiemeyer -

The confusion is easily removed by typing in what is going on in the comment box available for each criteria.  As you state, it may depend on what the special needs are for a student.  I could see with autism that may be an issue.  It really depends on what the students are able to comprehend.

For the one that is skipped (the student gets 0 points or no points) and in the comment box state that this criteria does not apply to you

Then in the extra one where points are added in the comments you write.  "Out of the criteria that apply to you, you scored 40/45 which is 88.88% .  The points added here are so that your percent score for the assignment is 88.88%.  Your score for the assignment is therefore corrected to 44.44/50 by adding 4.44 points for this criteria in the rubric.

If there is any confusion, a one-on-one with the parents and student could be done and once the procedure is explained there should not be an issue.

Of course - like you- I deal with College students, so there would be no parent interaction(unless the student wanted it) and in general they have more experience and so they could(I hope) understand what was happening.  All of my special needs so far have been with students that require extra time to take exams or quizzes.