A New Addition to Oak Meadow Coursebooks
Imagine this: Your teen works hard on an essay about the novel they’re reading. The essay is dripping with creativity and effort, and while you’re impressed, you also wonder, “How do I fairly assess this? How do I give them feedback that helps them grow?”
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Many homeschooling families struggle with providing the kind of structured feedback that will set their child up for academic success.
That’s why we’re incredibly proud to introduce that, starting this year, all of the assignments in our high-school English and Social Studies coursebooks come with a rubric attached — a clear, supportive way to assess your child’s learning and guide them to the next step in their learning.
What’s a Rubric?
Rubrics outline the expectations of an assignment and helps students understand what success looks like.
At Oak Meadow, we primarily use what’s called a single-point rubric. It’s a table with three columns. The central column clearly defines expectation. The left column leaves space for personalized comments about what exceeded the expectation, while the right column leaves space to note areas that would benefit from more attention.
A single-point rubric encourages constructive feedback rather than a fixed score. By focusing on where the student can still improve and where their work shines, it also encourages a growth mindset. And most importantly, single-point rubrics are easy to understand and use.
Here’s an example from our high-school coursebook, Women’s Literature: Worlds of Fantasy & Science Fiction. For the assignment, the student completed a two-page essay on a novel they read during the course. The home teacher then used the following rubric to provide constructive feedback on the essay.
| Evidence of Meeting or Exceeding Expectations | Expectations | Areas for Growth |
|---|---|---|
| Your essay flowed nicely. I followed your train of thought from one idea to the next, which made your conclusion seem logical and necessary. Nice job! | Structure Each idea and paragraph is connected to the previous idea or paragraph and to the overall theme, creating a smooth and cohesive piece of writing. |
While your essay flowed nicely into your conclusion, you didn’t quite speak to the claim you made in your introduction — you took a left turn in your second paragraph and never found your way back. If you revise your intro to speak to the rest of the essay, you’ll be in great shape 🙂 |
| You didn’t have a single typo, misspelled word, or errant punctuation mark in the entire essay! That’s incredible! | Writing Mechanics Writing is developed and strengthened by planning, revising, editing, and proofreading. |
Before your next revision, consider highlighting your topic sentences to make sure your intro aligns with the rest. |
Why Are We Including Rubrics Now?
Oak Meadow is committed to experiential, student-centered learning, and every change we make to our curriculum comes from our desire to help students and families have a meaningful and joyful learning experience.
Through discussions with homeschooling families, independent school teachers, and students, we learned about the need for more clarity in what students are expected to achieve with each assignment. We’ve also designed them to make it easier for homeschooling families to document their student’s learning.
By including single-point rubrics, we continue to support personalized learning while including a meaningful assessment that promotes both growth and accountability.
Are Rubrics the Same as Standards?
Rubrics and standards are not the same thing, though they do work together.
You can think of standards like goals: they are a widely accepted list of what students should know and be able to do at a certain grade level. They are the destination.
Rubrics, on the other hand, are more like signposts that show how well a student is progressing towards that destination. A rubric breaks down a specific assignment and clearly describes what success looks like.
At Oak Meadow, we use standards to shape our curriculum, but rubrics give families a practical tool to track progress, provide feedback, and celebrate growth. Learning is a journey, and rubrics help families and students understand where they are in that journey.
Excited To Hear About Your Experience
The introduction of these rubrics into our high-school English and Social Studies coursebooks reaffirm our commitment to evolving with and supporting homeschooling families. We believe the new rubrics will enhance clarity, improve communication, and encourage student growth.
We’d love to hear about your experience. Let us know how rubrics are helping in your homeschooling journey!