An open-ended approach to evaluating students’ citizenship competences: The use of rubrics

In this paper, we develop an open-ended approach to evaluating students’ citizenship competences. We aim to give students the opportunity to describe what citizenship means for them in personally relevant contexts. We developed three rubrics relevant to students’ citizenship in daily life. Students in grade 10 and 11( M age = 16) evaluated their competences or completed an assignment which was assessed using rubrics. The results show that for both approaches, the majority of students were able to provide relevant input pertaining to their citizenship competences. However, students’ explanations were often brief, limiting the personal context they provided and the extent to which they demonstrated higher levels of proficiency. This study shows that employing rubrics for an open-ended approach to assessing citizenship competences shows promise in allowing students to share and elaborate upon their experiences and viewpoints, but more focus is needed on improving the quantity and quality of student input.