At a recent meeting where evaluation and assessment were the themes of the day, we talked about rubrics and what evaluators (in this case, teachers) can and should expect from those being evaluated (students for example). The facilitator (Giselle Martin-Kniep) challenged us to think that the “A” score is not a 4 but a 3. That is, on a scale of 1 to 4, meeting an expectation should be thought of as the A. It grounds us simply because it addresses the expected end. So what then is better than an A? How do we get to a 4? The answer…moving beyond being grounded and into being inspired! What a lovely thought!
In my mind, to be inspired means to be transformed not just by what has grounded your understanding (or that which demonstrates–proves and verifies–what you know) but to push your own understanding into pulling someone else’s. What inspires you?
Joy Barnes-Johnson, Ph.D. 
This jives so well with a conversation I had with some of my doc students the other day about how to move beyond a “B” by moving beyond the search for “correct” answers and becoming creative. I can analyze the data and come to sound conclusions on my own; I need others to inspire me with new ways of thinking, novel ideas about change, and unexpected sources of evidence. Grounded is boring. Necessary, but boring. So glad to read your connections between transformation and rubrics!
Aaaahhhhh Kalechas…this is absolutely the explanation I hope to give my grade hungry students next year. It is of course a paradigm shift for me…I have always seen the superior as the inspiring but to acknowledge the grounded as superior enough…well…new thinking. Thanks for commenting–miss you!