Chapter 5: The Sanctity of Software and Rubrics as Holy Interfaces: A Critical Software Analysis of Rubrics as Vehicles of Education Reform

Between 2009 and 2013, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan delivered nearly 200 speeches totaling about half a million words. During this time, Duncan uses the word rubric only once. In a speech entitled “Lessons from High-Performing Countries” (Duncan, 2011) he said, “Teachers are entitled to a review by trained observers against a clear rubric of what effective teaching looks like—and to feedback about their practice” (para. 79). The use of the word here suggests that rubrics should be used by supervisors to support teachers in developing their craft by receiving “feedback” in a professional context. This picture, however, is not wholly accurate. The feedback the teacher receives does not remain a private conversation used to improve his or her practice. There is more to it. Rather, the secretary’s reform agenda requires that the evaluation of the teacher be shared with others, often with the district, state, and a national consortium of public and private entities. This sharing occurs through an assemblage of software-powered technologies (Lynch, 2014), especially information systems. That suggests a reason why Duncan’s Race to the Top competition, which offered states hundreds of millions of dollars to propose and implement education reform plans that align with federal priorities, includes “building data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction” (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). To say that data systems measure success or inform educators about how to improve practice is inaccurate. While related, measurement does not occur through data systems per se; it occurs via other devices like rubrics, the results of which are entered into data systems. In fact, both rubrics and software are necessary to implementing the secretary’s plans. Nevertheless, despite the importance of this connection, the way in which they interrelate has received very little attention. In a reform climate as technophilic and data-lusting as the one in which we exist, it is vital to examine the relationship between rubrics and the ontology of software, asking, How do the use of rubrics and software-powered information systems shape the ways we view and discuss pedagogy?