Eric Allatta

Comuter Science and Mathematics Teacher in New York City.

Mastery Rubrics for CS & Math

This case study highlights a long-term initiative to develop a unified set of mastery-based grading rubrics across the computer science and math departments at an unscreened, CS-focused high school. The goal was to align instructional practice with a shared set of high-leverage cognitive skills that reflected both computational thinking and Common Core mathematical practice.

Background & Vision

As department leader, I facilitated a multi-year collaborative process with colleagues to define, refine, and implement vertically aligned skills across all course levels. This work was heavily influenced by design-recipe pedagogy from Bootstrap and the structure-behavior-data lens from AP CS Principles.

We aimed to shift the grading conversation away from compliance and content coverage and toward demonstration of problem-solving and design fluency. The shared rubrics provided clarity to students, coherence across classes, and a basis for data-informed instructional decisions.

Implementation

Rubrics were written for each course—Intro CS, Comp Algebra, AP CSP, AP CSA, Capstone, Tech, and more—anchored in five core skills:

  1. Use Tools (e.g., APIs, contracts, and modeling software)
  2. Read Programs (predict and explain behavior)
  3. Build Tools (design headers, classes, methods)
  4. Break Down Problems (decompose and identify subproblems)
  5. Solve Large Problems (synthesize to solve complex challenges)

Each rubric articulated four developmental levels: Novice, Apprentice, Practitioner, and Professional. These were used for both formative feedback and summative reporting.

Impact

  • Professional Culture: Teachers collaborated across disciplines to calibrate expectations and adapt tasks to align with shared skills.
  • Student Understanding: Students gained a clearer sense of what mastery looked like and how to progress toward it. Reflection and revision became routine.
  • Platform Integration: The rubrics were implemented in Jumpro.pe, a mastery-based grading platform. This allowed for consistent tracking of skills across classes and better communication with families.
  • Lasting Infrastructure: The rubric framework remains in place and continues to guide curriculum design, assessment creation, and departmental planning.

“We didn’t just align grading—we aligned how we talked about thinking.”