Resources · Mastery
Mastery rubrics.
One rubric per unit, plus the three demonstration rubrics. Every rubric uses the same three levels — Not yet, Approaching, Mastered — so the bar is identical for every student.
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How the rubrics work
The grading philosophy behind every rubric — decisions not points, a vocabulary published in advance, three tokens that absorb a bad day, and how unit mastery becomes a letter grade.
Unit rubrics
A mastery rubric for each of the eight units. Each one names exactly what a student must be able to do — not how many points they earned — to reach Mastered.
Unit 01
Matter & Its Properties
Mass, volume, density, states of matter, physical properties, and telling mixtures from pure substances.
Unit 02
Atoms, Elements & the Periodic Table
Elements, compounds, and mixtures, and reading the periodic table at a survey level.
Unit 03
Chemical & Physical Changes
Evidence of a chemical change, telling physical from chemical change, and conservation of mass.
Unit 04
Forces & Motion
Speed, distance and time, balanced vs. unbalanced forces, and Newton’s laws at a survey level.
Unit 05
Energy & Its Forms
Kinetic and potential energy, energy transfer, and conservation of energy.
Unit 06
Heat & Thermal Energy
Temperature vs. heat, and how heat moves by conduction, convection, and radiation.
Unit 07
Waves, Sound & Light
Wavelength, frequency, and amplitude, plus reflection in sound and light.
Unit 08
Electricity & Magnetism
Current, complete circuits, magnets, and electromagnets.
Demonstration rubrics
The three live demonstrations a student defends in person. These are the AI-proof assessments — you can't paste your way through any of them.
Demonstration
Build-and-test defense
Defending the design and the data on a simple device you built and tested.
Demonstration
Timed prediction-and-test
Predicting a physical outcome, running it live under time, and accounting for the gap.
Demonstration
Oral lab-notebook defense
Standing behind your recorded methods, data, and reasoning out loud.