What is Mode Scoring?

Mode Scoring refers to a method of assessing student performance in which the most common or frequently observed level within a particular rubric criterion is used as the basis for assigning a score. In Kritik, the default scoring method uses a weighted average based on students' received evaluations (which takes into account criterion weight and Grading Power, among other factors); when Mode Scoring is toggled on for a criterion, the score for that criterion will instead be the level most commonly selected by the peer evaluators.

For example, consider Student X received evaluations from 5 of their peers for a rubric criterion titled "All images in .jpg format". If the scores from these 5 peers were to be Level 0, Level 1, Level 1, Level 0, and Level 1 respectively, Mode Scoring would look to the most frequently occurring level among the evaluations.

In this case, Student X would receive Level 1 as their score for "All images were in .jpg format" as it is the mode score. The weighted average of these evaluations would not be calculated as it would under default scoring in Kritik.

Mode Scoring is designed to help instructors gauge the most common evaluation level for a specific rubric criterion. However, sometimes evaluations might result in a tie or a lack of a clear "winner" or most common level for a particular criterion.

When there is a conflict or a tie among the evaluation levels, the system simply avoids Mode Scoring and reverts back to the default weighted average calculation, which takes into account criterion weight and evaluator Grading Power, among other factors.

The following screenshots display a sample student's scores on a given rubric's criteria that have enabled Mode Scoring. As shown below, this feature has been enabled for the top 2 criteria which have the "M" icons. The icon in red displays a conflict, which means that the scoring reverted to the weighted average due to no most common level. The icon in purple displays no conflict, which means that the score was derived using Mode Scoring as planned.

To enable Mode Scoring for rubric criteria, navigate to your Rubric Manager and go to the rubric in question (see our article on creating and managing rubric templates for more information on how to do this). Follow the below steps to turn this on: