This Thespy Adjudication Course has been designed for training adjudicators who will be viewing and scoring student work as a part of the EdTA Thespy program.
The course provides an overview of scoring student work using a rubric, then demonstrates how to use these skills with the rubrics for Thespy events. The learner should download and save or print the exemplar rubrics found in the "Handouts" tab of this course to use while moving through the course modules. Upon completion of the training, the user may print a certificate as proof of training which may be presented if required for either Thespy adjudication at the International Thespian Festival or for Thespy adjudication at a Chapter qualifying event.
NOTE: Online adjudicator training should be combined with an in-person practice session to allow the adjudicators to deeply understand how to apply the rubric and come to a common agreement on the meaning of each descriptor. This process is called "norming".
Ken Bolinsky
Arts Curriculum and Assessment Consultant
Ken Bolinsky holds an MFA in Directing from Syracuse University and is a licensed arts educator who taught theatre on both the secondary and post-secondary levels for more than twenty years. As an educational consultant he's worked with national, regional, state and local educational and arts organizations to develop standards-based curricula, instructional formats and assessment methodologies in the arts, and served fourteen years as State Coordinator of the NEA's Poetry Out Loud initiative for the Mississippi Arts Council.
Ken is also a stage director with seventy-seven productions under his belt, covering the gamut of educational, community, and professional theatre. With credits ranging from New York's Off-Broadway to Chicago's Off-Loop, he is a member of two theatrical Unions: Stage Directors & Choreographers Society and Actors' Equity Association.
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Scoring
Recorded 07/19/2023 | 5 minutes
Recorded 07/19/2023 | 5 minutes
This training module reviews how to use a rubric to score student work, including comments from Tech Theatre adjudicators to help identify what to look for as you watch a student Tech Theatre Thespy.
Quiz (Updated 9/12/23)
10 Questions | Unlimited attempts | 28/40 points to pass
10 Questions | Unlimited attempts | 28/40 points to pass
Section Quiz: Scoring
Deep Dive Into Technical Theatre Thespy Adjudication
Technical Theatre Module
Select the "View On-Demand Recording" button to begin. | 7 minutes
Select the "View On-Demand Recording" button to begin. | 7 minutes
This training module contains training specific to those who will be adjudicating technical theatre Thespys.
Practice Scoring a Performance
Sound Design Superior Akshatha Srivastava
Select the "View On-Demand Recording" button to begin. | 9 minutes
Select the "View On-Demand Recording" button to begin. | 9 minutes
View the following Thespy sound design presentation from 2018, which scored Superior at the International Thespian Festival that year. Please note that this was prior to our rebranding and renaming of the IE events.
Although the score and adjudicator's comments will help you, please make your own decision about the score for this student's work by looking at the Sound Design rules and the Sound Design rubric.
Remember to begin by considering the "Excellent" criteria level and determining if you agree that you should move up to Superior.
Answer these questions to score.
3 Questions
3 Questions
Using the rubric for sound design, please give this student a score.
Share your score with other adjudicators.
Make 1 discussion post to continue.
Make 1 discussion post to continue.
In high stakes adjudication settings, adjudicators are given time to practice adjudicating example student performances with the rubrics that will be used in the actual adjudication setting. Adjudicators score these examples, and then share and discuss their scores and explain their decisions. They are encouraged to dive deeply into the rubric during the sharing. This exercise allows adjudicators to come to agreement on alignment between the scoring criteria in the rubric and what they are seeing in student performances, and to reach a shared understanding of the rubric. This process is called "norming" the adjudicators. "Norming" aligns expectations to a commonly shared "norm" and understanding, and leads to better inter-rater reliability. In this exercise you will be asked to share the score you assigned the student work, and an explanation of your reasoning. Look to your comments for help. Once you have done your discussion post you will have access to view any other posts from other adjudicators in this training, simulating a "norming" experience. If there are no responses, stop back, some are coming! As you read the responses from other adjudicators, think about how you scored the student, has anything shifted in your thoughts?
Thespy Technical Theatre Adjudicator Training Certificate
1.00 contact hour | Certificate available
1.00 contact hour | Certificate available
This certificate certifies that the bearer has completed Thespy adjudicator training for technical theatre.
Optional: Using Open Water
Open Water Adjudication Tool
Select the "View On-Demand Recording" button to begin.
Select the "View On-Demand Recording" button to begin.
Open Water is a software which embeds the Thespy rubrics in an online platform used for scoring Thespy performances. Any adjudicator who will be scoring at the International Thespian Festival will be required to use Open Water. This brief tutorial for adjudicators walks through how to use the tool.
Optional: View a Sample Training and Norming Process
Sample Training and Norming Exercise for Thespy Adjudication
Recorded 06/18/2024 | 90 minutes
Recorded 06/18/2024 | 90 minutes
Looking for an example of what happens at an in person training? View this recorded virtual training offered in 2024.
Looking for an example of norming only? Fast forward the video to 25:22 to view the norming process in action.
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