Rubrics: Useful Assessment Tools

Rubrics: Useful Assessment Tools

Rubrics are excellent tools to use when assessing students’ work for several reasons. You might consider developing and using rubrics if:

You find yourself re-writing the same comments on several different students’ assignments.
Your marking load is high, and writing out comments takes up a lot of your time.
Students repeatedly question you about the assignment requirements, even after you’ve handed back the marked the assignment.
You want to address the specific components of your marking scheme for student and instructor use both prior to and following the assignment submission.

What is a Rubric?

A rubric is an assessment tool that clearly indicates marking criteria. It can be used for marking assignments, class participation, or overall grades. There are two types of rubrics: holistic and analytical.

Holistic rubrics group several different assessment criteria and classify them together under grade headings (see Appendix A).
Analytic rubrics, on the other hand, separate different assessment criteria and address them comprehensively. The top axis includes values that can be expressed either numerically or by letter grade. The side axis includes the assessment criteria (See Appendix B).

How to Make a Rubric:

Decide what criteria or essential elements must be present in the student’s work to ensure that it is high in quality. At this stage, you might even consider selecting samples of exemplary student work that can be shown to students when setting assignments.
Decide how many levels of achievement you will include on the rubric.
For each criterion or essential element of quality, develop a clear description of performance at each achievement level.
Leave space for additional comments and a final grade.

Variation: Developing Rubrics Interactively with Your Students

You can enhance students’ learning experience by involving them in the rubric development process. Either as a class or in small groups, students decide upon criteria for grading the assignment. It would be helpful to provide students with samples of exemplary work so they could identify the criteria with greater ease. In such an activity, the instructor functions as facilitator, guiding the students toward the final goal of a rubric that can be used on their assignment. This activity not only results in a greater learning experience, it also enables students to feel a greater sense of ownership and inclusion in the decision making process.

How to Use Rubrics Effectively

Develop a different rubric for each assignment. Although this takes time in the beginning, you’ll find that rubrics can be changed slightly or re-used later.
Give students a copy of the rubric when you assign the performance task.
Require students to attach the rubric to the assignment when they hand it in.
When you mark the assignment, circle or highlight the achieved level of
performance for each criterion.
Include any additional comments that do not fit within the rubric’s criteria.
Decide upon a final grade for the assignment based on the rubric.
Hand the rubric back with the assignment.
If an assignment is being submitted to an electronic drop box you may be able to develop and use an online rubric. The scores from these rubrics are automatically entered in the online grade book in the course management system.

Resources

Huba, M.E. and J.E. Freed. “Using Rubrics to Provide Feedback to Students.” Learner-Centered Assessment on College Campuses. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2000. 151-200.
Luft, J.A. “Rubrics: Design and Use in Science Teacher Education.” Journal of Science Teacher Education 10.2 (1999): 107-121.
Lewis, R., P. Berghoff, and P. Pheeney. “Focusing Students: Three Approaches for Learning Through Evaluation.” Innovative Higher Education 23.3 (Spring 1999): 181-196.

Appendix A: Sample Holistic Rubric

A	Always prepared and attends class Participates constructively in class Exhibits preparedness and punctuality in class/class work Works well with others and is a team player Demonstrates initiative and improvement Seeks to understand and acknowledge others’ thoughts Often reaches full potential if sufficiently challenged Class assignments have something extra about them Exceptional content knowledge Demonstrates ability to integrate new knowledge into work Challenges his/her own thoughts and ideas
B	Usually prepared and attends class Participates constructively in class, works well with others, and is a team player Excellent content knowledge Completes all class assignments; occasionally adds something extra Demonstrates initiative and improvement Seeks to understand and acknowledge others’ thoughts Stretches to reach full potential
C	Sometimes prepared and attends class Average content knowledge Occasionally or only challenges thought when encouraged by others Assignments reflect average work Sometimes an active participant in class; works well with others
D	Rarely prepared or attends class Rarely participates constructively in class Assignments are late, incomplete, or not turned in at all Low level of content knowledge Does not strive to reach potential.

Appendix B: Sample Analytic Rubric

Criteria	50-59%	60-69%	70-79%	80-100%
Knowledge of forms, conventions, terminology, and strategies of literary texts	Demonstrates limited knowledge of forms, conventions, terminology, and strategies	Demonstrates some knowledge of forms, conventions, terminology, and strategies	Demonstrates considerable knowledge of forms, conventions, terminology, and strategies	Demonstrates thorough and insightful knowledge of forms, conventions, terminology, and strategies
Critical and creative thinking skills	Uses critical and creative thinking skills with limited effectiveness	Uses critical and creative thinking skills with moderate effectiveness	Uses critical and creative thinking skills with considerable effectiveness	Uses critical and creative thinking skills with a high degree of effectiveness
Communication of information and ideas	Communicates information and ideas with limited clarity	Communicates information and ideas with some clarity	Communicates information and ideas with considerable clarity	Communicates information and ideas with a high degree of clarity and with confidence
Spelling and grammar	Several errors	A few errors	Some errors	No errors