All faculty members are interested in student learning and achievement. One teaching practice that can positively influence student learning is the development and use of rubrics. A rubric shows how learners will be assessed and is a clear summary of the criteria for assessing student work and includes the levels of potential achievement for each criterion.

What is a Rubric?

A rubric is a scoring tool that explicitly represents the performance expectations for an assignment or piece of work. A rubric divides the assigned work into component parts and provides clear descriptions of the characteristics of the work associated with each component, at varying levels of mastery. Rubrics can be used for a wide array of assignments: papers, projects, oral presentations, artistic performances, group projects, etc. Rubrics can be used as scoring or grading guides, to provide formative feedback to support and guide ongoing learning efforts, or both.

Why Use a Rubric?

• Rubrics make public the criteria by which student work will be assessed. Students, faculty, and other university stakeholders all benefit from explicit expectations and assessment criteria.
• Rubrics can inform teaching, helping faculty clarify expectations and guide decisions about curriculum, course, and assignment design.
• Rubrics produce assessments that are far more detailed than a single, holistic grade.
• Rubrics provide concepts and vocabulary to support constructive discussions about learning and reflections on the learning process.
• Students can use rubrics to self-evaluate to see where they are and where they are headed.
• Rubrics give students a reference point for deeper engagement and peer assessment.
• Rubrics offer faculty a way to give students useful feedback.
• Rubrics help gather evidence about student learning.

Students reap the benefits of a rubric when they understand its criteria and descriptors. Rubrics should provide students with clear expectations (outcomes) for coursework. It is important to give students opportunities to practice using and discussing rubrics in order to maximize the impact on their learning.

Rubrics, like other forms of assessment, are part of a cycle of reflection and evolve based on feedback from users and an ongoing refinement of learning outcomes and course activities.
Sources: Washington State Teaching Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology, and Understanding Educational Measurement by Peter McDaniel (1994).

Commonly Used Types of Rubrics

• Checklists - list of accomplishments as completed or present in an assignment. Better for self-assessment or observation.
• Rating Scales - checklist with a scoring scale along a continuum shows the degree to which the things you are looking for are present in completed assignment. Quick and easy to create and score.
• Descriptive Rubrics/Analytical Scoring Guides - replace check boxes - descriptors describe what is expected at each level of performance. Explicitly documents standards and levels of performance. Breaks task into parts and articulates levels of performance for each criterion.
• Holistic Scoring Guides - short narrative descriptions to focus on the entire performance rather than components. Assesses performance across multiple criteria as a whole. Better for larger scale projects (150 essays or portfolios).
• Structured Observation Guides - a rubric without a rating scale, more subjective, qualitative, but still direct and valid.

Click here for template to design a rubric.