Grading Rubrics - Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning

A rubric is a tool that lists evaluation criteria for an assignment. Rubrics can help students organize their efforts to meet the requirements of an assignment and faculty can use rubrics to explain their evaluations to students.

Rubrics are made up of rows and columns. The rows correspond to the various criteria of an assignment and the columns correspond to the level of achievement expressed for each criterion. A description and point value for each cell in the rubric defines the evaluation and score of an assignment.

Simple Grading Rubric for a History Research Paper

	Excellent	Good	Poor
	3	2	1
Number of sources	10 – 12	5 – 9	1 – 4
Historical accuracy	No apparent inaccuracies	Few inaccuracies	Lots of historical inaccuracies
Organization	Can easily tell from which sources information was drawn	Can tell with difficulty from where information came	Cannot tell from which source information came
Bibliography	All relevant bibliographic information is included	Bibliography contains most relevant information	Bibliography contains very little information

Basic Steps in Creating a Rubric

Select a Performance/Assignment to be Assessed.
Performances and assignments which may be difficult to grade and where you want to reduce subjectivity are great candidates for incorporating rubrics. Is the performance/assignment an authentic task related to learning goals and/or objectives? Are students replicating meaningful tasks found in the real world? Are you encouraging students to problem solve and apply knowledge? Answer these questions as you begin to develop the criteria for your rubric.Performance example: Writing a Research Paper on a Topic Related to Local History
Identify the Criteria.
Create a list of all traits, features or dimensions that you want to measure, and include a definition and example to clarify the meaning of each trait being assessed. Each assignment or performance will have its own unique traits to be scored. Then reduce the list by chunking similar criteria and eliminating others until you produce a range of appropriate criteria. Keep the list manageable and reasonable.Criteria examples for a term paper:
Introduction
Thesis statement
Arguments/analyses
Grammar and punctuation
Spelling
Internal citations
Conclusion
Reference page
Set the Point Value.
Point values make up the system of numbers or values used to rate each criterion and often are combined with levels of performance. Make sure the values make sense in terms of the total points possible: Is there a difference between getting 10 points versus 100 points versus 1,000 points? The best and worst performances are placed at the ends of the continuum and the other scores are placed appropriately in between. It is best to start with fewer levels and to distinguish between work that doesn’t meet the criteria.Point value examples: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 2, 4, 6, 8

Write the Descriptions.
Descriptions spell out each level (gradation) of performance for each criterion and describe what performance at a particular level looks like. Descriptions describe how well student’s work is distinguished from the work of their peers and will help you to distinguish the differences between students’ work.Description examples in italics:

Criterion	Excellent 5	Good 4	Fair 2	Poor 1
Spelling	No spelling errors.	One or two spelling errors, but not of the type to make meaning obscure, and not of basic or common words	A few minor spelling errors (more than two) but not enough to harm your ethos seriously or impede a reader’s comprehension.	Many misspelled important or common words, or a number of minor errors that interfere with easy reading or comprehension.

Determine Levels of Performance.
Select words or phrases (often as adjectives) that will explain what performance looks like at each level, making sure they are discrete enough to show real differences. Levels of performance should match the related criterion.Levels of performance examples:
Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor
Master, Apprentice, Beginner
Exemplary, Accomplished, Developing, Beginning, Undeveloped
Complete, Incomplete
Yes, No
Evaluate the Rubric.
Evaluate the rubric each time it’s used to ensure it matches instructional goals and objectives. Be sure students understand each criterion and how they can use the rubric to their advantage. Review the rubric with a colleague, pilot test new rubrics if possible, and solicit students’ feedback for further refinements.

Types of Rubrics

Determining which type of rubric to use depends on what and how you plan to evaluate. There are several types of rubrics including holistic, analytical, general, and task-specific.

Holistic — all criteria are assessed as a single score which can be used for evaluating overall performance on a task. Because only one score is given, holistic rubrics tend to be easier to score. However, holistic rubrics do not provide detailed information on student performance for each criterion; the levels of performance are treated as a whole.

Analytical — each criterion is assessed separately, using different descriptive ratings, and thus, receive a separate score. Analytical rubrics take more time to score but provide more detailed feedback.

General — these rubrics can be used for similar performances such as a rubric for all final presentations, a rubric for all dance performances, or a rubric for all research proposals. Criteria are assessed separately, as in an analytical rubric.

Task-specific — are designed to assess a specific task in which each criteria is assessed separately. It may not be possible, however, to account for each and every criteria involved in a particular task which could overlook a student’s unique solution (Arter & McTighe, 2001).

Using Rubrics in Blackboard

You can build interactive rubrics in Blackboard to simplify the process of grading student work and returning rubric results to students. Interactive rubrics can be used with nearly every assessment method in Blackboard, including Assignments (including with SafeAssign enabled), short answer Test questions, and any Blogs, Journals, Wikis, or Discussion Board threads and forums that have grading enabled. Visit the Teaching with Blackboard website for instructions on using Blackboard’s Interactive Rubrics as well as tutorials, archives of online rubric workshops, and Quick Guides on using Rubrics in your teaching: http://www.niu.edu/blackboard/assess/rubrics.shtml

Summary

Grading rubrics are effective and efficient tools which allow for objective and consistent assessment of a range of performances, assignments, and activities. Rubrics clarify your expectations and will show students how to meet them, making them accountable for their performance in an easy-to-follow format. The feedback that students receive through a grading rubric can help them improve their performance on revised or subsequent work. Rubrics can also help to rationalize grades when students ask about your method of assessment. Rubrics also allow for consistency in grading for instructors who team-teach the same course, for TAs assigned to the task of grading, and can serve as good documentation for accreditation purposes. Finally, rubrics can reduce grading time, increase objectivity and reduce subjectivity, convey timely feedback to students, and improve students’ ability to include required elements of an assignment.

Free Rubric Builders and Generators.

Consider using any of free existing rubrics available online. Many rubrics can be used “as is” or can be modified to meet your specific needs. Creating a rubric from scratch will take time but may be necessary for a particular assignment. The following are school-based but are highly applicable to higher education.

Build a Rubric by Annenberg Learner
http://www.learner.org/workshops/hswriting/interactives/rubric/index.html

General Rubric Generator by teAchnology
http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/general/

Create a Rubric by RubiStar
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php

References and Resources

Arter, J., & McTighe, J. (2001). Scoring rubrics in the classroom: Using performance criteria for assessing and improving student performance. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc.