What is a rubric?
A rubric is a scoring guide. It organizes criteria that describe what students need to complete for an assignment, and it measures the levels of proficiency of student work. Rubrics can be used in any content area. They are time consuming to create, but they allow students and parents to know exactly how a teacher will grade an assignment.
History of the Rubric
Carolyn Coil and Dodie Merritt report in the book Solving the Assessment Puzzle Piece by Piece (2001) that "the term 'rubric' comes from the Latin word 'ruber' for red. At one time, red earth or ‘rubrica terra’ was used to mark a thing of importance. Monks in the 15th century used large red letters to begin each major section of an illuminated manuscript. The term 'rubric' came to mean the headings for major sections in a book. Today, a rubric assigns an articulated rating scale to those expectations.”
Why Should Teachers Use Rubrics?
Rubrics can be used by teachers for
- Student self-evaluation
- Peer evaluation
- Teacher assessment
When teachers design specific performance criteria, students know how they will be evaluated. Rubrics allow students to better understand the meaning behind their grade. If students know exactly how their work will be evaluated, they are more likely to produce higher quality work. Rubrics allow students and parents to see specifically how a teacher arrived at a specific score. In addition, rubrics give teachers well-defined criteria for areas in an assignment that are subjective, such as artwork or style.
The best part is that once a rubric is created, grading goes much faster. Fewer written comments are needed on products because the rubric's descriptors can be circled. Circling comments takes much less time than writing them.
Rubrics: Their Functions and Structure
Function:
Developmental Rubrics focus on the strengths and weaknesses of student work and help direct student growth. These rubrics act as a critique. Students can learn how to recognize strengths and weaknesses in their work by using the rubric as a self-evaluation. A developmental rubric is also less threatening to students and can be used as a peer evaluation.
Summative Rubrics focus on evaluating student products and performances and give a quantitative measure. These rubrics have a scored rating scale, which can be converted into a grade.
Structure:
Holistic Rubrics list the expectations and rate different levels of proficiency. The student work receives a single rating. This rating is an “overall ranking” for the quality of his/her work. Many state writing tests use a holistic rubric and assign a number for the quality of a student writing prompt.
Analytic Rubrics list the criteria on a grid. It has a rating scale that clearly shows the level of proficiency at the top. Each criterion, usually on the left column, tells what the teacher focusing on to assess the product. Each criterion has a descriptor for each rating scale level.
Criteria – the dimensions of a product being evaluated or examined
Examples:
- content, grammar, organization, and transitions
- content, rate, volume, eye contact
- color, detail, style, neatness
Scale – possible points or stages for varying degrees of mastery, proficiency, or quality
Examples:
- These can be numbered levels (4, 3, 2, 1)
- Minimal, Adequate, Commendable, Exemplary
- Novice, Apprentice, Practitioner, Proficient, Distinguished, Master, Expert
Descriptors – assess each of the dimensions and find the right place on the scoring scale to which a particular student’s work corresponds
Examples:
- No grammar mistakes; 1-2 grammar mistakes; 3-4 grammar mistakes; 5-6 grammar mistakes
- eye contact was consistent; eye contact was somewhat consistent; little to no eye contact
- paragraphs were well developed with 4-6 sentences; paragraphs were somewhat developed with 3-4 sentences; paragraphs were 1-2 sentences and need more development
Making Rubrics for the Classroom
Making a rubric takes time. Coming up with criteria and descriptors for a final product or assignment takes detailed thinking on what the product should like. Then, a teacher needs to think of what poor, medium and great quality work should look like. To help teachers, there are many rubric websites on the Internet. A great one is Rubistar. On this website, there are rubrics already made. If teachers want to create their own, there are criteria and descriptors ready at the click of a button for many assignments.
Source:
Coil, Carolyn and Merritt, Dodie. Solving the Assessment Puzzle Piece by Piece, Marion, IL, Pieces of Learning, 2001.
Kellie Hayden - She is a 19 year veteran teacher with a master's degree in education and NBCT, 2000. Kellie teaches 8th grade language arts, TAG and ...
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