Rubrics

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Rubrics

• VaNTH-PER Workshop
• June 2, 2004
• Barbara A Austin

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Why Use Rubrics?

• Grading becomes more clear, concise, and fair
• Quality of student work increases
• Grading time is used more efficiently
• Students spend time meeting expectations, not
  figuring them out
• Clearly conveys what constitutes quality work

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About Rubrics

• Holistic
• Pros good for identifying summative learning
• Cons detailed feedback is limited
• Analytic
• Pros student-friendly, good for communicating
• Cons focus on details rather than big picture

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Parts of a rubric

• Evaluative criteria
• MUST be teachable
• Must address essential learning outcomes of the
  discipline
• Quality definitions
• Scoring strategy

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Typical flaws in rubrics

1. Task-specific evaluative criteria
2. Excessively general criteria
3. Dysfunctional detail
4. Equating the test of the skill with the skill
   itself

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Characteristics of a good rubric

• Has 3 5 evaluative criteria
• Each criterion must represent a key attribute of
  what is being assessed
• Each criterion must be teachable