Rubrics for Grading-2
A rubric is an explicit set of criteria used for assessing a particular type of work or performance. According to Suskie (2009), rubrics:
- Help students understand your expectations
- Help students self-improve
- Inspire better student performance
- Make scoring easier and faster
- Make scoring more accurate, unbiased, and consistent
- Improve feedback to students
Rubrics typically include the criteria you are using to assess the student's work or performance, the levels of performance for those criteria, and descriptors of what each level looks like for each criterion.
Your criteria should be aligned with your learning objectives. For example, if you have a learning objective that states "the student will analyze research and apply it to his or her professional practice" then you should have criteria that assess analysis and application to practice.
To learn about this topic in more detail, read Jonathan Mueller's Analytic and Holistic Rubrics Links to an external site.. Note - the link goes to a single page on a large site. You can look at the rest of the site if you wish, but you only have to read that one page.
Below is a brief overview of the different types of rubrics you can use depending on your assignment and the outcomes you want to achieve.
Analytic Rubrics
Analytic rubrics have each criterion evaluated separately from the rest, usually on a scale going from weakest to strongest and with each criterion receiving its own score. This is probably the most common rubric type used.
An advantage of an analytic rubric is that it provides a clear picture to the student on what they are being assessed on with the assignment they are producing, with each criterion broken down with specific assessment information. And since an analytic rubric allows you to focus on one criterion at a time, it works better for formative types of assessment as it allows students to see what areas of their work need to be improved (and why). This rubric type can also act as an indicator for any changes you need to make to an assignment, as each criterion provides information on how the class is doing as a whole for that specific assessment item.
A disadvantage of these types of rubrics is the time it takes to create, as each requires descriptions for the strengths and weaknesses of each category and associated criterion being assessed. Students may also be less likely to read the entire rubric, as it can provide a lot of detail on the assignment that may already be present in the instructions. And unless there are clearly defined points for each category, consistency with these rubrics can also be an issue if there are multiple graders in the course.
Download this rubric example to view more closely
Analytic Online Discussion Rubric Image Transcript
Holistic Rubrics
A holistic rubric is much simpler than an analytic one, with a single scale that includes all the criteria being evaluated at the same time. Basically a holistic rubric assesses the student work as a whole as opposed to looking at and scoring separate criteria.
An advantage of this rubric type is that it is much faster to use due to its simplicity. It takes both less time to create and less time to grade. This type of rubric may also work well for a summative assessment, as the student should have already reviewed and incorporated feedback from previous submissions.
A disadvantage to this simplicity is that the student does not receive information on their performance for specific parts of the assignment, or what areas they should focus on for improvement. Thus a holistic rubric would make for a poor choice for any formative type of assessment.
Download this rubric example to view more closely
Holistic Online Discussion Rubric Image Transcript
Additional Resources
References
Suskie, L. (2009). Assessing student learning: A common sense guide. (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.