Utilizing Rubrics as Assessment Tools

1. What is a Rubric

A rubric is a scoring and instruction tool used to assess student performance using a task-specific range or set of criteria. To measure student performance against this pre-determined set of criteria, a rubric contains the essential criteria for the task and levels of performance (i.e., from poor to excellent) for each criterion.

Most rubrics are designed as a one, or two-page document formatted with a table or grid that outlines the learning criteria for a specific lesson, assignment or project (see Rubric template)
Cited from: http://www.thinkinggear.com/tools/rubrics_about.cfm

Rubrics can be created in a variety of forms and levels of complexity, however, they all contain common features which:

• focus on measuring a stated objective (performance, behavior, or quality)
• use a range to rate performance
• contain specific performance characteristics arranged in levels indicating the degree to which a standard has been met

2. Assessing Student Learning

Rubrics provide educators with an effective means of learning-centered feedback and evaluation of student work. As instructional tools, rubrics enable students to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of their work
and learning in an on-going fashion. As assessment tools, rubrics enable educators to provide students with detailed and informative evaluations of their assignments or projects.

The advantages of using rubrics in assessment are that they:

• allow assessment to be more objective and consistent
• focus the educator to clarify his/her criteria in specific terms
• clearly show the student how their work will be evaluated and what is expected
• promote student awareness of about the criteria to use in assessing peer performance
• provide useful feedback regarding the effectiveness of the instruction
• provide benchmarks against which to measure and document progress

For additional information see:  http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/rubrics/weblessons.htm

Additional rationale for using rubrics includes:

First, they are powerful tools for both teaching and assessment. Rubrics can improve student performance, as well as monitor it, by making teachers' expectations clear and by showing students how to meet these expectations. The result is often marked improvements in the quality of student work and in learning.
Thus, the most common argument for using rubrics is they help define "quality."

Second, they help students become more thoughtful judges of the quality of their own and others' work. When rubrics are used to guide self- and peer-assessment, students become increasingly able to spot and solve problems in their own and one another's work. Repeated practice with peer-assessment, and especially self-assessment, increases students' sense of responsibility for their own work and cuts down on the number of "Am I done yet?" questions.

Third, rubrics reduce the amount of time teachers spend evaluating student work. Teachers tend to find that by the time a piece has been self- and peer-assessed according to a rubric, they have little left to say about it. When they do have something to say, they can often simply circle an item in the rubric, rather than struggling to explain the flaw or strength they have noticed and figuring out what to suggest in terms of improvements. Rubrics provide students with more informative feedback about their strengths and areas in need of improvement.

Cited from: http://www.thinkinggear.com/tools/rubrics_about.cfm?page=5

3. Developing a Rubric:

Rubrics are generally designed in a table or grid format. A set of criteria is plugged into the grid along with the performance levels (poor, acceptable, etc).

The first step in developing a rubric is to define your course, assignment or project. The following website provides a 4 step approach to gathering this information to be used in your rubric:

Authentic Assessment Toolbox: http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox

1. Identify your standards for your students.  
   “Much like a goal or objective, a standard is a statement of what students should know or be able to do. I distinguish between a standard and these other goal statements by indicating that a standard is broader than an objective, but more narrow than a goal. Like an objective and unlike a goal, a standard is amenable to assessment, that is, it is observable and measurable”
   http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/howstep1.htm
    
2.  Develop a task your students could perform that would indicate that they have met these standards .
   http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/howstep2.htm
    
3.  Identify the characteristics of good performance on that task.  Include the criteria, that, if present in your students’ work, will indicate that they have performed well on the task, i.e., they have met the standards.
   http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/howstep3.htm
    
4.  Identify two or more levels of performance along which students can perform which will sufficiently discriminate among student performance for that criterion. The combination of the criteria and the levels of performance for each criterion will be your rubric for that task (assessment).
   http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/howstep4.htm

Once this information has been developed it can be plugged into a rubric format—grid or table. A basic rubric template can be utilized from the Internet :
http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/staffdev/tpss99/rubrics/rubric-template.html

There are a number of free online rubric builders available. Most require registration but are free:

RubiStar: http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php
RubricBuilder: http://www.thinkinggear.com/tools/rubrics.cfm

4. Websites with Rubric information:

     a.  Rubric Basics:

Authentic Assessment Toolbox, a how-to hypertext on creating authentic tasks, rubrics and standards for measuring and improving student learning
http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/rubrics.htm

Authentic Assessment Toolbox—Glossary of Authentic Assessment.
http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/glossary.htm#standard

Rubric Design.  Green River Community College. Faculty Teaching Resources. http://www.instruction.greenriver.edu/facultyteachingresources/Rubric Design/Rubric Homepage.htm

     b.  Subject Specific Rubric Examples: 

California State University.  Student Learning Outcomes at CSU. Links to examples of Scoring Rubric.  http://www.calstate.edu/AcadAff/SLOA/links/rubrics.shtml   

     c.  General Education Rubric Examples:

Capital Community College Critical Thinking Rubric
http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/slat/ct_rubric.pdf

Clemson University General Education Rubrics 
http://www.clemson.edu/ugs/ge/Rubrics.html

Lakeland Community College General Education Rubric                        http://www.lakelandcc.edu/gened/rubrics.asp                                                                                                  

Rio Salado College Rubrics for Assessing General Education
http://www.rio.maricopa.edu/distance_learning/gen_ed_comp_stand_rubrics.shtml

Rio Salado Specific Rubric Example for Writing:
http://www.rio.maricopa.edu/distance_learning/writing_rubric.shtml

University of Arkansas General Education Rubrics
http://www.uafortsmith.edu/Learning/GeneralEducationGoalsObjectivesAndRubrics