Using Rubrics

Consider these questions:

• Why did you create this task?

• What does the task ask students to do?

• What kind of feedback do you want to give students?

• Can you use or adapt existing rubrics?

Sample rubrics:

• The Value Rubrics by The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU)

• ACUE Discussion Board/ Forum Rubrics

• Creating and Using Rubrics by The Elberly Center at Carnegie Mellon University

• iRubric: a free rubric builder and assessment tool with a gallery of rubrics for a wide range of disciplines.

• Roobrix: a rubric score generator that helps avoid grading conversion errors.

• Roobrix Guide

Consider these questions:

• What knowledge, skills, and behaviors are required for the task?

• What steps are required for the task?

• What are the characteristics of the final product?

Sample criteria:

• Executive Summary, Company Description, Market Analysis, Management and Organization, Financials.

• Introduction, Literature Review, Methods, Results, Discussion.

• Content, Organization, Style, Delivery, Overall.

Levels of performance are typically three- to six- point scales. A rubric that only has two levels is also called a checklist.

Sample scales:

• Excellent - Good - Needs Work.

• Exceed Expectations - Meets Expectations - Needs Improvement - Unsatisfactory.

• Sophisticated - Competence - Acceptable - Developing Competence - Inadequate.

Consider these questions:

• What might exemplary student work look like? 

• How might you describe acceptable student work?

• How might you describe students work that falls below expectations?

Check if the descriptors:

• are observable;

• mutually excluded and distinguishable;

• are parallel across the levels.

• Use the rubrics to evaluate previous student work.

• Have colleagues evaluate the same student work and talk through the discrepancies, if any.

• Share the rubric with students and ask for feedback on clarity and fairness.

• Make sure the rubric is on a single page.

• Distribute the rubric with the task and discuss the expectations and comments of the task.

• Ask students to score sample student work.

• Ask students to use the rubric to monitor their own work .

• Ask students to use the rubric for peer review.