A rubric is an authentic assessment tool used to measure a professional's work. It is a scoring guide that seeks to evaluate a professional's performance based on the sum of a full range of criteria rather than a single numerical score. A rubric is a working guide for teachers and is usually handed out before the assessment begins in order to get professionals to think about the criteria on which their work will be judged. They may also be used for peer critiques in order to improve one's practice. Rubrics can be analytic (quality) or holistic (content), and they can be created for any content area. It is a formative type of assessment because it becomes an ongoing part of the whole teaching and learning process. Professionals are involved in the assessment process through both peer and self-assessment. Many experts believe that rubrics improve professionals' end products and therefore increase learning.