Grading Rubrics

If you’ve never used a grading rubric, you’ve been missing out. A grading rubric is essential for any complex assessment or any assessment that is not automatically graded. Grading rubrics serve a number of purposes:

• They allow you (and your TAs or readers) to grade more efficiently and consistently

• They encourage more equitable grading by minimizing subjectivity

• They make your grading expectations and decisions clearer to students

• They reduce students’ uncertainty and complaints about their grades

• They allow students to evaluate their own work

What is a grading rubric?

A grading rubric is a set of criteria with descriptions of levels of student performance for each criterion. (And, by the way, the criteria come from your learning outcomes.) It’s a simple tool that typically takes the form of a matrix that includes point values for each level:

Here’s a closer look at criteria and levels.

Criteria

A criterion is a discreet aspect of student work, like accuracy, creativity, or thoroughness. Each criterion should:

• Relate to a learning outcome

• Be present in the instructions for the assessment

• Be distinct from other criteria (You’ll see why that’s so important when you first use your grading rubric.)

Levels

Levels allow you to rate (and assign points to) students’ performance and make your ratings transparent. You may choose to use numbers for the levels or descriptive labels (e.g., excellent, good, adequate). Make sure your description of the quality of work for each level and criterion is clear and specific. Generally, defining fewer levels is better. If you have too many levels, you’ll spend too much time rating students’ work. With most assessments, a binary rubric (full points or no points) will suffice for grading.

Rubrics in Canvas & Gradescope

Canvas rubrics can be created and used for Assignments, Quizzes, or graded Discussions. Rubrics also features these options:

• Can be used within SpeedGrader

• Allow for free-form comments—no ratings are used to assess the student and criterion values are assigned manually.

• Rubric points can be excluded from Gradebook

For more information, visit the Canvas Community guide on Rubrics, with instructions on how to add rubrics.

One very important thing to remember is that the possible points in your rubric must match the possible points in the assignment.

Gradescope rubrics are fluid and more flexible than Canvas rubrics, while promoting grading efficiency.

• Can import any pre-existing rubric items

• Add or edit rubric items on the spot

• Any adjustments to a criteria’s point value are applied automatically to already-graded students

• Customizable rubric types and score bounds—use positive points, negative points, or a mix of both

• Leave free-form comments as feedback or can apply previously used comments.