The Advantages of Rubrics

What is a rubric?

A rubric is a scoring guide that seeks to evaluate a student`s performance based on the sum of all range of criteria rather than a single numerical score.

A rubric is an authentic assessment tool used to measure student’s work. Authentic assessment is used to evaluate students work by measuring the product according to real life criteria.

A rubric is a working guide for students and teachers, usually handed out before the assignment begins on order to get students to think about the criteria on which their work will be judge.

Why use rubrics?

Many experts believe that rubrics improve students’ end product and therefore increase learning. When teacher evaluate papers or projects, they know implicitly what makes a good final product and why. When students receive rubrics beforehand, they understand how they will be evaluate and can prepare accordingly. Developing a grid and making it available as a tool for students0 use will provide scaffolding necessary to improve the quality of their work and increase their knowledge.

There are many advantages to using rubrics:

·         Teachers can increase the quality of their direct instruction by providing focus, emphasis, and attention to particular details as a model for students.

·         Students have explicit guidelines regarding teachers’ expectations.

·         Students can use rubrics as a tool to develop their abilities.

·         Teachers can reuse rubrics for various activities.

Create an Original Rubric

Learning to create rubrics is like learning anything valuable. It takes an initial time investment. Once the task becomes second nature, it actually saves the time while creating a higher quality students product.  The following template will help you get started:

·         Determine the concepts to be taught. What are the essential learning objectives?

·         Choose the criteria to be evaluated. Name the evidence to be produced.

·         Developed grid. Plug in the concepts and criteria.

·         Share the rubric with students before they begin writing.

·         Evaluate the end product. Compare individual students` work with the rubric to determine whether they have mastered the content.

Analytic vs. Holistic Rubrics

Analytic rubrics identify and assess components of a finished product and holistic rubrics assess students work as a whole.

Which one is better?

Neither rubric is better than the other. Both have a place in authentic assessment, depending on the following:

·         Who is being taught? Because there is less detail to analyze in the holistic rubric, younger students may be able to integrate it into their schema better than the analytic rubric.

·         How many teachers are scoring the product? Different teachers have different ideas about what constitutes acceptable criteria.  The extra detail in the analytic rubric will help multiple grades emphasize the same criteria.

What is a weighted rubric?

It is an analytic rubric in which certain concepts are judged more heavily than others. If, in a creative writing assignment, a teacher stresses character development, he or she might consider weighing the characters part of the rubric more heavily than the plot or setting.