Rubrics for Assessment
Rubrics are scoring tools with pre-established criteria that specify the level of quality for a performance on an assessment. Reasons to use rubrics includes:
- Defines what the target behavior or skill is and how to achieve it.
- Helps maintain instructional alignment with learning objectives.
- Helps teachers be more accurate, objective, and unbiased in grading.
- Informs students and parents of the expectations for the task.
SHAPE America Appropriate Practices
- 4.2.2 Assessments include clearly defined criteria that are articulated to students as part of instruction before the assessment.
Additional Appropriate Practices
- Be flexible when evaluating (there may be more than 1 correct answer).
- Expect to revise.
- Set the top level as something challenging but achievable and set one level as the minimum cut score.
- Use standards as guidelines and include benchmarks or exemplars.
Types of Rubrics
Checklist: Lists the critical elements of a skill; Focuses on the presence of criteria but does not assess quality.
Point System: Similar to checklists except that point values are given for the presence of a criterion.
Qualitative Analytic Rating Scale: Assesses the quality of the criterion using descriptions.
Quantitative Analytic Rating Scale: Assesses the quality of the criterion using numbers.
Holistic: Describes all the characteristics for each level of performance.
Single Point: Provides 1 thing to improve and 1 thing that was done well for each criteria.
Templates for Rubrics
Below are templates you can use when creating your rubrics; just copy, paste, and modify (add and delete rows/columns as needed). Having each style in a template form makes them easy to add to any assessment.
