introduction to rubrics

Printed from the Learning, Teaching and Assessment Guide at http://www.ltag.education.tas.gov.au

How to create and use a Rubric


How often have you attempted to grade your students' work only to find that the assessment criteria were vague and unclear? Would you be able to justify the assessment or grade if you had to defend it?

A rubric is one assessment tool which can be used to assess criteria which are complex and subjective.


Research Task Assessment Rubric

1 2 3 4

Summarise information from another source

Notes are not student's own work

Some notes are student's own work

Most of the notes are student's own work

All the notes are student's own work

Coverage of guiding questions

Few have been covered

Some have been covered

Most have been covered

All, or more than all, have been covered

Key points within each guiding question

Key points not covered

Some key points have been covered

Many key points have been covered

All key points have been covered

Number and variety of sources

Information is from one resource only

Information is from a few resources or from resources of the same kind

A small variety and number of resources have been used

A large number of resources of different kinds have been used

Selection of sources and authorship

Sources used are inappropriate

Some sources are good choices and authorship of at least one can be trusted

Some sources are good choices and authorship of most can be trusted

Selection of sources has been wise and all authorship is known and can be trusted

ele

men

ts

stages

descriptions

Sample

rubric


The advantages of using rubrics in assessment are that they can:

•allow assessment to be more consistent, valid and reliable •impel teachers to clarify their criteria in specific terms

•make explicit to the student what is expected in a task and how their work will be evaluated

•provide students and teachers with useful feedback to improve their performances and practices


Rubrics can be created in a variety of forms and levels of complexity, however, they all contain common features that:

•focus on measuring stated objectives (performance, behaviour or quality)

and •contain specific performance characteristics arranged in stages indicating the degree to which a standard has been met


•Keep it short and simple - use brief statements or phrases and not too many elements. Ideally, the entire rubric should fit on one sheet of paper.

•Have each rubric item focus on a different element and clearly describe the stages in developing competencein that element


Research Task Assessment Rubric

1 2 3 4

Summarise information from another source

Notes are not student's own work

Some notes are student's own work

Most of the notes are student's own work

All the notes are student's own work

Coverage of guiding questions

Few have been covered

Some have been covered

Most have been covered

All, or more than all, have been covered

Key points within each guiding question

Key points not covered

Some key points have been covered

Many key points have been covered

All key points have been covered

Number and variety of sources

Information is from one resource only

Information is from a few resources or from resources of the same kind

A small variety and number of resources have been used

A large number of resources of different kinds have been used

Selection of sources and authorship

Sources used are inappropriate

Some sources are good choices and authorship of at least one can be trusted

Some sources are good choices and authorship of most can be trusted

Selection of sources has been wise and all authorship is known and can be trusted

ele

men

ts

stages

descriptions

Sample

rubric


Describing the range of competence

Needs Improvement...Satisfactory...Good...Exemplary

Beginning...Developing...Accomplished...Exemplary

Writing clear descriptions of the stages of competence of an element is often quite difficult. It is sometimes easier to write the two outside columns (no competence and full competence) first, then describe what the stages in between might look like.

High Distinction…Distinction…Credit…Pass…Fail


•Evaluate and refine the rubric Did it work? Was it clear enough? Was it sufficiently detailed?

introduction to rubrics

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