Types of Rubrics

There are two common types of rubrics: Analytic Rubrics An analytic rubric resembles a grid with the criteria for a student product listed in the leftmost column and with levels of performance listed across the top row often using numbers and/or descriptive tags. The cells within the center of the rubric may be left blank or may contain descriptions of what the specified criteria look like for each level of performance. When scoring with an analytic rubric each of the criteria is scored individually.

Example Analytic Rubric: Articulating thoughts through written communication final paper/project. Needs ImproveDeveloping (2) ment (1) Clarity (Thesis The purpose of The central supported by the student work purpose of the relevant is not wellstudent work is information and defined. Central identified. Ideas ideas.) ideas are not are generally focused to focused in a way support the that supports the thesis. Thoughts thesis. appear disconnected. Above Average (4) The central The central purpose of the purpose of the student work is student work is clear and ideas clear and are almost supporting ideas always focused always are in a way that always wellsupports the focused. Details thesis. Relevant are relevant, details illustrate enrich the work. the authors ideas. Organization Information and Information and Information and Information and (Sequencing of ideas are poorly ideas are ideas are ideas are elements/ideas) sequenced (the presented in an presented in a presented in a author jumps order that the logical sequence logical sequence around). The audience can which is followed which flows audience has follow with by the reader naturally and is difficulty minimum with little or no engaging to the following the difficulty. difficulty. audience. thread of thought. Mechanics There are five or There are no There are no There are no Sufficient (3)

(Correctness of more grammar and misspellings spelling) and/or systematic grammatical errors per page or 8 or more in the entire document. The readability of the work is seriously hampered by errors.

more than four more than three more than two misspellings misspellings misspelled words and/or and/or or grammatical systematic grammatical errors in the grammatical errors per page document. errors per page and no more or six or more in than five in the the entire entire document. document. Errors The readability of distract from the the work is work. minimally interrupted by errors.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Analytic Rubrics Advantages

Provide useful feedback on areas of strength and weakness. Criterion can be weighted to reflect the relative importance of each dimension.

Disadvantages

Takes more time to create and use than a holistic rubric. Unless each point for each criterion is well-defined raters may not arrive at the same score.

Holistic Rubrics A holistic rubric consists of a single scale with all criteria to be included in the evaluation being considered together (e.g., clarity, organization, and mechanics). With a holistic rubric the rater assigns a single score (usually on a 1 to 4 or 1 to 6 point scale) based on an overall judgment of the student work. The rater matches an entire piece of student work to a single description on the scale.

Example Holistic Rubric: Articulating thoughts through written communication final paper/project. 4. Above Average: The audience is able to easily identify the focus of the work and is engaged by its clear focus and relevant details. Information is presented logically and naturally. There are no more than two mechanical errors or misspelled words to distract the reader.

3. Sufficient: The audience is easily able to identify the focus of the student work which is supported by relevant ideas and supporting details. Information is presented in a logical manner that is easily followed. There is minimal interruption to the work due to misspellings and/or mechanical errors. 2. Developing: The audience can identify the central purpose of the student work without little difficulty and supporting ideas are present and clear. The information is presented in an orderly fashion that can be followed with little difficulty. There are some misspellings and/or mechanical errors, but they do not seriously distract from the work. 1. Needs Improvement: The audience cannot clearly or easily identify the central ideas or purpose of the student work. Information is presented in a disorganized fashion causing the audience to have difficulty following the authors ideas. There are many misspellings and/or mechanical errors that negatively affect the audiences ability to read the work. Advantages and Disadvantages of Holistic Rubrics Advantages

Emphasis on what the learner is able to demonstrate, rather than what s/he cannot do. Saves time by minimizing the number of decisions raters make. Can be applied consistently by trained raters increasing reliability.

Disadvantages

Does not provide specific feedback for improvement. When student work is at varying levels spanning the criteria points it can be difficult to select the single best description. Criteria cannot be weighted.

Creating a Rubric Analytic Rubrics An analytic rubric resembles a grid or matrix in which the criteria representing the essential learning being assessed is organized in the leftmost column and the levels of achievement are represented in the top row. Analytic rubrics can be created in Excel (and information can easily be aggregated and numerically summarized), with Words table function, or even just sketched out on a pad of paper. Additionally there are several free (though generally registration is required)

on-line generators for rubric creation including iRubric and Rubistar. Regardless of the medium used for creating a rubric the steps are the same. The following steps illustrate how an analytical rubric is created. 1. Determine the various skills and abilities that students should demonstrate to show achievement of the learning outcome(s). These skills and abilities are the various criteria. Each criterion should focus on a different skill identified by a phrase or brief statement, and each criterion should be measureable through the examination of student work. The criteria become the leftmost column of the grid. Example Clarity (Thesis supported by relevant information and ideas.) Organization (Sequencing of elements/ideas) Mechanics (Correctness of grammar and spelling)

2. The next step is to determine the levels of achievement possible given the expectations of what students are to be able to demonstrate. The levels can be numerical categories but more frequently are descriptions, sometimes with an associated number. It is at this stage that the number of columns is determined and the levels of achievement are listed across the top row. Common examples of achievement levels include:
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Numbers from 1 to 4 through 6. Short Descriptions: Unacceptable...Marginal...Proficient...Distinguished Beginning...Developing...Competent...Exemplary Novice...Intermediate...Proficient...Distinguished...Master Needs Improvement...Satisfactory...Good...Accomplished Poor...Minimal...Sufficient...Above Average...Excellent Unacceptable...Emerging...Minimally Acceptable...Acceptable Accomplished...Exemplary

Example Needs Improvement (1) Developing (2) Sufficient (3) Above Average (4)

While one can easily imagine how letter grades could be assigned to each of the columns this is rarely done when assessing learning outcomes as grades are often seen as summative measures and assessment in this context is formative and intended to identify students strengths and weakness-however one can clearly see that the two are not mutually exclusive. When numerical scores are associated with the levels of accomplishment they can be aggregated and averages and percentages can be calculated to describe the degree to which students in a program are able to demonstrate learning outcomes. 3. The next step in the creation of an analytic rubric is to create descriptions for the criteria along each level of achievement. While sometimes this step is skipped, this is not recommended as the descriptions are valuable for helping to increase reliability among multiple raters and even for a single rater as s/he assesses the work of different students. One way to begin writing the descriptions is to write a short paragraph or even just a sentence or two for the highest level of ability of one criteria. Next circle the words that can indicate various levels of performance. These are the words that will be changed as you write descriptions for the remaining levels of performance. Following are concepts that convey various levels of performance: o Presence to absence o Complete to incomplete o Many to some to none o Major to minor o Consistent to inconsistent o Frequency: always to usually to sometimes to rarely

Example Needs ImproveDevelopment (1) ing (2) Clarity (Thesis The purpose of The central supported by the student work purpose of the relevant is not wellstudent work is information and defined. Central identified. Ideas ideas.) ideas are not are generally focused to focused in a way support the that supports the thesis. Thoughts thesis. appear disconnected. Above Average (4) The central The central purpose of the purpose of the student work is student work is clear and ideas clear and are almost supporting ideas always focused always are in a way that always wellsupports the focused. Details thesis. Relevant are relevant, details illustrate enrich the work. the authors ideas. Organization Information and Information and Information and Information and (Sequencing of ideas are poorly ideas are ideas are ideas are elements/ideas) sequenced (the presented in an presented in a presented in a author jumps order that the logical sequence logical sequence around). The audience can which is followed which flows audience has follow with by the reader naturally and is difficulty minimum with little or no engaging to the following the difficulty. difficulty. audience. thread of thought. Mechanics There are five or There are no There are no There are no (Correctness of more more than four more than three more than two grammar and misspellings misspellings misspellings misspelled words spelling) and/or and/or and/or or grammatical systematic systematic grammatical errors in the grammatical grammatical errors per page document. errors per page errors per page and no more or 8 or more in or six or more in than five in the the entire the entire entire document. document. The document. Errors The readability of readability of the distract from the the work is work is seriously work. minimally hampered by interrupted by errors. errors. Sufficient (3) Holistic Rubrics

When using a holistic rubric the assessor judges the level of performance across all criteria together, instead of separately as is done with an analytic rubric. The steps for creating a holistic rubric are similar to that of the analytical, but do not describe each criteria and level of achievement separately as the scorer will be selecting one holistic score for the entire assignment rather than separate scores for each criterion. In general holistic rubrics are considered faster to create and implement, however, they do not facilitate analysis and feedback in the same way as analytical rubrics. 1. Determine all the skills and abilities students need to demonstrate in order to achieve the learning outcome. o Clarity, organization, and grammar.

2. Determine the appropriate levels of accomplishment. o Needs improvement, developing, sufficient, and above average.

3. Write an overall description of how a student would demonstrate the learning outcome for each level of accomplishment. When creating a holistic rubric this step cannot be skipped. Example
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Above average: The audience is able to easily identify the focus of the work and is engaged by its clear focus and relevant details. Information is presented logically and naturally. There are no more than two mechanical errors or misspelled words to distract the reader. Sufficient: The audience is easily able to identify the focus of the student work which is supported by relevant ideas and supporting details. Information is presented in a logical easy to follow manner. There is minimal interruption to the work due to misspellings and/or mechanical errors. Developing: The audience can identify the central purpose of the student work without difficulty and supporting ideas are present and clear. The information is presented in an orderly fashion that can be followed with little difficulty. There are some misspellings and/or mechanical errors, but they do not seriously distract from the work. Needs Improvement: The audience cannot clearly or easily identify the central ideas or purpose of the student work. Information is presented in a disorganized fashion causing the audience to have difficulty following the authors ideas. There are many misspellings and/or mechanical errors that negatively affect the audiences ability to read the work.

Types of Rubrics The evaluation scale can be either holistic or analytical or a combination of the two. Aholistic rubric consists of a single scaleall factors that are to beevaluated are identified together for each level of performance. It might be achecklist or a description of each attainable level of performance. Continuingour example of business-letter writing, the criteria for business letters mightaddress the letter's content, organization, style, focus, and conventions.Descriptions of these criteria at the mastery level might be: All necessary information was presented clearly and concisely. Content had logical organization. Business-letter form was maintained. All contact information was complete. Letter showed command of sentencestructure, grammar and punctuation. Spelling and word usage werecorrect. Holistic rubrics are quicker to develop and learn, quicker to score, and quicker to find agreement among various evaluators than are analytical rubrics.Because they produce a single score, they are most effective when theelements being assessed are closely related. However, they do not give asmuch feedback to students, and so they are more difficult to use as a learningtool than analytical rubrics. Two different business letters can earn the samescore for very different reasons. Analytical rubrics, on the other hand, are excellent tools for teaching as wellas for assessment. An analytical rubric consists of multiple, separate scales,and therefore provides a set of scores rather than just one. The multiplescales enable students to pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses related toeach criterion. Looking again at the business-letter writing example, the keyaspects of each criterion (i.e., content, organization, style, focus, andconventions) would be described separately for each level of performance.For each criterion, a scale of descriptorsis developed. These are phrases or sentences that describe the quality of the performance along a continuum of performance levels. Levels of performance are used to designate the quality,or how well, the student performed each of the descriptors. A student'sperformance can vary across all performance levels, e.g., some aspects of astudent's writing ability might be Professional, while other aspects might be ata Novice level or anywhere in between. An example of a portion of ananalytical rubric is presented in the following figure.