Tips For Effective Rubric Design

How to:design a rubric that does its jobwrite precise criteria and descriptorsmake your rubric student-friendly

Expert Input

Experts agree:– Rubrics are hard to design.– Rubrics are time-consuming to design.– “A rubric is only as useful as it is good. Using a bad

rubric is a waste of time…”--Michael Simkins in “Designing Great Rubrics”

Experts disagree:– how to design a “good” rubric

Bottom line: Is it working for you and for your students?

The Cookie

Task: Make a chocolate chip cookie that I would want to eat.

Criteria: Texture, Taste, Number of Chocolate Chips, Richness

Range of performance:– Delicious(14-16 pts)– Tasty(11-13 pts)– Edible(8-10 pts)– Not yet edible(0-7 pts)

The Rubric

Delicious

4

Tasty

3

Edible

2

Not yet edible

1

# chips Chips in every bite

75% chips 50% chips Less than 50% chips

texture Consistentlychewy

Chewy middle, crispy edges

Crunchy Like a dog biscuit

color Even golden brown

Brown with pale center

All brown

Or all pale

Burned

richness Buttery, high fat

Medium fat Low-fat flavor

Nonfat flavor

Assess The Cookie

Overall score– Delicious– Tasty– Edible– Not yet edible

By criteria– Number of chips– Texture– Taste– Richness

Oops, What Went Wrong?

Did the “product” match expectations?

Effective rubrics don’t exist in a vacuum.

The good news…

Holistic Or Analytic—Which To Use?

HOLISTIC—views product or performance as a whole; describes characteristics of different levels of performance. Criteria are summarized for each score level.

(level=degree of success—e.g., 4,3,2,1 or “Tasty”)

(criteria= what counts, facets of performance—e.g., research or number of chips or presentation)

Holistic Or Analytic?

HOLISTIC—pros and cons

+Takes less time to create. Well…

+Effectively determines a “not fully developed” performance as a whole

+Efficient for large group scoring; less time to assess

- Not diagnostic

- Student may exhibit traits at two or more levels at the same time.

Holistic Example

Cookie

Delicious level (4) Chips in every bite Consistently chewy Even golden brown Buttery, high fat

Holistic Or Analytic?

Analytic=Separate facets of performance are defined, independently valued, and scored.

Example: Music—skill=string improvisation development

Facets scored separately: melody; harmonics; rhythm; bowing & backup; confidence

Holistic Or Analytic?

Analytic—pros and cons

+Sharper focus on target

+Specific feedback (matrix)

+Instructional emphasis

-Time consuming to articulate components and to find language clear enough to define performance levels effectively

Sample Of Analytic Rubric

See Packet

The Debate

Is the whole the sum of its parts?Wiggle room or valid criterion—

Overall DevelopmentOverall Impression Overall impact (See “purpose”)

Thomas NewkirkWeightingNumber range (70-74 or 70-79)

Tip #1

Don’t make task-specific rubrics.– Efficiency issue– Two heads or three or four or five…– Make one, get two or three or four…– “Generalizable” or template rubric– Unless you need it for tomorrow…

(See Tip #8)

Tip #2

Don’t use generic or “canned” rubrics without careful consideration of their quality and appropriateness for your project.

These are your students, not someone else’s.Your students have received your instruction.

Tip #3

Avoid dysfunctional detail.– “…in most instances, lengthy rubrics probably

can be reduced to succinct…more useful versions for classroom instruction. Such abbreviated rubrics can still capture the key evaluative criteria needed to judge students’ responses. Lengthy rubrics, in contrast, will gather dust” (Benjamin 23).

--Includes wordiness, jargon, negativity

Tip #4

Limit the number of criteria– Well…– Don’t combine independent criteria.

“very clear” and “very organized” (may be clear but not organized or vice versa).

Tips #5 and #6

Use key, teachable “criteria” (What counts)– Don’t vaguely define levels of quality. – Concrete versus abstract

“poorly organized” (Organization: sharply focused thesis, topic sentences clearly connected to thesis, logical ordering of paragraphs, conclusion ends with clincher)

“inventive” “creative” “imaginative” UNLESS…

Key Question to ask yourself: What does it look like?

Tips #5 and #6

Use measurable criteria.--Specify what quality or absence looks like

vs. comparatives (“not as thorough as”)

or value language (“excellent content”)

---Highlight the impact of the performance

--Was the paper persuasive or problem solved? (Note importance of PURPOSE)

--What are the traits of effective persuasion?

--Be sure that the descriptor is not the criterion and vice versa

Tip #7

Aim for an even number of levels– Create continuum between least and most– Define poles and work inward– List skills and traits consistently across levels

Tip #8

Include students in creating or adapting rubrics

Consider using “I” in the descriptors I followed precisely—consistently—inconsistently—MLA

documentation format. I did not follow MLA documentation format.

Tip #9

Motivate students to use rubric.

Instructional rubric (“Buy one, get one…”)

“At their very best, rubrics are also teaching tools that support student learning…” (Andrade 13).

Do they understand the criteria and descriptors? How do you know?

When do you give the rubric to your students?

Tip #10

Provide models of the different performance levels.

The Assignment Sheet

Don’t forget the importance of the assignment sheetConnection to rubric (Use same language!)

– The lawyers in your class“But the rubric doesn’t say that…”

Project/paper/presentation must meet all requirements of assignment– Due date and late penalty– Format requirements– Non-negotiables

Skills and reasonable expectations

Don’t Forget the Check-in Stage

Use your rubric as a formative assessment to give students feedback about how they are doing.– Isolate a particularly challenging aspect– Have student isolate an area of difficulty– Center revision instruction around rubric

Steps in Developing a Rubric

Design backwards—rubric first; then product/performance. Decide on the criteria for the product or performance to be

assessed. Write a definition or make a list of concrete descriptors—

identifiable-- for each criterion. Develop a continuum for describing the range of performance

for each criterion. Keep track of strengths and weaknesses of rubric as you use it

to assess student work. Revise accordingly. Step back; ask yourself, “What didn’t I make clear

instructionally?” The weakness may not be the rubric.

Steps in Modifying a “Canned” Rubric

Find a rubric that most closely matches your performance task.

Evaluate and adjust to reflect your instruction, language, expectations, content, students– Criteria– Descriptors– Performance levels

It’s hard work…

Expect to revise…and revise…– One problem is that the rubric must cover all potential

performances; each should fit somewhere on the rubric.

“There are no final versions, only drafts and deadlines.”

When you’ve got a good one, SHARE IT!

When to use these rubrics

Usually with a relatively complex assignment, such as a long-term project, and essay, or research-based product.– Informative feedback about work in progress– Detailed evaluations of final projects

The Mini-Rubric

These are the quick ones.

Fewer criteria and shorter descriptions of quality– Yes/no checklists– Describe proficient level of quality and leave other boxes for

commentary during grading.– Use for small products or processes:

Poster Outline Journal entry Class activity

Mini-rubric Example

Vocabulary Poster Purpose: to informContent criterion (50%) 4 3 2 1

____written explanation of denotation—accuracy/thoroughness____examples in action—accuracy/variety____visual symbol or cartoon conveys word meaning— accuracy/clarity____wordplay---weighs synonyms for subtleties of meaning--accuracy/thoroughness

Presentation criterion (50%)4,3,2,1--neat 4,3,2,1--clear organizational pattern4,3,2,1--no error in Conventions4,3,2,1--uses visual space to catch and hold attention

Score= Content__+Presentation___divided by 2=______GRADEComments:

Miscellaneous Suggestions

#1--Describe proficient level of quality and leave other boxes for commentary during grading.

#2--“Box” the acceptable—proficient—level

#3--Translate the rubric’s 4,3,2,1 into number that represents middle of grade range (e.g., B=84)OR, give a point range (e.g., A=90 (indicates just made

category)

BUT A=95 (indicates solid in category

Caution

Don’t let the rubric stand alone:

ALWAYS, ALWAYS provide specific “Comments” on your rubric and/or

on the student product itself.

Sentence Stems

To establish 4 levels of performance, try sentence stems.Example:

Yes, I used surface texture and deep carvings effectively to create individualizing detail.

Yes, I used surface texture and deep carvings, but I needed to include more for individualizing detail.

No, I did not use surface texture, but I did use deep carvings –or vice, versa—to create some individualizing detail.

No, I did not use surface texture or deep carvings.

Rubric Criterion Across The Curriculum

Content (substance, support, proof, details)– Relevant– Specific– Thorough– Synthesized– Balanced– Convincing– Accurate

Rubric Criterion Across the Curriculum

Research– Uses variety of sources (primary, secondary,

electronic, traditional, human) Note: Watch minimums—Is minimum “minimal” or is

minimum “proficient”?

– Uses appropriate sources (credible, timely, scholarly)

– Documents sources accurately

The Best Rubrics

Analytic and holistic Developmental “Generalizable” and specific Instructional

The best rubrics WORK

for students and teachers!