Types of rubrics

Analytic rubric

Most rubrics, like the Research rubric above, are analytic rubrics. An

analytic rubric articulates levels of performance for each criterion so

the teacher can assess student performance on each criterion.

Using the Research rubric, a teacher could assess whether a

student has done a poor, good or excellent job of “organization”

and distinguish that from how well the student did on “historical

accuracy.”

Holistic rubric

In contrast, a holistic rubric does not list separate levels of

performance for each criterion. Instead, a holistic rubric assigns a

level of performance by assessing performance across multiple

criteria as a whole. For example, the analytic research rubric above

can be turned into a holistic rubric.

When to use rubricsRubrics are best suited for use in situations where a wide range of

variation exists between what's considered very proficient and what's considered not yet proficient. Rubrics are very useful in providing guidance and feedback to students where skills and processes are the targets to be monitored. Examples of skills or processes that adapt well to being rubriced include: writing,

applying the method of scientific inquiry, thinking skills (i.e. constructing, comparing, problem solving), and life-long learner skills (i.e. collaborative work, quality processes, etc.) Methods, such as tests, quizzes, checklists, etc., are more conducive to monitoring quantities or amounts of factual information known by a learner. Rubrics are useful to scaffold the accomplishment of a new performance task or to introduce new skills and processes. Best results with rubrics often occur when students are involved in the design of the rubric, as well as in the feedback process and in reporting to stakeholders.

How to construct the two types of rubrics

Rubrics are a quick and powerful way to grade everything from projects to papers. This how to provides step-by-step instructions to help you create effective rubrics.

Steps for creating a rubric1. Define your assignment or project This is the task you are asking your students to perform. 2. Decide on a scale of performance These can be a level for each grade (A-F) or three levels (outstanding, acceptable, not acceptable; Great job, Okay, What happened?). These are listed at the top of the grid. 3. Identify the criteria of the task These are the observable and measurable characteristics of the task. They are listed in the left-hand column. They can be weighted to convey the relative importance of each.

4. Describe the performance of each criterion These descriptors indicate what performance looks like at each level. They offer specific feedback. Use samples of student work to help you determine quality work.

Difficulty: Average

Time Required: 20 minutes

Here's How:

1. Make a list of what you want the students to accomplish through your assignment.

2. Organize your list from most important to least important.

3. Decide on an overall point value for the assignment.

4. Assign each item on your ranked list a percentage value out of 100 percent.

5. Multiply your total point value from step 3 by each item's assigned percentage to arrive at the point value for that item.

6. On a fresh sheet of paper, write the name for each item on your list in order from most to least important. Make sure to leave room in between each category.

7. Assign specific grading criteria for each main category from step six.

8. Distribute or display the rubric to the students when you are explaining the assignment.

Advantages and disadvantages of using rubrics

Holistic Rubric Advantages

Quick scoring and they provide an overview of student achievement.

Easily obtain a single dimension if that is adequate for your purpose.

Holistic Rubric Disadvantages

Not very useful to help plan instruction because they lack a detailed analysis of a students strengths or weaknesses of a product.

Do not provide very detailed information.

Analytical Rubric Advantages

Provides meaningful and specific feedback along multiple dimensions.

Scoring tends to be more consistent across students and grades. Easier for the teacher to share with students and parents about

certain strengths and weaknesses. Helps students to better understand the nature of quality work.

Analytical Rubric Disadvantages

It is more difficult to construct analytical rubrics for all tasks. Tends to be quite time consuming. Lower consistency among different raters.

Advantages of Rubrics in General

Forces the teacher to clarify criteria in detail. Useful feedback for the effectiveness of instruction. Motivates students to reach the standards specified. Narrows the gap between instruction and assessment. Flexible tool, having uses across many contexts, in many grade

levels and for a wide range of abilities. Potential to be transferred into grades if necessary. Can offer a method of consistency in scoring by clearly defining the

performance criteria. Giving the child more control of their own learning process. Potential to open communication with caregivers.

Disadvantages of Rubrics in General

Rubrics can also restrict the students mind power in that they will feel that they need to complete the assignment strictly to the rubric instead of taking the initiative to explore their learning.

If the criteria that is in the rubric is too complex, students may feel overwhelmed with the assignment, and little success may be imminent.

For the teacher creating the rubric, they may find the task of developing, testing, evaluating, and updating time consuming.

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 Word's 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 rubric 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: 

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 IMPROVE- MENT (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: Presence to absence Complete to incomplete Many to some to none Major to minor

Consistent to inconsistent Frequency: always to usually to sometimes to rarely

Example

  NEEDS IMPROVE- MENT (1) 

DEVELOP-ING (2)

SUFFICIENT (3)

ABOVE AVERAGE (4)

Clarity (Thesis supported by relevant information and ideas.)

The purpose of the student work is not well-defined. Central ideas are not focused to support the thesis. Thoughts appear disconnected.

The central purpose of the student work is identified. Ideas are generally focused in a way that supports the thesis.

The central purpose of the student work is clear and ideas are almost always focused in a way that supports the thesis. Relevant details illustrate the author’s ideas.

The central purpose of the student work is clear and supporting ideas always are always well-focused. Details are relevant, enrich the work.

Organization (Sequencing of elements/ideas)

Information and ideas are poorly sequenced (the author jumps around). The

Information and ideas are presented in an order that the audience can follow with minimum

Information and ideas are presented in a logical sequence which is followed by

Information and ideas are presented in a logical sequence which flows naturally and

audience has difficulty following the thread of thought.

difficulty. the reader with little or no difficulty.

is engaging to the audience.

Mechanics (Correctness of grammar and spelling)

There are five or more misspellings 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.

There are no more than four misspellings and/or systematic grammatical errors per page or six or more in the entire document. Errors distract from the work.

There are no more than three misspellings and/or grammatical errors per page and no more than five in the entire document. The readability of the work is minimally interrupted by errors.

There are no more than two misspelled words or grammatical errors in the document.

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. 

Clarity, organization, and grammar.

2. Determine the appropriate levels of accomplishment. 

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

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 author’s ideas. There are many misspellings and/or mechanical errors that negatively affect the audience's ability to read the work.