The Use of Rubrics to Support Assessment
What, Why, How?
This presentation examines the assessment rubric as a powerful tool to support student engagement, consistent academic practice and high quality feedback.
1. The Use of Rubrics to Support
Assessment
What, Why, How?
Teaching Essentials: https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/teaching/
Course-focused Practice: https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/cfp
2. A rubric presents a
matrix of assessment
criteria and
performance indicators
used to clarify
assessment criteria
and differentiate levels
of attainment.
The Use of Rubrics to Support Assessment
3. The Use of Rubrics to Support Assessment
Assessment criteria
Derived from course and module learning
outcomes
Used by learners, markers and moderators
Make clear how attainment of learning outcomes
will be judged
How Succinct statements that
explain precisely how a
piece of work will be
judged.
Each criterion answers
the question, “What is
important in this
assessment?”
4. The Use of Rubrics to Support Assessment
Performance indicators
Relate performance to specific evidence in the
student’s work
Qualitative – adjectives that describe levels of
attainment
Quantitative – evidence is sometime enumerated
How Qualitative, i.e.
• exemplary, acceptable,
unacceptable
• distinguished, proficient,
basic, unacceptable
• novice, apprentice, expert
Or/and
Numerical, i.e.
• 1-5 or
• actual points values
5. Assessment criteria
The Use of Rubrics to Support Assessment
Performance indicators
or descriptors
Level
Assessment
information
Note: The design of assessment grids/matrices/rubrics can vary
6. The Use of Rubrics to Support Assessment
Rubrics
make levels of performance explicit for both
teacher and student;
clarify what is being assessed (and what is
not being assessed) – therefore reduce
anxiety e.g. in group assessments
can be used throughout the assessment
design and delivery
promote consistently good assessment
practice in course teams.
Why
Expectations Marking
Feedback
Self & Peer
Assessment
7. Review these questions – over to you
Who here is using rubrics? How?
At what points in your teaching would it make sense to use a rubric?
To what extent do you think rubrics can promote effective learning?
To what extent, in your experience, will your students engage with rubrics?
What are the challenges of producing an effective rubric and how can you
overcome them?
Discussion
8. We’ve begun the conversation…
Personally
What do you take from the discussion and what more would you like to find out or
think about?
Collectively
Quick win – what improvement can you commit to doing right now?
How can your course team or subject group make use of these ideas?
What further development would be useful for you?
Your Action Plan
Editor's Notes
1. This presentation examines the assessment rubric as a powerful tool to support student engagement, consistent academic practice and high quality feedback.
A rubric presents a matrix of assessment criteria and performance indicators used to clarify and differentiate levels of attainment for each criterion…
3. Assessment criteria are at the heart of a rubric, just as they are central to designing an assessment task
Assessment criteria, then, are derived directly from, and ensure coverage of, the course and module learning outcomes.
Assessment criteria become a ‘currency’ used by learners, markers and moderators for discussing and clarifying an assessment task.
They are succinct statements that explain precisely how a piece of work will be judged. Writing assessment criteria and breaking them down into performance indicators is a highly illuminating activity for the academic. This crafting of words may well lead to altering assessment activities to make sure that the task actually delivers what is needed.
Each criterion answers the question, “What is important in this assessment?”
They make clear to everyone how the attainment of learning outcomes will be judged.
4. Rubrics make levels of performance explicit for both teacher and student.
Performance indicators are usually short statements that differentiate levels of student performance. They indicate the evidence typically needed to demonstrate a student’s attainment against a given criterion.
They are usually written in a consistent form across the attainment levels and use adjectives or numbers to demarcate performance parameters, as appropriate to the criterion. For example, ‘exemplary’, ‘acceptable’, ‘unacceptable’ immediately suggest where a performance lies.
But note: these statements are only indicators used to guide communication and marking – the actual evidence provided by the student may need a lot of interpretation in order to form a good judgement.
5. A rubric presents a matrix of assessment criteria and performance indicators used to clarify differentiate levels of attainment for each criterion.
Typically, it contains information about a particular assessment. This may include details about the course, the student, the assessment date, and marker.
This meta information is useful to students, for example, for storing their learning in their portfolio so it is easy to retrieve and refer to. For staff, it helps individuals and groups to administer and moderate the assessment and the feedback they give.
The actual rubric tends to work as a two-dimensional matrix with one axis setting out the assessment criteria, and the other setting out attainment levels.
The body of the matrix table is used to describe the performance indicators for each criterion.
…Note, this is a typical design. You may need to use a different approach, as determined by your own context.
Rubrics can be used throughout an assessment in several ways by the tutor, fellow markers, and students.
The rubric clarifies expectations for the assessment. It sets out what is being assessed (and by implication what is not being assessed) – this brings clarity, and can reduce anxiety. In a group work situation, for example, students are often concerned that their role and effort gets lost in the marking – but a rubric can be used to alleviate concerns by focusing on what is actually being assessed.
The performance indicators explain the nature of the evidence required to be successful. This can be reviewed independently by the student or through discussion with peers or tutor.
The rubric promotes consistently good assessment practice in course teams. For example, it can be used to support marking, especially to clarify and benchmark criteria amongst marking teams.
Rubrics can also be used in self- and peer assessment activities. It sets out clearly for students the basis for their judgements. The use of the rubric, then, also becomes instrumental in reinforcing a student assessor’s own learning.
The rubric tool and its indicators also present an ideal feedback grid. A version of the rubric can be used to indicate where each student stands for each criterion and the marks associated with the criteria. Effective feedback will build upon rubric annotations by further qualifying the outline feedback for one or more selected criteria.
Pick one or more of these questions to begin your discussion.
Or perhaps you have your own question?