This document provides information on rubric development including definitions, characteristics of good rubrics, types of rubrics, and strategies for creating rubrics. It defines rubrics as scoring tools that lay out expectations for assessments. Good rubrics are well-defined, context-specific, finite, ordered, and related to learning standards. Rubrics can be analytic (describing each criterion) or holistic (providing an overall score). Strategies for developing rubrics include reflecting on tasks and standards, listing outcomes, grouping criteria, and choosing a format. The document also discusses using rubrics with students to clarify expectations.

1. RUBRIC DEVELOPMENT
Why use
rubrics?
Characteristics
of good rubrics
Definition &
types of rubric
Strategies for
rubric
development
SOLO taxonomy
Phenomeno-
graphic sorting
Using rubrics
with students

2.  Definition
 A scoring tool that lays out the specific expectations for an
assessment task (Stevens & Levi, 2005)
 A set of clear explanations or criteria used to help teachers and
students focus on what is valued in a subject, topic, or activity
(Russell, & Airasian, 2012).
 Components of a rubric:
 Criteria/Indicator
 aspects of an assessment task which the assessor takes into account
when making their judgment
 May use different weightings for different criteria
 Level of Attainment
 often use grade level descriptors
 Types of rubrics:
 Descriptive (Analytic), Holistic
 Why and when we use particular types of rubrics
SCORING RUBRIC

3. WHY USE RUBRICS?
For teachers:
• Prompt a criterion-referenced
assessment
• Provide students with detailed
and timely feedback
• Encourage critical thinking
• Facilitate communication with
others involved in scoring
• Help to refine teaching
skills/learning activities
For students:
• Clarify the teacher’s
expectations of student
performance
• Provide informative
descriptions of expected
performance
• Help to monitor and critique
own work

4.  Well defined
 Clearly describe the expected level of student performance for
each criterion in a rubric
 Avoid general evaluative words (poor, excellent, etc.)
 Use specific objective terms (correctly identifies, uses only
basic vocabulary, chooses incorrect formula… )
 Context specific
 Describe what teachers expect from student for a given
performance or work product on a particular subject domain
 Viable for instruction
CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD RUBRICS (1)

5.  Finite and exhaustive
 Every response must be scorable
 Too many score levels is confusing for students and causes
disagreement among teacher scores
 Ordered
 Represent the different levels of learning targets as defined by
LP
 Related to Common Core theme/strand
 Coherent with the cognitive complexity of the standards
CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD RUBRICS (2)

6. Components:
(1) Task
description
(2) Assessment
criteria
(3) Performance
levels
Task Description:
Criteria
1
Criteria
2
Criteria
3
Criteria
4
Total
Level 5
Level 4
Level 3
Level 2
Level 1
ANALYTIC (DESCRIPTIVE) RUBRICS
Advantage:
 Provides
judgment on
each criterion
Disadvantage:
 Time consuming
to make

7. Task Description:
Criteria
Level 5 Overall description of Level 5
Level 4 Overall description of Level 4
Level 3 Overall description of Level 3
Level 2 Overall description of Level 2
Level 1 Overall description of Level 1
HOLISTIC RUBRICS
 A single scale with all criteria to be included in the
evaluation being considered together
 Based on an overall judgment of student work
Advantage:
 Saves time in
developing and
scoring
Disadvantage:
 Does not provide
specific feedback
for improvement

8.  On performance-based tasks:
 extended response items
 projects
 presentations
 portfolios
WHEN TO USE RUBRICS

9.  Reflecting on the task & content
 Learning outcomes of the unit and the particular assessment
 What we want from the students, why we created this
assessment, what our expectations are
 Listing the learning outcomes & expectations
 Focus on the particular details of the task and what specific
learning objectives we expect to see in the completed task
 Grouping & labeling the outcomes & criteria
 Organize the results of reflections, group similar expectations
together to become the rubric Indicators
 Application of a rubric format
 Apply the templates & descriptions to the final form of the
rubrics
4 KEY STAGES IN CREATING RUBRICS

10.  Relationship between the intended Learning
Progression (LP) and rubrics
 Direct use of the LP as standard reference
 Use of a general strategy (i.e. modified Bloom’s
taxonomy or SOLO taxonomy)
 Assign the target outcome as mapped onto the Cognitive Rigor
Matrix as the maximum level of the rubric
 Use the SOLO taxonomy as scoring
 Phenomenographic sorting
STRATEGIES FOR RUBRIC DEVELOPMENT

11. SOLO TAXONOMY
Possible
Score
Level Responses that …
4 Extended not only include all relevant pieces of information, but also
extend the response to integrate relevant pieces of
information not in the stimulus.
3 Relational integrate all relevant pieces of information from the stimulus.
2 Multistructural respond to several relevant pieces of information from the
stimulus.
1 Unistructural respond to only one relevant piece of information from the
stimulus.
0 Pre-structural consist only of irrelevant information.
* Modified from Wilson (2005, p. 75)
 A possible value of 0 – 4 can be used to score each
question

12. 1. Sort student responses into performance level piles
(excellent, good, …, and poor), or in terms of the
levels of understanding of the responses
2. Describe similarities within a pile and differences
between
 These similarities and differences can inform the different
level of rubrics
3. Do sorting in pairs
 To reconfirm matches & mismatches
 Allow dialogue to maximize the effectiveness of rubric
development
PHENOMENOGRAPHIC SORTING

13.  Explain what the test will emphasize
 Emphasis and expectations will be delineated in the
assessment criteria in the rubrics
 Inform students how the assessment will be scored
 Explain what each of the assessment criteria defined in the
rubrics means
 Explain how the results will be used
 Explain the importance of the test scores in the student’s
learning progression
USING RUBRICS WITH STUDENTS

14.  Make sure that the wording of the rubrics is
understandable to students (simplify wording for
lower grades).
 Works best with holistic rubrics (or with a combined
version of analytic descriptions).
 Provide rubrics to students in advance of the
administration of the assessment.
 Alternatively, students can be provided with a
general rubric and a small number of papers (names
removed). Students can score the papers in small
groups; groups are required to come to consensus on
the grade to be assigned.
HOW TO USE RUBRICS WITH STUDENTS

15.  Nitko, A. J., & Brookhart, S. (2007). Educational assessment of students. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
 McMillan, J. H. (2007). Classroom assessment. Principles and practice for
effective standard-based instruction (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson - Allyn & Bacon.
 Oregon Department of Education. (2014, June). Assessment guidance.
 Popham, W. J. (2014). Criterion-referenced measurement: A half-century wasted?
Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of National Council on Measurement in
Education, Philadephia, PA .
 Popham, W. J. (2014). Classroom assessment: What teachers needs to know. San
Francisco, CA: Pearson
 Russell, M. K., & Airasian, P. W. (2012). Classroom assessment: Concepts and
applications. New York, NY: McGraw -Hill.
 Stevens, D. & Levi, A. (2005). Introduction to rubrics. As assessment tool to save
grading time, convey effective feedback, and promote student learning . Sterling:
Stylus Publishing, LLC
 Wihardini, D. (2010). Assessment development II. Unpublished manuscript.
Research and Development Department, Binus Business School, Jakarta,
Indonesia.
 Wilson, M. (2005). Constructing measures: An item response modeling approach.
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

16. Rubrics PPT by the Oregon Department of Education and Berkeley Evaluation and
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