Using Rubrics to Assess Learning
Tamara H. Rosier
Assistant Director for Assessment,
Pew FTLC, Fall 2007
Why are you here today?
What do you need to know?
After this session, you will be able to…
 Articulate
the advantages of a rubric
 Describe the pitfalls to rubrics
 Evaluate projects using a rubric
 Learn how to how to develop a
rubric
 Evaluate rubrics
What is a rubric?
“Rubrics are explicit schemes for
classifying products or behaviors
into categories that vary along a
continuum.”
(Allen, M. 2002).
Rubrics are

A brief statement describing a certain
quantity or quality of work, learning or
behavior.

Often organized in descending order
Rubric affect the quality of assessment.





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Define expectations
Evaluate complex projects
Quantify papers/projects
Inter-rater reliability
Criterion rather than reference based
assessment
Ratings can be completed by others
Rubrics affect the quality of learning.

Clarifies content and objectives.
–

Encourages students to self-monitor.
–

Students understand what they must do or learn
in order to achieve a satisfactory grade.
Students assume responsibility for the quality
and quality of their work.
Allows the grading process to be clearer.
–
Student learning has been specified and
therefore easier to measure.
Challenges associated with rubrics.


Validity - aligned with curriculum?
Reliability
–
–


same score for same quality?
Inter-rater reliability
Even steps – are the levels within the rubric
approximately equal?
Weighted scores - are all attributes equally
important?
Developing a rubric… 3 key questions
 What
to do want your students
to accomplish through this
assignment?
 What
is it worth?
 What
scale will I use?
What to do want your students to
accomplish through this assignment?
1.
Create a list of these objectives.
2.
Group similar objectives in categories
or themes. (For example, quality of
content and synthesis of information
may be categorized as “critical
thinking”.)
What is it worth?



Decide the overall point value for the assignment.
Organize the identified criteria from most
important to least important. (for example, a
biology professor may decide that while grammar
and other surface features are important and
should be counted, he does not need to weigh it
as heavily as he may weigh the analysis criteria.)
Decide how you will calculate a grade.
What scale will I use?




Decide how many levels of ability you will
identify in your grading.
List characteristics that describe each
objective.
Identify ways to describe above expectation,
meets expectation, and below expectation.
Criteria like "clear," "organized," and
"interesting" may not mean much to students
when they sit down to revise.
Using a rubric when teaching…

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Distribute rubric to students when you assign the paper or
project.
Teach students how to use the rubric.
Collect their paper or project after they have assessed
their work.
It is very useful to ask students to write about the quality
of their work.
Decide what you will do if a student realizes that he or
she did not meet the requirements while writing this
assessment.
Using a rubric to assess…




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Read definitions of terms
Examine project/paper
Start comparing project to the worst level first
Proceed through the rubric one step at a
time
Project must satisfy ALL elements of the step
before moving to next step
No half scores
Assessing a Rubric…
Bibliography

Arter, J., & McTighe, J. (2001). Scoring rubrics in the classroom:
Using performance criteria for assessing and improving student
performance. Thousand oaks: Corwin Press.

Goodrich, H. (1996). Understanding rubrics. Educational Leadership,
54(4), 14-17.

Popham, J. W. (1997). What's wrong—and what's right—with rubrics.
Educational Leadership, 55(2), 72-75.

Stevens, D. D., & Levi, A. J. (2005). Introduction to Rubrics: An
assessment tool to save grading time, convey effective feedback, and
promote student learning. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.

Wiggins, G. (1998). Educative assessment: designing assessments to
inform and improve student performance. San Francisco: JosseyBass.