Rubrics
Rubrics are assessment tools that outline the criteria and expectations used to evaluate learner performance. They can help communicate what successful work looks like, support consistent grading, and provide learners with more meaningful feedback.
Rubrics may be used for many types of assessments, including written assignments, presentations, discussions, projects, labs, portfolios, and participation activities. When aligned with learning outcomes and assessment criteria, rubrics can help make assessment more transparent and consistent.
Designing Effective Rubrics
Effective rubrics clearly communicate expectations and support more consistent grading and feedback. Before you design your rubric, consider these four elements:
Criteria
Decide what criteria or essential elements should be present in learner work to demonstrate quality and achievement of the learning outcomes. You may also consider identifying examples of strong work that can help clarify expectations for learners.
Performance Levels
Decide how many levels of achievement will be included in the rubric and how they will align with grading expectations or achievement standards.
Descriptors
For each criterion, describe what performance looks like at each achievement level. Clear and specific descriptors can help support learner understanding and more consistent grading.
Additional Comments
Consider leaving space for additional comments, tailored feedback, or overall impressions that may not be fully captured within the rubric descriptors.
Using Rubrics Effectively
Rubrics can support learning most effectively when they are integrated throughout the assessment process rather than used only for grading.
Share Rubrics Before the Assessment
- Provide learners with the rubric when the assessment is introduced so expectations and performance criteria are clear from the beginning.
Use Rubrics During Learning Activities
- Rubrics can support self-assessment, peer feedback, reflection, and revision throughout the learning process.
Use Rubrics to Streamline Feedback
- Rubrics can help make grading and feedback more efficient by allowing you to identify achieved performance levels while still providing targeted comments where needed.
Review and Revise Rubrics Over Time
- After using a rubric, consider whether the criteria, descriptors, and performance levels accurately reflected the qualities you intended to assess. You can revise and adapt it for future use.
Consider Digital or Interactive Rubrics
- Canvas allows you to create rubrics that can be attached directly to assignments for easier grading and feedback.
Types of Rubrics
Different types of rubrics can support different assessment purposes and contexts.
Holistic Rubrics
Holistic rubrics assess learner performance as a whole rather than separating it into individual criteria. These rubrics provide a single overall score or level of achievement based on overall quality.
They can be useful to assess overall performance or proficiency, or to evaluate broad or integrated learning outcomes.
Example:
Score |
Description |
|
5 |
Research report is well-written and meets all outlined criteria. The proposed research question is relevant and addresses a knowledge gap in the field. The thesis statement is clear and original. Research results are presented in a logical way and discussed in the report. Sentences are clear, without grammatical or mechanical errors. |
|
4 |
Research report is well-written and meets most of the outlined criteria. It may have excellent clarity and relevance, but the presented information may not be as comprehensive as expected. It may also show occasional problems in sentence structure or correctness. |
|
3 |
Research report is acceptable, but not excellent. It meets at least two of the outlined criteria. It may show weaker quality of writing or may be well-written but not provide enough evidence to support the thesis statement. |
|
2 |
Research report requires improvement but meets at least one of the outlined criteria. It may lack consistency, accuracy and relevance. It may not identify a knowledge gap in the field or provide a relevant hypothesis. |
|
1 |
Research report is unsatisfactory and does not meet any of the outlined criteria. It presents numerous errors and ambiguities. The thesis statement and discussion are weak or not present. |
Adapted from John Bean, Engaging Ideas, Exhibit 15.4: Holistic Scale for Grading Article Summaries (262)
Analytic Rubrics
Analytic rubrics break assessment into multiple criteria or components. Each criterion is evaluated separately using performance levels or descriptors.
They can be useful to assess multiple learning outcomes, help learners identify specific strengths and gaps, and ensure consistency across graders.
Example:
Criteria |
Exemplary (5) |
Good (4) |
Acceptable (3) |
Needs Improvement (2) |
Unsatisfactory (1) |
| Content | Content is robust and highly relevant. Addresses a knowledge gap in the field. | Content is meaningful and relevant. Arguments mostly address a knowledge gap in the field. | Content is mostly relevant and somewhat meaningful. Knowledge gap is identified but not addressed. | Content is not relevant. No knowledge gap is identified or addressed. | No meaningful content included. |
| Argument and Evidence | Argument is clearly articulated with substantial evidence. | Argument is articulated with enough evidence. | Argument is articulated with some evidence. | Argument is unclear with little supporting evidence. | No clear argument or evidence presented. |
Attribution
Sections of this page were adapted from Rubrics: useful assessment tools. Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo. https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/assessing-student-work/grading-and-feedback/rubrics-useful-assessment-tools