How do you create rubrics for effective assessments?

Building rubrics is like building a house . It is extremely important that the foundation can support the house design. The same is true in the classroom students need a strong learning foundation to grasp the flow of what is being presented. This creates a need for strong rubrics from the beginning of a lesson.

I want to focus on what we measure. Yes, I believe in assessment and quality rubrics. But we shouldn’t gloss over the import of what we assess. We are keen on assessing content learning; surely that is only a limited aspect of measurable student learning. We need to measure teamwork and problem solving and analytic skills as well as social and emotional development. Testing reading is not enough.

In line with Jim’s analogy, I would say a great rubric is like the framework of a house encompassing the major facets of the learning journey.

When I am building a rubric I focus on what I really want the students to know and understand in a particular lesson or unit I am assessing. A rubric to me is a tool that helps me effectively grade an assessment with a clear set of criteria but it also communicates to the students what is expected of them. The rubric should be given out to students at the beginning of the assignment so students know exactly how you will be grading them. This way the expectation of what you want and need is clearly there for the students to refer back to while they work.

One critical missing question is what is being measured — some absolute quality achievement marker? Some benchmarking against peers — local or regional or statewide or national? Some progress from where a student was to where they are now? The latter is vastly too infrequent. I remember a drawing class I took as an adult. I started with almost stick figures in a human drawing class. My best work at the end of the yearlong course was worse than some starter pieces of other students but I was the most improved. That counts.

If I understand Karen's initial statement below, she is calling for a clear delineation of what is meant by each of the criteria. I second that suggestion. I also note that the levels of proficiency are all "positive." I am old fashioned. If someone is not demonstrating a level of proficiency that is acceptable, we need to say that this misses the mark. I am not sure that either "emerging" or "developing" convey that an appropriate level of proficiency has not yet been achieved.

Depending on the assessment, I might add a step before 'Step 2' or combine Steps 2 and 3 here -- and make room for students to take ownership in the creation of the rubric. I've found this is most successful after relationships have been built and exemplars have been modeled.

. I like to see how granular I can make the descriptors so the rubric is actually another input demonstrating to students what a specific skill really looks like. Good descriptors can also be aligned with specific standards and the sub scores (for each rubric item) can help students and teachers gauge performance levels for specific skills/knowledge standards over the course of the term. If an assignment involves developmental stages or iterative steps, I also like to do a whole class review with the rubric on hand and ask for student input about how much a sample work product achieves the objectives and prompt students to identify and verbalize alignments and gaps between the product and rubric.

In my experience needed improvements are overlooked until the teacher is already putting the rubric to use and then realizing it’s practical limitations as an efficient evaluation and effective feedback tool. I would try very hard to anticipate the gaps that would be in students products and think how I could improve or sharpen the rubric to 1. help students address the deficiencies sooner and 2. So the rubric provides a targeted tool for identifying the deficiency if it’s not addressed before the final evaluation step. So I like the additional suggestions provided in the guidelines here for really vetting the rubric before finalizing it.

Additionally, it promotes collaboration and critical thinking skills for students to peer review their classmates' work. Building a culture in the classroom where it is safe to take risks and share one's work is essential to this practice. Making space for students to utilize the rubric themselves is a helpful step for reflection and growth.

If the feedback and reflection suggest that the student has not reached an appropriate level of skill, re-teaching opportunities need to be provided that attempt to achieve the same things, but possibly using a different modality. We can't just go on (leaving the student to flounder) if the lesson dealt with developing skills that support future lessons.