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Susan M. Brookhart

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Brookhart, Susan M.
How to create and use rubrics for formative assessment and grading / Susan M. Brookhart.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4166-1507-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Grading and marking (Students) 2. Educational evaluation. I. Title.
LB3051.B7285 2013
371.26--dc23
2012037286

22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
 To my daughter Rachel Brookhart,
with love and thanks for all her help and support.
Preface................................................................................................................................................... ix

Acknowledgments................................................................................................................................ xi

Part I: All Kinds of Rubrics

1 What Are Rubrics and Why Are They Important?.................................................................. 3

2 Common Misconceptions About Rubrics............................................................................... 15

3 Writing or Selecting Effective Rubrics................................................................................... 23

4 General Rubrics for Fundamental Skills................................................................................. 40

5 Task-Specific Rubrics and Scoring Schemes for Special Purposes..................................... 56

6 Proficiency-Based Rubrics for Standards-Based Grading.................................................... 64

7 Checklists and Rating Scales: Not Rubrics, but in the Family............................................. 76

8 More Examples......................................................................................................................... 82

Part II: How to Use Rubrics

9 Rubrics and Formative Assessment: Sharing Learning Targets with Students................. 93

10 Rubrics and Formative Assessment: Feedback and Student Self-Assessment................ 102

11 How to Use Rubrics for Grading........................................................................................... 112

Afterword............................................................................................................................................. 126

Appendix A: Six-Point 6+1 Trait Writing Rubrics, Grades 3–12..................................................... 128

Appendix B: Illustrated Six-Point 6+1 Trait Writing Rubrics, Grades K–2................................... 142

References.......................................................................................................................................... 154

Index .................................................................................................................................................. 156

About the Author................................................................................................................................ 159

 Preface

The purpose of this book, as the title suggests, is to help you use rubrics in the class‑
room. To do that, two criteria must be met. First, the rubrics themselves must be well
designed. Second, the rubrics should be used for learning as well as for grading.
Many of you are already familiar with rubrics, and you will read this book through
the lens of what you already know. For some, the book will be an affirmation of your
current understanding of rubrics and provide (I hope) some additional suggestions and
examples. But for others, the book may challenge your currently held views and prac‑
tices regarding rubrics and call for some change.
So I wrote this book with some apprehension. It’s always a challenge to “come in in
the middle” of something. Teachers do that all the time, however. I ask all of you to keep
an open mind and to constantly ask yourself, “What do I think about this?” To that end,
I have included self-reflection questions along the way. I encourage you to think about
them, perhaps keeping a journal of these reflections so you can review and consolidate
your own learning at the end.
In some ways, this book is two books in one, and for that reason it is divided into
Part I and Part II. Part I is about rubrics themselves: what they are, how to write them,
and some examples of different kinds of rubrics. Part II is about how to use rubrics in
your teaching.

ix
  | 
x How to Create and Use Rubrics

The big ideas in Part I concern the two must-have aspects of rubrics. First, rubrics
must have clear and appropriate criteria about the learning students will be demonstrat‑
ing (not about the task). Second, rubrics must have clear descriptions of performance
over a continuum of quality. If the rubrics are analytic, each criterion will have separate
descriptions of performance. If the rubrics are holistic, the descriptions of performance
for each level will consider all the criteria simultaneously.
The big idea in Part II is that rubrics should assist with learning as well as assess
it. The strategies in Part II are grouped according to purpose: sharing learning targets
with students, formative assessment in terms of feedback and student self-evaluation,
and grading. Actually, sharing learning targets with students is the foundational forma‑
tive assessment strategy. Without clear learning targets, from the students’ point of view
there is nothing to assess.
 Acknowledgments

I am grateful for the support, help, and assistance of many people. Thanks to the amaz‑
ing Bev Long and the educators in Armstrong School District, to the incredible Connie
Moss and the Center for Advancing the Study of Teaching and Learning in the School of
Education at Duquesne University, to wonderful colleagues Judy Arter and Jan Chap‑
puis, and to all the dedicated educators over the years with whom I’ve been fortunate
to have conversations about rubrics and about student learning. I have learned from
you all. Thanks to the talented editorial and production staff at ASCD, especially Genny
Ostertag and Deborah Siegel. Thanks to my family, especially my husband Frank for his
love and support, to my daughter Rachel for help especially with the Rubric for Laugh‑
ing, and to my daughter Carol for hanging in there. This work has been inspired by all of
you. Of course, any errors or omissions are mine alone.

xi
Part I
All Kinds of
RubRics
 1
What Are Rubrics and
Why Are They Important?

The word rubric comes from the Latin word for red. The online Merriam-Webster
dictionary lists the first meaning of rubric as “an authoritative rule” and the fourth
meaning as “a guide listing specific criteria for grading or scoring academic papers,
projects, or tests.” How did the name for a color come to mean a rule or guide? At least
as far back as the Middle Ages, the rules for the conduct of liturgical services—as
opposed to the actual spoken words of the liturgy—were often printed in red, so the
rules were “the red things” on the page.
In this book, I will show that rubrics for
classroom use are both more and less than the Self-reflection
dictionary definition suggests. They are more
because rubrics are good for much more than What is your current view of rubrics? Write down
just grading or scoring. They are less because what you know about them and what experiences
not just any set of rules or guides for student you have had using them. Save this reflection to
work are rubrics. This first chapter lays out some compare with a similar reflection after you have
basic concepts about rubrics. Chapter 2 illus‑ read this book.
trates common misconceptions about rubrics,
and Chapter 3 describes how to write or select effective rubrics.

3
  | 
4 How to Create and Use Rubrics

What is a rubric?
A rubric is a coherent set of criteria for students’ work that includes descriptions of levels
of performance quality on the criteria. Sounds simple enough, right? Unfortunately, this
definition of rubric is rarely demonstrated in practice. The Internet, for example, offers
many rubrics that do not, in fact, describe performance. I think I know why that might
be and will explain that in Chapter 2, but for now let’s start with the positive. It should be
clear from the definition that rubrics have two major aspects: coherent sets of criteria and
descriptions of levels of performance for these criteria.
The genius of rubrics is that they are descriptive and not evaluative. Of course,
rubrics can be used to evaluate, but the operating principle is you match the perfor‑
mance to the description rather than “judge” it. Thus rubrics are as good or bad as the
criteria selected and the descriptions of the levels of performance under each. Effective
rubrics have appropriate criteria and well-written descriptions of performance.

What is the purpose of rubrics?

Like any other evaluation tool, rubrics are useful for certain purposes and not for
others. The main purpose of rubrics is to assess performances. For some performances,
you observe the student in the process of doing something, like using an electric drill or
discussing an issue. For other performances, you observe the product that is the result
of the student’s work, like a finished bookshelf or a written report. Figure 1.1 lists some
common kinds of school performances that can be assessed with rubrics. This list by no
means covers every possible school performance. It is just meant to help you think of
the types of performances you might assess with rubrics.
This list is not meant to suggest what your students should perform. State stan‑
dards, curriculum goals, and instructional goals and objectives are the sources for what
types of performances your students should be able to do. When the intended learning
outcomes are best indicated by performances—things students would do, make, say,
or write—then rubrics are the best way to assess them. Notice that the performances
themselves are not learning outcomes. They are indicators of learning outcomes. Except
in unusual cases, any one performance is just a sample of all the possible performances
that would indicate an intended learning outcome. Chapters 2 and 3 cover this point
in greater detail. For now, know that the purpose of the list in Figure 1.1 is to describe
some of these performances, so you can recognize them as performances and as
 What Are Rubrics and Why Are They Important?   |  5

suitable for using rubrics, when they are appropriate indicators of your goals for student
learning.
About the only kinds of schoolwork that do not function well with rubrics are ques‑
tions with right or wrong answers. Test items or oral questions in class that have one
clear correct answer are best assessed as right or wrong. However, even test items that
have degrees of quality of performance, where you want to observe how appropriately,
how completely, or how well a question was answered, can be assessed with rubrics.
Rubrics give structure to observations. Matching your observations of a student’s
work to the descriptions in the rubric averts the rush to judgment that can occur in
classroom evaluation situations. Instead of judging the performance, the rubric describes
the performance. The resulting judgment of quality based on a rubric therefore also
contains within it a description of performance that can be used for feedback and
teaching. This is different from a judgment of quality from a score or a grade arrived at
without a rubric. Judgments without descriptions stop the action in a classroom.

Figure 1.1 Types of Performances That Can Be Assessed with Rubrics

Type of Performance Examples

Processes •  Playing a musical instrument

•  Physical skills •  Doing a forward roll
•  Use of equipment •  Preparing a slide for the microscope
•  Oral communication •  Making a speech to the class
•  Work habits •  Reading aloud
•  Conversing in a foreign language
•  Working independently

Products •  Wooden bookshelf

•  Constructed objects •  Set of welds
•  Written essays, themes, reports, term papers •  Handmade apron
•  Other academic products that demonstrate •  Watercolor painting
understanding of concepts •  Laboratory report
•  Term paper on theatrical conventions in
Shakespeare’s day
•  Written analysis of the effects of the  
Marshall Plan
•  Model or diagram of a structure (atom,
flower, planetary system, etc.)
•  Concept map
  | 
6 How to Create and Use Rubrics

What are the advantages and

disadvantages of different types of rubrics?
Rubrics are usually categorized by two different aspects of their composition. One is
whether the rubric treats the criteria one at a time or together. The other is whether the
rubric is general and could be used with a family of similar tasks or is task-specific and
only applicable to one assessment. Figure 1.2 describes the different types of rubrics
and the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Analytic and holistic rubrics

Analytic rubrics describe work on each criterion separately. Holistic rubrics describe
the work by applying all the criteria at the same time and enabling an overall judgment
about the quality of the work. The top panel of Figure 1.2 defines analytic and holistic
rubrics and lists advantages and disadvantages for each.
For most classroom purposes, analytic rubrics are best. Focusing on the criteria one
at a time is better for instruction and better for formative assessment because students
can see what aspects of their work need what kind of attention. Focusing on the criteria
one at a time is good for any summative assessment (grading) that will also be used to
make decisions about the future—for example, decisions about how to follow up on a
unit or decisions about how to teach something next year.
One classroom purpose for which holistic rubrics are better than analytic rubrics
is the situation in which students will not see the results of a final summative assess‑
ment and you will not really use the information for anything except a grade. Some high
school final examinations fall into this category. Grading with rubrics is faster when
there is only one decision to make, rather than a separate decision for each criterion.
On balance, for most classroom purposes I recommend analytic rubrics. There‑
fore, most of the examples in this book will be analytic rubrics. Before we leave holistic
rubrics, however, I want to reemphasize the important point that all the criteria are used
in holistic rubrics. You consider them together, but you don’t boil down the evaluation to
the old “excellent-good-fair-poor” kind of thinking along one general “judgment” dimen‑
sion. True holistic rubrics are still rubrics; that is, they are based on criteria for good
work and on observation of how the work meets those criteria.
Figure 1.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Types of Rubrics

Type of Definition Advantages Disadvantages

Rubric

Holistic or Analytic: One or Several Judgments?

Analytic •  Each criterion •  Gives diagnostic information to teacher. •  Takes more time to score than holistic rubrics.
(dimension, trait)   •  Gives formative feedback to students. •  Takes more time to achieve inter-rater reli-
is evaluated   •  Easier to link to instruction than holistic rubrics. ability than with holistic rubrics.
separately. •  Good for formative assessment; adaptable for
summative assessment; if you need an overall
score for grading, you can combine the scores.

Holistic •  All criteria   •  Scoring is faster than with analytic rubrics. •  Single overall score does not communicate
(dimensions, traits) •  Requires less time to achieve inter-rater reli- information about what to do to improve.

What Are Rubrics and Why Are They Important?

are evaluated ability. •  Not good for formative assessment.
simultaneously. •  Good for summative assessment.

continued

  | 
7
 8
  | 
How to Create and Use Rubrics
Figure 1.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Types of Rubrics (continued )

Type of Definition Advantages Disadvantages

Rubric

Description of Performance: General or Task-Specific?

General •  Description of •  Can share with students, explicitly linking •  Lower reliability at first than with task-specific
work gives charac- assessment and instruction. rubrics.
teristics that apply •  Reuse same rubrics with several tasks or •  Requires practice to apply well.
to a whole family assignments.
of tasks (e.g., •  Supports learning by helping students see
writing, problem “good work” as bigger than one task.
solving). •  Supports student self-evaluation.
•  Students can help construct general rubrics.

Task- •  Description of •  Teachers sometimes say using these makes •  Cannot share with students (would give away
Specific work refers to the scoring “easier.” answers).
specific content of •  Requires less time to achieve inter-rater   •  Need to write new rubrics for each task.
a particular task reliability. •  For open-ended tasks, good answers not listed
(e.g., gives an in rubrics may be evaluated poorly.
answer, specifies  
a conclusion).

Source: From Assessment and Grading in Classrooms (p. 201), by Susan M. Brookhart and Anthony J. Nitko, 2008, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Copyright 2008 by Pearson Educa-
tion. Reprinted with permission.
 What Are Rubrics and Why Are They Important?   |  9

General and task-specific rubrics

General rubrics use criteria and descriptions of performance that generalize across
(hence the name general rubrics), or can be used with, different tasks. The tasks all have
to be instances of the same learning outcome—for example, writing or mathematics
problem solving. The criteria point to aspects of the learning outcome and not to fea‑
tures of any one specific task (for example, criteria list characteristics of good problem
solving and not features of the solution to a specific problem). The descriptions of per‑
formance are general, so students learn general qualities and not isolated, task-specific
features (for example, the description might say all relevant information was used to
solve the problem, not that the numbers of knives, forks, spoons, and guests were used
to solve the problem). Task-specific rubrics are pretty well described by their name: They
are rubrics that are specific to the performance task with which they are used. Task-
specific rubrics contain the answers to a problem, or explain the reasoning students
are supposed to use, or list facts and concepts students are supposed to mention. The
bottom panel of Figure 1.2 defines general and task-specific rubrics and lists advantages
and disadvantages for each.
Why use general rubrics? General rubrics have several advantages over task-
specific rubrics. General rubrics

• Can be shared with students at the beginning of an assignment, to help them plan
and monitor their own work.
• Can be used with many different tasks, focusing the students on the knowledge and
skills they are developing over time.
• Describe student performance in terms that allow for many different paths to
success.
• Focus the teacher on developing students’ learning of skills instead of task
completion.
• Do not need to be rewritten for every assignment.

Let’s look more closely at the first two advantages.

Can be shared with students at the beginning of an assignment. General rubrics do not
“give away answers” to questions. They do not contain any information that the stu‑
dents are supposed to be developing themselves. Instead, they contain descriptions like
“Explanation of reasoning is clear and supported with appropriate details.” Descriptions
like this focus students on what their learning target is supposed to be (for example,
explaining reasoning clearly, with appropriate supporting details). They clarify for
   | 
10 How to Create and Use Rubrics

students how to approach the assignment (for example, in solving the problem posed,
I should make sure to explicitly focus on why I made the choices I did and be able to
explain that). Therefore, over time general rubrics help students build up a concept of
what it means to perform a skill well (for example, effective problem solving requires
clear reasoning that I can explain and support).
Can be used with many different tasks. Because general rubrics focus students on the
knowledge and skills they are learning rather than the particular task they are complet‑
ing, they offer the best method I know for preventing the problem of “empty rubrics”
that will be described in Chapter 2. Good general rubrics will, by definition, not be task
directions in disguise, or counts of surface features, or evaluative rating scales.
Because general rubrics focus students on the knowledge and skills they are sup‑
posed to be acquiring, they can and should be used with any task that belongs to the
whole domain of learning for those learning outcomes. Of course, you never have an
opportunity to give students all of the potential tasks in a domain—you can’t ask them to
write every possible essay about characterization, solve every possible problem involv‑
ing slope, design experiments involving every possible chemical solvent, or describe
every political takeover that was the result of a power vacuum.
These sets of tasks all indicate important knowledge and skills, however, and they
develop over time and with practice. Essay writing, problem solving, experimental design,
and the analysis of political systems are each important skills in their respective disci‑
plines. If the rubrics are the same each time a student does the same kind of work, the stu‑
dent will learn general qualities of good essay writing, problem solving, and so on. If the
rubrics are different each time the student does the same kind of work, the student will
not have an opportunity to see past the specific essay or problem. The general approach
encourages students to think about building up general knowledge and skills rather than
thinking about school learning in terms of getting individual assignments done.
Why use task-specific rubrics? Task-specific rubrics function as “scoring direc‑
tions” for the person who is grading the work. Because they detail the elements to look
for in a student’s answer to a particular task, scoring students’ responses with task-
specific rubrics is lower-inference work than scoring students’ responses with general
rubrics. For this reason, it is faster to train raters to reach acceptable levels of scoring
reliability using task-specific rubrics for large-scale assessment. Similarly, it is easier for
teachers to apply task-specific rubrics consistently with a minimum of practice. General
rubrics take longer to learn to apply well.
 What Are Rubrics and Why Are They Important?   |  11

However, the reliability advantage is temporary (one can learn to apply general
rubrics well), and it comes with a big downside. Obviously, task-specific rubrics are use‑
ful only for scoring. If students can’t see the rubrics ahead of time, you can’t share them
with students, and therefore task-specific rubrics are not useful for formative assess‑
ment. That in itself is one good reason not to use them except for special purposes. Task-
specific rubrics do not take advantage of the most powerful aspects of rubrics—their
usefulness in helping students to conceptualize their learning targets and to monitor
their own progress.

Why are rubrics important?

Rubrics are important because they clarify for students the qualities their work
should have. This point is often expressed in terms of students understanding the learn‑
ing target and criteria for success. For this reason, rubrics help teachers teach, they help
coordinate instruction and assessment, and they help students learn.

Rubrics help teachers teach

To write or select rubrics, teachers need to focus on the criteria by which learning
will be assessed. This focus on what you intend students to learn rather than what you
intend to teach actually helps improve instruction. The common approach of “teaching
things,” as in “I taught the American Revolution” or “I taught factoring quadratic equa‑
tions,” is clear on content but not so clear on outcomes. Without clarity on outcomes,
it’s hard to know how much of various aspects of the content to teach. Rubrics help with
clarity of both content and outcomes.
Really good rubrics help teachers avoid confusing the task or activity with the
learning goal, and therefore confusing completion of the task with learning. Rubrics
help keep teachers focused on criteria, not tasks. I have already discussed this point in
the section about selecting criteria. Focusing rubrics on learning and not on tasks is the
most important concept in this book. I will return to it over and over. It seems to be a
difficult concept—or probably a more accurate statement is that focusing on tasks is so
easy and so seductive that it becomes the path many busy teachers take. Penny-wise and
pound-foolish, such an approach saves time in the short run by sacrificing learning in
the long run.
   | 
12 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Rubrics help coordinate instruction and assessment

Most rubrics should be designed for repeated use, over time, on several tasks. Stu‑
dents are given a rubric at the beginning of a unit of instruction or an episode of work.
They tackle the work, receive feedback, practice, revise or do another task, continue to
practice, and ultimately receive a grade—all using the same rubric as their description
of the criteria and the quality levels that will demonstrate learning. This path to learning
is much more cohesive than a string of assignments with related but different criteria.

Rubrics help students learn

The criteria and performance-level descriptions in rubrics help students understand
what the desired performance is and what it looks like. Effective rubrics show students
how they will know to what extent their performance passes muster on each criterion of
importance, and if used formatively can also show students what their next steps should
be to enhance the quality of their performance. This claim is backed by research at all
grade levels and in different disciplines.
Several studies of student-generated criteria demonstrate that students can partici‑
pate in defining and describing the qualities their work should have. Nancy Harris and
Laura Kuehn (Higgins, Harris, & Kuehn, 1994) did research in their own team-taught
classroom to see what sorts of criteria primary school students could generate for a
“good project.” They found that their students, in grades 1 and 2, were able to define
criteria for group projects. At the beginning of the year, most of the criteria were about
process (for example, the group members getting along with each other). In December,
students were able to view examples of projects, and with continued brainstorming and
discussion they began to see the importance of substantive criteria (for example, the
information contained in the project). By the end of the year, about half the criteria stu‑
dents chose were about process and half were about product. This study shows us that
students need to learn how to focus on learning—and, more important, that they can
begin to do this as early as 1st grade.
Andrade, Du, and Wang (2008) investigated the effects of having 3rd and 4th
graders read a model written assignment, generate their own list of criteria, and use
rubrics to self-assess the quality of the written stories and essays they then produced.
A comparison group brainstormed criteria and self-assessed their drafts but did not use
the rubric. Controlling for previous writing ability, the group that used the rubrics for
self-assessment wrote better overall, and specifically in the areas of ideas, organization,
voice, and word choice. There were no differences between the groups in the areas of
 What Are Rubrics and Why Are They Important?   |  13

sentences and conventions, presumably areas of much previous drill for all young writ‑
ers. Andrade, Du, and Mycek (2010) replicated these findings with students in 5th, 6th,
and 7th grade, except that the rubric group’s writing was evaluated as having higher
quality on all six criteria.
Ross, Hoagaboam-Gray, and Rolheiser (2002) taught 5th and 6th grade students self-
evaluation skills in mathematics, also using a method based on criteria. Their self-evalua‑
tion instruction involved four strategies: involving students in defining criteria, teaching
them how to apply the criteria, giving them feedback on these self-evaluations against
criteria, and helping them develop action plans based on the self-evaluations. Controlling
for previous problem-solving ability, students who self-assessed using criteria outscored
a comparison group at solving mathematics problems.
Ross and Starling (2008) used the same four-component self-assessment training,
based on criteria, with secondary students in a 9th grade geography class. Students
were learning to solve geography problems using global information systems (GIS)
software, so the learning goals were about both accurate use of the software and apply‑
ing it to real-world geography problems, including being able to explain their problem-
solving strategies. Controlling for pretest computer self-efficacy (known to be important
in technology learning), the treatment group outscored a comparison group on three
different measures: production of a map using the software, a report explaining their
problem-solving strategies, and an exam measuring knowledge of the mapping pro‑
gram. The largest difference was for the problem-solving explanations.
Hafner and Hafner (2003) investigated col‑
lege biology students’ use of rubrics for peer Self-reflection
assessment and teacher assessment of a collabor‑
ative oral presentation. There were five criteria: What evidence would it take to convince you that
organization and research, persuasiveness and using rubrics with learning-based criteria in your
logic of argument, collaboration, delivery and classroom would enhance learning of content
grammar, and creativity and originality. Origi‑ outcomes and improve students’ learning skills as
nally the rubric was developed and then modi‑ well? How can you get that evidence in your own
fied with discussion and involvement of students. classroom?
For the study, the same rubric was used for a
required course assignment three years in a row. The instructors were interested in
finding out whether the information students gained from peer evaluation was accurate,
whether it matched teacher input, and whether this accuracy was consistent across
different years and classes. The short answer was yes. Students were able to accurately
   | 
14 How to Create and Use Rubrics

give feedback to their peers, their information matched that of their instructor, and this
was the case for each class.

Summing up
This chapter has defined rubrics in terms of their two main components: criteria
and descriptions of levels of performance. The main point about criteria is that they
should be about learning outcomes, not aspects of the task itself. The main point about
descriptions of levels of performance is that they should be descriptions, not evaluative
statements. The “evaluation” aspect of assessment is accomplished by matching student
work with the description, not by making immediate judgments. Finally, the chapter has
presented some evidence that using this kind of rubric helps teachers teach and stu‑
dents learn, and it has invited you to pursue your own evidence, in your specific class‑
room and school context.
 2
Common Misconceptions About Rubrics

This chapter starts with misconceptions about rubrics and then shows how the prin‑
ciples for writing or selecting effective rubrics overcome these problems. A couple of
good counterexamples will, I think, show clearly how the principles for writing effective
rubrics work.
I think it is likely that many misconceptions about rubrics stem from teachers’ need
to grab a tool—rubrics—and integrate the tool with what they already know and do
about assessment, which is related mostly to grading. They may already have miscon‑
ceptions about grading (Brookhart, 2011; O’Connor, 2011). Many well-meaning teachers
use rubrics in ways that undermine students’ learning. Many rubrics available on the
Internet also exhibit these problems.

Confusing learning outcomes with tasks

Rubrics should not confuse the learning outcome to be assessed with the task used to
assess it. Rubrics are not assignment directions set into chart format. The biggest mis‑
take teachers make when they use rubrics with performance assessment is that they
focus on the task, the product, and not the learning outcome or proficiency the task is
supposed to get students to demonstrate. This has been my experience and has been
documented by others as well.
15
   | 
16 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Goldberg and Roswell (1999–2000) looked at 200 samples of classroom materials

from eight elementary and three middle schools. Teachers were asked to select activi‑
ties, lessons, unit plans, and assessments that they felt would give a “window” into their
classrooms. Some of the teachers had had experience scoring for the Maryland School
Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) and some had not. The researchers were
expecting that those with scoring experience would have created better scoring tools,
including rubrics, than those who had not. However, they found that almost all of the
teacher-created scoring tools included flaws that compromised their usefulness. These
flaws included the following:

• Confounding the outcomes being measured [scoring more than one

content-area skill at a time, without recognizing them as separate skills]
• Scoring for extraneous features (e.g., neatness, color, etc.)
• Scoring by counting up parts or components rather than by looking for
evidence of proficiency in the outcome(s) being measured
• Scoring for things students have not been cued to do
• Scoring products rather than outcomes (p. 281)

Goldberg and Roswell (1999–2000) give a good example of what they meant by
scoring products rather than outcomes. A social studies teacher intended to teach, and
assess, students’ understanding of two Maryland learning outcomes: “to examine or
describe the processes people use for making and changing rules within the family,
school, and community, . . . to propose rules that promote order and fairness in various
situations” (p. 277). The teacher created a multipart performance task. First, students
read the novel Jumanji, in which a board game goes out of control, and answered both
literal and inferential questions. Then, in groups, the students brainstormed a list of
other board games they were familiar with, invented a new board game, and participated
in a tournament. Finally, they identified problems with the various games and revised
them, and then wrote an advertisement to market their game. However, as Goldberg
and Roswell point out, none of the questions or activities was about how and why people
make rules for games.
Without a close analysis, this looks like a wonderful activity. It is cross-disciplinary
(encompassing English language arts and social studies), engaging, and fun. It could,
with some modification, actually teach and assess the intended social studies concepts.
As it stands, however, it teaches and assesses reading comprehension (reading and
answering questions about the novel, although not about the concept of people making
 Common Misconceptions About Rubrics   |  17

rules), cooperative group skills (devising the games and the tournament), some
problem-solving skills (diagnosing and revising the games), and communication skills
(designing the advertisement).
These sorts of near-miss activities are often accompanied by miss-the-mark rubrics
that assess the task, not the outcome. Using task-related criteria (Comprehension,
Board Game, Tournament Participation, and Advertisement) would have resulted in
a grade, but not one that gave any information about the social studies outcomes the
grade was supposed to indicate. Had the task been modified so that the questions
addressed the social studies concepts and the board game activity included a reflection
or brainstorming session about the process of making rules, outcome-related criteria
such as the following could have been used: Clear Explanation of the Rule-Making Pro‑
cess, Support for Explanation from Both the Novel and the Activity, and Demonstration
of Order and Fairness of Rules in Revised Games.
The problem of focusing on the task or instructional activity and not on learning
goals is not limited to performance assessment and selection of rubric criteria. It is
common in teacher planning and assessment in general (Chappuis, Stiggins, Chappuis,
& Arter, 2012). This problem of confusing a task with a learning goal is highlighted in
the selection of rubric criteria, however, because of the huge temptation to align the
criteria to the task instead of the learning goal and because of the existence of so many
near-miss—engaging but “empty” (Goldberg & Roswell, 1999–2000, p. 276)—classroom
performance tasks. In fact, many performance tasks and their associated rubrics are a
lot more empty than the board game example. I have chosen this “near-miss” example to
make the point about rubrics indicating learning, not task completion, precisely because
it looks so good. It is not a straw man to knock down.
Not focusing beyond tasks to intended learning outcomes is an error on two levels.
First, students really will think that what you ask them to do exemplifies what you want
them to learn. Therefore, the task should be a “performance of understanding” (Moss
& Brookhart, 2012) and not a near-miss. Near-miss tasks cheat students out of learning
opportunities and out of opportunities to conceptualize what it is that they are supposed
to be learning. Second, task-based, as opposed to learning-based, criteria do not yield
the kind of information you and your students need to support future learning. Instead,
they yield information about what was done, and they stop the action—the task, after all,
is completed. The resulting information is more about work habits, following directions,
and being a “good student” than it is about learning. The opportunity to foster and then
gauge learning is missed.
   | 
18 How to Create and Use Rubrics

This is not to say we don’t want students to

Self-reflection learn how to follow directions or give them tools to
help with that. Of course we do. Often a checklist
Think about a performance assessment that
or a rating scale (see Chapter 7) can be used for the
you have used and scored with rubrics. Were the
task-related aspects of the assignment. A checklist
criteria in the rubrics about the task or about the
can help students judge the completeness of their
learning outcomes the task was intended to have
work so they know they are turning in what is
students demonstrate? Do the task and rubric
required and are developing work habits in the pro‑
criteria need modification, and if so, what would
cess. In contrast, the learning-focused rubric helps
that look like?
you and your students gauge what was learned in
the doing of the task.

Confusing rubrics with requirements or quantities

Rubrics are not about the requirements for the assignment, nor are they about counting
things. As the previous section showed, a very seductive but poor use for rubrics is to
codify the directions for an assignment into a chart that lists the features of the task (for
example, “cover page”) and the number or kind of required elements for each feature.
Students then comply with the rubrics to earn points. This is a grade-focused, not a
learning-focused, way to use rubrics. I say that it is “seductive” because it works, in the
short run, to produce compliant students who complete their assignments for the pur‑
pose of getting the grade they want. Teachers who don’t think beyond this to whether
the compliance gives evidence of learning can easily get stuck in this habit. I know some
teachers who use this kind of “rubric” for everything.
Figure 2.1 shows what unfortunately is a quite common type of rubric. Many of you
may recognize the assignment. Students, typically in pairs or groups, are assigned to
make a poster with facts about a topic under study. I have seen versions of this assign‑
ment done with states in the United States (as in this example), continents, Canadian
provinces, planets, and elements on the periodic table. Sometimes students can choose
the state, continent, or what have you, and sometimes it is assigned.
Teachers usually assume that the students are “learning” the facts as they look
them up, but the poster assignment gives no evidence of this. It only gives evidence that
students can look up a state in an encyclopedia or on the Internet and copy information
about it. The assignment is really about decorating the classroom or hallway and having
 Common Misconceptions About Rubrics   |  19

Figure 2.1 Example of a Poor “Rubric”

My State Poster

4 3 2 1

Facts The poster The poster The poster Several facts are
includes at least includes 4–5 includes at least missing.
6 facts about facts about the 2–3 facts about
the state and state and is the state.
is interesting to interesting to
read. read.

Graphics All graphics One graphic is Two graphics Graphics do not

are related to not related to are not related relate to the
the topic and the topic. to the topic. topic.
make it easier to
understand.

Neatness The poster is The poster is The poster is The poster is

exceptionally attractive in acceptably messy or very
attractive in terms of design, attractive, poorly designed.
terms of design, layout, and neat- although it may
layout, and neat- ness. be a bit messy.
ness.

Grammar There are There are There are There are more
no mistakes 1–2 mistakes 3–4 mistakes than 4 mistakes
in grammar, in grammar, in grammar, in grammar,
punctuation, or punctuation, or punctuation, or punctuation, or
spelling. spelling. spelling. spelling.

fun with facts. This is a good example of an “empty” task that does not give students
opportunities to demonstrate the intended learning outcomes.
The best way to assess recall of facts is with a simple test or quiz. Making a poster
might be an instructional activity to help students get ready for the test. Or perhaps
there are more important uses of instructional and assessment time for a unit on the
states than memorizing sets of facts about them. That depends on the district curricu‑
lum and state standards. At any rate, I am going to use the rubric for this common task
   | 
20 How to Create and Use Rubrics

to illustrate what not to do. I have met many teachers who really do think rubrics like the
one in Figure 2.1 are good for students. Not so!
With these “rubrics,” the assignment really doesn’t need any more directions except
perhaps “Work with a partner, and pick a state.” These rubrics are really more like a
checklist for students to use, listing desired attributes of the task, not the learning it is
designed to represent. The posters should have six facts, each illustrated with a graphic,
and they should be neat and use correct grammar. There is nothing wrong with check‑
ing for this, and the teacher could create a tool if she wished. The resulting checklist
could be used for self-assessment of the completeness of the poster activity:

My state poster
_______ Has six facts.
_______ Has a picture related to each fact.
_______ Is neat.
_______ Uses correct grammar.

Whether the students could recall the facts they were supposed to know would be
assessed separately, with a quiz.
The My State Poster rubric illustrates another common misconception about the
descriptions of performance along the continuum of quality for each criterion. Rarely
is a count the best way to distinguish levels of quality of criteria, and if it is, the criteria
are likely related to work habits (for example, counting how often a student completes
homework). Chapter 7 discusses how to build rating scales with frequency levels as
indicators of work habits and other learning skills.
Occasionally an academic learning goal is best measured with counts (for example,
counting the number of errors in a keyboarding passage). But most of the time, the best
way to describe levels of quality is with substantive descriptions. The poster rubric has
a glimmer of that in the Level 4 description for graphics: “All graphics are related to the
topic and make it easier to understand.” The quality of an illustration making something
easier to understand is a substantive one. But this aspect of the graphics is not carried
through in parallel form for the other levels (for example, “Graphics are included but
do not add to understanding,” “Graphics are included but are confusing,” and so on).
Instead, the descriptions turn into counts. Counts are used for the criteria of facts and
grammar as well. The only criterion with substantive descriptions of performance at
each level is neatness.
 Common Misconceptions About Rubrics   |  21

I have also seen versions of the poster assignment that have “criteria” for each of the
intended facts. For example, a class was assigned to make posters about a chosen Native
American group, and the criteria on the rubric were Name of the Group, Type of Dwell‑
ing, Location, Dress, Food, and Neatness/Mechanics/Creativity.
Once again, let me be clear that I have nothing against posters and nothing against
facts. What is at issue here is the use of task-based (rather than learning-based) rubrics
that count or enumerate aspects of the directions students are expected to follow. The
resulting “grade” is an evaluation of compliance, not of learning. Students could “score”
top points on these rubrics and, in fact, understand nothing except how to make a neat
poster. Students can also “score” top points on these rubrics and understand a lot. You
don’t know, and your rubrics can’t tell you. That’s a problem.
In summary, rubrics with criteria that are about the task—with descriptions of per‑
formance that amount to checklists for directions—assess compliance and not learning.
Rubrics with counts instead of quality descriptions assess the existence of something
and not its quality. Most of the time this also means the intended learning outcome is not
assessed.

Confusing rubrics with evaluative rating scales

Another common problem with rubrics happens when teachers identify the criteria
to be evaluated but then add a rating scale for each and call it a “rubric.” These kinds
of documents abound in schools and on the Internet. Another version of this is to use a
numerical scale for each criterion, with higher numbers usually intended to mean better
work. Yet another way that rating scales masquerade as rubrics is in graphic scales that
use such images as a frowny face, a straight face, and a smiley face.
For example, a high school social studies teacher asked his students to summarize
their lecture notes for a unit of study by creating presentation slides. Each group showed
their slides to the class. This actually would be a great review activity. Students would
work together and would have to talk about the material in order to decide what should
go into their presentation slides. They would rehearse and review the facts and concepts
as they did this, and again as they presented their work and listened to the presentations
of others. This instructional activity, however, came with a rubric. There were three
criteria: Content, Images/Slides, and Oral Presentation, each with scales consisting of
Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, which translated quickly into A, B, C, and D grades.
   | 
22 How to Create and Use Rubrics

In summary, rubrics with evaluative scales

Self-reflection instead of descriptive scales assess work quality by
“grading” it and therefore miss the main advantage
Were you familiar with the argument against
of rubrics. The main function of rubrics is to allow
rubrics that merely summarize the requirements
you to match the performance to a description
of the task, as opposed to rubrics that describe
rather than immediately judge it. This is hugely
evidence of learning? If your school has begun
important. What is at issue is the nature of the
to tackle this issue, what have been the results?
evidence. The rubric description is the bridge
If the argument is new to you, what do you think
between what you see (the student work, the
about this issue now?
evidence) and the judgment of learning. If you’re
not going to take advantage of that main function,
you might as well just go back to the old-fashioned way of marking a grade on a paper
without explanation.

Summing up
This chapter took a brief look at some common misconceptions about rubrics to
sharpen your “radar” so that you can avoid these pitfalls in rubrics you write yourself
or with your students. In the next chapter you will learn how to write or select effective
rubrics for use in your classroom.
 3
Writing or Selecting Effective Rubrics

One purpose of this chapter is to help you write—alone, with colleagues, or with your
students—rubrics that will support learning in your classroom. Another purpose is to
help you become a savvy consumer of the rubric resources that abound. If you know
how to write effective rubrics, you can sometimes save time by finding and using exist‑
ing ones. You may find useful rubrics that you can use as is, or fairly good ones that you
can revise and adopt for your purposes. And of course, if you know how effective rubrics
are written, you can dismiss the numerous ineffective ones you will find. Whether you
are writing your own rubrics or selecting rubrics written by others to adapt for your own
use, focus on their two main defining aspects: the criteria and the descriptions of levels
of performance.

How to decide on appropriate criteria

The first questions to ask when you are writing a rubric, selecting a rubric, or co-
constructing a rubric with students are these: What are the criteria for good work on the
task that the rubric is to assess? What should a student, peer, or teacher be looking for?
One of the most valuable aspects of using rubrics is that these qualities are named and
described. They become the target students will aim for.

23
   | 
24 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Select as criteria the most appropriate and important aspects of the work given what
the task is supposed to assess. These should not, generally, be characteristics of the task
itself (for example, Cover, Report on Famous Person, Visuals, References), but rather
characteristics of the learning outcome the task is supposed to indicate (for example,
Selection of Subject, Analysis of Famous Person’s Contribution to History, Support with
Appropriate Historical Facts and Reasoning). Such criteria support learning because
they describe qualities that you and the students should look for as evidence of students’
learning.
Appropriateness is the most important “criterion for criteria,” if you will; that is, it is
the most important property or characteristic that criteria for effective rubrics should
possess. But it’s not the only one. To be useful and effective for rubrics, the criteria you
choose also need to be definable and observable. They should also be different from
one another, so that they can be appraised separately, and yet as a group define a set of
characteristics that, taken together, describe performance in a complete enough manner
to match the description of learning in the standard or instructional goal. Finally, criteria
should be characteristics that can vary along a quality continuum from high to low, so
you can write meaningful performance-level descriptions. Figure 3.1 summarizes the
characteristics you want in a set of criteria for rubrics for a performance.
There will be additional characteristics “in the background”—Sadler (1989) called
these “latent criteria”—that students have already mastered or that are not the main
focus of an assignment. For example, in a high school science laboratory report, stu‑
dents will use sentencing skills that they learned in early elementary school. “Sentenc‑
ing skills” operate in the background, are important in an overall sense for writing
good laboratory reports, but are not likely to be part of the rubric used to evaluate the
reports. In most cases, appropriate criteria for a high school laboratory report would
have to do with understanding the science content, understanding the inquiry process
and scientific reasoning, and skillfully communicating findings via a conventional labora‑
tory report. Effective rubrics do not list all possible criteria; they list the right criteria for
the assessment’s purpose.
To choose criteria, start with your intended learning outcome, as stated in the stan‑
dard or instructional goal you are intending to assess. Ask yourself this question:

The Criterion Question: What characteristics of student work would give

evidence for student learning of the knowledge or skills specified in this
standard (or instructional goal)?
 Writing or Selecting Effective Rubrics   |  25

Figure 3.1 Desired Characteristics of Criteria for Classroom Rubrics

Characteristics Explanation

The criteria are . . .

Appropriate Each criterion represents an aspect of a standard, cur-

ricular goal, or instructional goal or objective that students
are intended to learn.

Definable Each criterion has a clear, agreed-upon meaning that

both students and teachers understand.

Observable Each criterion describes a quality in the  

performance that can be perceived (seen  
or heard, usually) by someone other than the person
performing.

Distinct from one another Each criterion identifies a separate aspect of the learning
outcomes the performance is intended to assess.

Complete All the criteria together describe the whole of the learning
outcomes the performance is intended to assess.

Able to support descriptions along Each criterion can be described over a range of perfor-
a continuum of quality mance levels.

For most standards and instructional goals, the answers to this question will be charac‑
teristics that could be elements of student work on more than one task. For example,
if students are supposed to be able to “cite textual evidence to support analysis of what
the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text” (CCSSI ELA Standard
RL.6.1), then they should be able to do that in a variety of different tasks. Students might
read a passage and then answer a question or set of questions in writing. They might
read a passage and participate in a discussion with peers. They might read a passage
and explain what it meant to a fictional younger student. They might read a passage and
make a list of literal and inferential conclusions they could draw from the reading. They
might use this skill in a more complex task, like comparing and contrasting two texts. In
addition, any of these kinds of tasks might be based on different passages.
   | 
26 How to Create and Use Rubrics

The result is a huge number of potential tasks, and you want the characteristics of
performance that give evidence applicable to all potential tasks by which students could
demonstrate how well they have learned this skill. In other words, you want criteria that
are appropriate to the learning common to all the tasks.

How to write performance-level descriptions

The most important aspect of the levels is that performance be described, with lan‑
guage that depicts what one would observe in the work rather than the quality conclu‑
sions one would draw. As I noted in Chapter 2, a common misconception I see regarding
rubrics is that after criteria are identified, they are given evaluative scales (for example,
Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor). These are not rubrics; they are old-fashioned grading
scales. Descriptions of performance levels can be general, describing a whole family of
tasks (for example, “Uses an appropriate solution strategy”), or task-specific (for exam‑
ple, “Uses the equation 2 x + 5 = 15”). Decide whether you need general or task-specific
descriptions of performance levels (see Figure 1.2); in most cases, general descriptions
are preferred.
A second aspect of levels of performance that needs to be decided is how many
levels there should be. The best answer to this question is the conceptual answer: Use
as many levels as you can describe in terms of meaningful differences in performance
quality. For some simple tasks, this will be two levels: Acceptable and Redo, or Mastery
and Not Yet.
In practice, you don’t want to end up with an overabundance of uncoordinated evalu‑
ation results that will be difficult to summarize. And often there are several different
ways you could describe the continuum of performance quality, using more or fewer
levels. Therefore I recommend that you choose a number of levels that will coordinate
with your requirements for grading (Brookhart, 1999, 2011), if possible. For many class‑
rooms, this means four (for example, Advanced, Proficient, Basic, Below Basic) or five
(for example, A, B, C, D, F) levels. If it is not possible to coordinate the number of levels
with practical grading constraints, rather than violating the criteria and their descrip‑
tions, design a rubric that is faithful to the task and its quality criteria, and then figure
out a way to include it in a summary grade if that is needed (see Chapter 11).
Once you have decided on the number of levels, you need a description of perfor‑
mance quality for each level of each criterion. A common way to write these descrip‑
tions is to begin with the performance level you intend for most students to reach
 Writing or Selecting Effective Rubrics   |  27

(for example, Proficient), describe that, and then adjust the remaining descriptions
from there—backing off (for example, for Basic and Below Basic) or building up (for
example, for Advanced). Another common way is to start with the top category (for
example, A), describe that, and then back off (for example, for B, C, D, F). These
methods illustrate two different approaches to assessment. In a standards-based grading
context, Advanced is supposed to be described by achievement above and beyond what
is expected. In a traditional grading context, often the A is what students are aiming for.
Ask yourself this question:

The Performance Description Question: What does student work look

like at each level of quality, from high to low, on this criterion?

Whether you begin with the Proficient category or the top category for a criterion,
you don’t write four or five completely different descriptions for the different levels of
performance. You describe a continuum of levels of performance quality. These levels
should be distinguishable. You should be able to describe what is different from one
level to the next and to illustrate those descriptions with examples of students’ work.
Figure 3.2 summarizes desired characteristics for descriptions of levels of performance.
Describe student performance in terms that allow for many different paths to
success. Good general rubrics do not overly constrain or stifle students. Chapman and
Inman (2009) report this story about a 5th grader:

The eleven-year old had a science assignment to complete as homework.

Her parent, attempting to help, offered several suggestions for enhancing the
project. The child’s response to each suggestion was: “No, that’s not on the
rubric. Here’s the rubric, Mother. This is all we’re supposed to do.” (p. 198)

Chapman and Inman use this story to argue that rubrics constrain creativity and meta‑
cognitive development. I disagree. Rather, bad rubrics constrain creativity and metacog‑
nitive development. These rubrics were the “directions” type described in Chapter 2.
The authors described them as a chart in which each cell “includes specific elements
that are either present or absent” (p. 198). In terms of my definition of rubrics, there
were no descriptions of levels of performance quality on the criteria. These were, in fact,
checklists dressed up as rubrics.
Choose the words in your performance-level descriptions carefully. Performance-
level descriptions should, as the name implies, describe student performance at all levels
   | 
28 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Figure 3.2 Desired Characteristics of Descriptions of Levels of Performance

for Classroom Rubrics

Characteristics Explanation

The descriptions of levels

of performance are . . .

Descriptive Performance is described in terms of what is observed in

the work.

Clear Both students and teachers understand what the descrip-

tions mean.

Cover the whole range Performance is described from one extreme of the con-
of performance tinuum of quality to another for each criterion.

Distinguish among levels Performance descriptions are different enough from level
to level that work can be categorized unambiguously. It
should be possible to match examples of work to perfor-
mance descriptions at each level.

Center the target performance The description of performance at the level expected
(acceptable, mastery, passing) by the standard, curriculum goal, or lesson objective is
at the appropriate level placed at the intended level on the rubric.

Feature parallel descriptions from Performance descriptions at each level of the continuum
level to level for a given standard describe different quality levels for
the same aspects of the work.

of a continuum of performance. Evaluative terms (excellent, good, fair, poor, and the like)
are not used. The continuum should represent realistic expectations for the content and
grade level. Within that limit, descriptions should include all possible levels, including,
for example, a bottom level that is completely off target, even if no student is expected
to produce work at that level. The descriptions should be appropriate for the level they
are describing. For example, the description of performance at the Proficient level in
standards-based rubrics should match the level of intended accomplishment written in
the standard, goal, or objective.
 Writing or Selecting Effective Rubrics   |  29

The descriptions should be clear and based on the same elements of performance
from level to level. For example, consider the criterion Identifies the Problem in a math‑
ematics problem-solving rubric. If part of the description of proficiency is that a student
“states the problem in terms of its mathematical requirements,” then each level of that
criterion should have a description of the way students do that. Lesser instances of this
aspect of performance might be described like this: “States the problem but does not
use mathematical language” and “Does not state the problem.”

Two general approaches to designing rubrics

There are two main approaches to designing rubrics: top-down and bottom-up
(Nitko & Brookhart, 2011). The two methods do not necessarily lead to the same
rubrics. Select the method that best suits your purposes. For work involving newly intro‑
duced concepts and skills, it is better to use the top-down approach and then familiarize
the students with rubrics by having them look at samples of work using the criteria and
levels provided. This will help the students develop their conceptions of quality work.
Student co-construction of rubrics using a bottom-up approach works best for general
learning outcomes with which students are already somewhat familiar.

Top-down approach
A top-down approach is deductive. It starts with a conceptual framework that
describes the content and performance you will be assessing. Use the top-down
approach when your curriculum or standards have clearly defined the intended content
and performance. Here are the steps in the top-down approach:

1. Create (or adapt from an existing source) a conceptual framework for achieve-
ment. This should include a description of the intended achievement (e.g.,
what is good narrative writing?) and an outline of the qualities that you
intend to teach and to ask students to demonstrate (the achievement dimen‑
sions or criteria). The outline should describe the continuum of perfor‑
mance for each criterion.
2. Write general scoring rubrics using these dimensions and performance levels.
To do this, organize the criteria either analytically (one scale for each crite‑
rion) or holistically (one scale considering all criteria simultaneously) and
write descriptions for performance at each level. The general rubrics can
   | 
30 How to Create and Use Rubrics

and should be shared with students. For example, if you are constructing
mathematical problem-solving rubrics and one of the criteria is “mathemati‑
cal content knowledge,” the general rubrics may say “problem solution
shows understanding of major mathematical concepts and principles.”
Having students recognize the mathematical concepts and principles (e.g.,
“I know this problem involves the relationships among distance, rate, and
time, and those are the major concepts”) is part of the learning.
3. For teacher scoring, you may adapt the general scoring rubrics for the specific
learning goal for the performance you will be scoring. For example, if the
general rubrics say, “Problem solution shows understanding of major
mathematical concepts and principles,” to focus your scoring you might
say, “Problem solution shows understanding of the relationships among
distance, rate, and time.”
4. In either case (whether the rubrics remain general or are adapted to more
specific learning goals), use the rubrics to assess several students’ perfor-
mances, and adapt them as needed for final use. (Nitko & Brookhart, 2011,
pp. 267–268)

Bottom-up approach
A bottom-up approach is inductive. It starts with samples of student work and uses
them to create a framework for assessment. Use the bottom-up approach when you are
still defining the descriptions of content and performance or when you want to involve
students in creating the means of their own assessment. Here are the steps in the
bottom-up approach:

1. Get a dozen or more copies of students’ work. This student work should all
be relevant to the kind of performance for which you are building rubrics
(e.g., mathematics problem solving). However, if possible they should be
from several different tasks (Arter & Chappuis, 2006). The reason for this
is that you want the rubrics to reflect the content and performance descrip‑
tions for the general learning outcomes, not any particular task (e.g., not
any one particular mathematics problem).
2. Sort, or have students sort, the work into three piles: high, medium, and low
quality work. This is the reason that students need to be somewhat familiar
with the concepts and skills. If they are not, their sorting may resort to
 Writing or Selecting Effective Rubrics   |  31

surface-level skills like neatness and format rather than the quality of the
thinking and demonstration of skills.
3. Write, or have students write, specific descriptions of why each piece of work
is categorized as it is. Be specific; for example, instead of saying that the
problem was solved incorrectly, say what was done and why: the solution
used irrelevant information, or the problem was approached as a volume
problem when it was an area problem, or whatever.
4. Compare and contrast the descriptions of work and extract criteria or dimen-
sions. For example, if there are several descriptions of students using
relevant and irrelevant information, identifying relevant information in the
problem may emerge as a dimension.
5. For each of the criteria identified in step 4, write descriptions of quality along
the dimensions, for as many levels as needed. You may use three categories as
you did for the sorting, or you may use four, five, or six, depending on how
many distinctions are useful to make and/or how many levels you need for
grading or other purposes. (Nitko & Brookhart, 2011, p. 268)

Choosing criteria and writing performance-level

descriptions: A silly example
Let’s use a silly example for our first illustration of writing a rubric. Suppose you
were teaching an acting class and you wanted your students to be able to laugh on cue.
Think of some television shows or movies you have seen where the actors needed to do
this. Laughing is a performance, and it’s a process as opposed to a product. You would
show your students clips of actors laughing: the Joker in a Batman film or Santa Claus in
a Christmas movie, perhaps. You would ask them to practice laughing themselves. And
you would, at some point, help them develop criteria for their “work” that they could use
to define, develop, and eventually evaluate it. In fact, that might be a fun exercise to do
with colleagues.
One set of criteria for laughing might be Volume, Duration, and Body Involvement.
These are not the only possible criteria. A colleague and I experimented with others.
Figure 3.3 shows how we wrote descriptions of levels of performance for these criteria
for a rubric for laughing. Don’t laugh (pun intended!), but it may surprise you to learn
that the descriptions in this rubric are not all of the same sort, and that we crafted them
specifically to be able to illustrate different levels of inferences that descriptions require
you to make.
   | 
32 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Figure 3.3 Rubric for Laughing

Criteria Performance Levels

Level 4 Level 3 Level 2 Level 1

Guffaw Laugh Giggle Chuckle

Laughter is Laughter is Laughter is of a Laughter is

loud enough to loud, verging on polite, medium audible to those
call attention to impolite, and volume and standing nearby.
itself and annoy can be heard by can be heard
Volume people. anyone in the by those in
OR room. the immediate
Laughter is so vicinity.
intense there is
no noise at all.

Laughter is self- Laughter is Laughter trills, Laughter is

sustaining, per- repeated several cackles, or a brief snort,
petuating itself times, perhaps giggles for at hoot, chortle, or
until it becomes waning and least one repeat chuckle.
Duration necessary for then gathering cycle.
the laugher strength again,
or a friend to as if the laugher
intentionally put is reimagining
a stop to it. what is funny.

The whole body Cheeks scrunch Lips open, face Lips may open
is involved, up. At least smiles. or may stay
which may one body part closed.
include (but is besides the face
not limited to) moves; perhaps
Body
shoulder rolls, the shoulders
Involvement
head bob- roll or the head
bling, whole- is thrown back.
body shaking,
doubling over, or
falling down.

Some of the descriptions in this rubric are low-inference, which means that the
observer does not have to draw a conclusion or make any surmises about what the
 Writing or Selecting Effective Rubrics   |  33

observation might mean. “Lips open” is a low-inference description. Most people observ‑
ing the same person laughing would agree on whether the person’s lips were open or
not. Notice that even this description is not totally objective: How far apart do lips have
to be before they are described as “open”? Silly, sure, but it’s easier to make this point
with laughing lips than with aspects of student work about which a teacher may hold
longstanding opinions. The point of a description is it makes you look and report what
you see, not your opinion about it.
Some of the descriptions in this rubric are high-inference, which means that the
observer has to draw a conclusion or make a surmise about what is observed. For
example, “laughter is loud” is fairly low-inference, but “verging on impolite” is high-
inference. Different people might draw different conclusions about how loud laughter
has to be before it verges on impolite.
It would be easy to say just don’t use descriptions that require inferences, but unfor‑
tunately that is too easy. Aim for the lowest-inference descriptors that you can use and still
accomplish your purpose of assessing important qualities. As you do this, you will find that
most descriptions you use will require some level of inference, even when they appear
to be objective. For example, a common description of the Proficient level for a Gram‑
mar and Usage criterion for written reports would read something like “Few errors in
grammar and usage, and errors do not interfere with meaning.” There are inferences to
be made. How few is few? How muddled does a sentence have to be before its meaning
is unclear to a reader?
The important point here is that leaving descriptions open to professional judgment
—to making some inferences—is better than locking things down with overly rigid
descriptions. Don’t be tempted to make everything so low-inference (for example,
“three errors in grammar”) that you don’t leave room for good judgment. The role of the
descriptions is interpreting the criteria along a continuum of quality. Three small errors
in grammar may characterize an essay that exhibits much more complex and sophisti‑
cated English communication than an essay that has only one but that doesn’t attempt
much beyond short, simple sentences. Aha! I hope you are thinking already that declar‑
ing writing “complex” and “sophisticated” also requires making inferences. If so, point
made. There is no way to make critical thinking about students’ demonstration of what
they know and can do completely inference-free. If you try, you end up with rubrics that
are pretty trivial, as we explored in Chapter 2.
   | 
34 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Choosing criteria and writing performance-level

descriptions: A real example
This example illustrates the top-down method, and it also illustrates the importance
of drafting and revising rubrics when you design them. Courtney Kovatch had taught
her 3rd graders at West Hills Primary School in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, a science unit
on habitats and life cycles of animals. As part of that unit, she asked students to work
in pairs to do animal life-cycle research and then present their findings on a poster and
orally as a report to the class.
First-draft rubric. Ms. Kovatch created a rubric for the life-cycle project. She
developed her conceptual framework for achievement, using as criteria characteristics
she wanted to see in the finished work. She gave the students the rubric at the same
time she gave the assignment. She and the students discussed the rubric before begin‑
ning work and during work on the project. They did a class example, and then the pairs
used the rubric for self-assessment and revision before their project was due. The self-
assessment was productive for the students; most were able to improve their posters—
and describe those improvements—before turning in their finished work.
The rubric makes an excellent example because it has many strong points, and yet
there are clear places where revision would improve it. Figure 3.4 presents the first draft
of the rubric.
I selected this example because there is a lot to work with here. Some readers may
be already launching into a critique, and we’ll get there, but please notice that you can
tell by reading the descriptions that the teacher had modeled at least some of her think‑
ing after soundly designed rubrics. I think it’s instructive to see how these rubrics can
be improved, and I thank Ms. Kovatch for allowing us all to learn from her example.
The rubric in Figure 3.4 is a true rubric—that is, it has criteria and performance-
level descriptions. Several of the criteria do address the question: What characteristics of
student work would give evidence for student learning of the knowledge or skills speci‑
fied in this standard (or instructional goal)? Specifically, if the instructional goal was for
students to know that animals have life cycles and to be able to find out, via research,
about the life cycle of an animal, then three of the criteria in particular seem relevant:
Order (an important concept in any “cycle”), Illustrations (important for communicating
understanding), and Description of Life-Cycle Stages. Similarly, the performance-level
descriptions begin to answer the question: What does student work look like at each
level of quality, from high to low, on this criterion? Finally, Ms. Kovatch had given some
thought to the weighting of the criteria and had made Illustrations and Description
Figure 3.4 First Draft of Life-Cycle Project Rubric

6 Points 4 Points 2 Points 0 Points

Title is evident on poster, Title is on poster, but with No title or heading.

Title of Poster correctly spelled and errors or it is hard to read.
capitalized.

All the stages of the life One or more stages of the Not included.
Order of Life- cycle are in the correct life cycle are in the wrong
Cycle Stages order. Stages are correctly order.
labeled.

Illustrations Illustrations of each stage One or two illustrations of More than 2 illustrations Not included.
of Life-Cycle are evident. the life-cycle stages are of the life-cycle stages are
Stages missing. missing.

Writing or Selecting Effective Rubrics

Description Stages are described with Stages are described with Stages are incomplete or Not included.
of Life-Cycle at least 2 details. one detail. One or more missing. Stages have one
Stages stage is missing. or zero supporting details.

Poster is very neat and Poster is somewhat neat Poster is messy, many
organized. Title and all and organized. Some cor- errors, not colored, or
Overall Appear-
sentences have correct rect spelling, punctuation, unfinished. Poster shows
ance of Poster
spelling, capitalization, and and capitalization. Poster no signs of effort.
punctuation. shows signs of little effort.

Source: Used with permission from Courtney Kovatch, 3rd grade teacher, West Hills Primary School, Kittanning, PA.

  | 
35
   | 
36 How to Create and Use Rubrics

of Life-Cycle Stages more important than the other criteria by allocating more points
to them. Given her intended learning outcome, these were the appropriate criteria to
weight more heavily.
Revising the rubric. This rubric would be more effective if it were edited to
address the following points:

• Remove format criteria from the rubric and deal with them as work-habits issues.
• Replace points with proficiency levels.
• Edit performance-level descriptions to include fewer counts and more substantive
statements.

The results would be more like the rubric in Figure 3.5.

Criteria. The science instructional goal was for students to know that animals have
life cycles and to be able to find out, via research, about the life cycle of an animal. Three
of the criteria match the goal, and they are retained in the revised version. They could
also have been collapsed into one (Demonstrates Understanding of the Life Cycle of the
Animal). In the original version, two of the criteria (Title and Overall Appearance) were
about format and English mechanics (capitalization, punctuation), with some effort and
work habits (neatness, “effort”) thrown in. These are not part of science achievement.
The English mechanics could have been assessed and graded separately, and the
results used to inform the students’ English grades, but that was not what the teacher
intended here. Teachers who wish to do that could assess English mechanics with a
separate criterion. That criterion, however, should be about mechanics. Neatness and
“effort” would be assessed as work habits and reported separately from the academic
achievement grade.
Ms. Kovatch did not really intend to assess English mechanics. Those criteria were
in the rubric simply because she thought they were important. A checklist that included
neatness, title, capitalization, punctuation, and the like would have been a good way to
handle that without mixing nonscience achievement into the science grade. She could
have made a checklist for student self- or peer evaluation and required students to sign
off on their work (or their peers’ work) before turning it in. Some teachers are surprised
that when you remove work habits from the grade, students still turn in neat work. In
fact, that is usually what happens. Is every poster a Rembrandt? No, but work is no less
neat than it would have been under the “grade neatness” system, especially if checklists
or other aids are used. And a big gain is made, because the project grade more accu‑
rately reflects the learning standard or goal it was intended to assess.
Figure 3.5 Revised Version of Life-Cycle Project Rubric

Advanced Proficient Nearing Proficient Novice

All the stages of the life One or more stages of the No order is specified, or
cycle are in the correct  life cycle are in the wrong order is incorrect.
Order of Life-
order and correctly labeled. order.
Cycle Stages

Each stage has an Each stage has an illustra- Some stage illustrations Illustrations do not help
Illustrations illustration that gives an tion that helps show what do not show what happens show what happens to the
of Life-Cycle especially clear or detailed happens to the animal to the animal then. animal during its life cycle.
Stages view about what happens then.
to the animal then.

Writing or Selecting Effective Rubrics

Stages are described Stages are described Stages are described with No stages are described,
Description accurately. Descriptions accurately. some inaccurate or incom- or stages are described
of Life-Cycle are especially complete plete information. inaccurately.
Stages and detailed.

  | 
37
   | 
38 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Performance levels. The teacher’s original intent was to add up the points and take
a percentage grade, a common approach used in her school. For this intention, weight‑
ing the title, order, and overall appearance criteria 4 points instead of 6 made sense. For
reasons that are discussed more thoroughly in Chapter 10, using points and percentages
for grading with rubrics is not recommended. Doing so removes some of the observa‑
tion and judgment of work that is a strength of rubrics, and often the results do not
match actual student performance and achievement. The revised rubrics use profi‑
ciency-level descriptions (Advanced, Proficient, Nearing Proficient, and Novice) instead
of points. Then the descriptions can be written to those levels. Notice that one of the
criteria, Order of Life-Cycle Stages, does not have an Advanced level. Knowing the order
of an organism’s life-cycle stages is a characteristic of proficiency. Any advanced under‑
standing about the life cycle would be expressed in the descriptions and illustrations.
Descriptions of performance at each level. Several “wordsmithing” revisions have
been made in the descriptions of performance at each level from Figure 3.4 to Figure
3.5. First, numerical counts (“one stage,” “one detail”) are replaced with substantive
judgments. This revision actually makes the assessment more accurate, not less accu‑
rate, as you might think. Different animals have different life cycles, and some stages
and details are more important than others. The revised descriptions require figuring
out how clearly the students’ descriptions show their understanding of the research they
have done, rather than the number of facts they copied. This, in turn, will make for a
more accurate assessment of students’ understandings of animal life cycles. And it will
discourage students from copying facts instead of interpreting what they learned by
reading the facts.
Second, there is space for describing perfor‑
Self-reflection mance at an Advanced level—that is, beyond that
necessary for simply doing what was required.
Do you sometimes use rubrics that are more about
Because students have the rubrics ahead of time,
assignment directions than evidence of learning?
they know that they can include extra-detailed,
If you do, try to revise your rubrics in a similar
more complex descriptions if they are able. The
manner to the way we revised the Life-Cycle Proj-
first draft of the rubric provided no reason for
ect rubric. Even better, work with a colleague, so
students to do anything above or beyond listing
you can discuss the issues raised in this chapter
stages in their chosen animal’s life cycle, copying
as you revise.
two facts about each stage, and using some sort
 Writing or Selecting Effective Rubrics   |  39

of illustration. The revised rubric allows teachers and students to judge how deeply
students delve into the subject, and it encourages delving.

Summing up
The chapter provided suggestions for choosing criteria and writing descriptions of
levels of performance, intended to help you write rubrics or adapt rubrics that you find
on the Internet or in other resources. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 discuss three kinds of rubrics
that are effective for teaching and learning, depending on your purpose.
 4
General Rubrics for Fundamental Skills

General rubrics are particularly useful for fundamental skills that develop over time.
Writing and mathematics problem solving are two examples. This chapter begins by
describing general rubrics for these skills. In both cases, the disciplines have agreed
on the skills involved. In writing, the 6+1 Trait Writing rubrics have become widely
accepted as clear statements of what good writing looks like. More recently, agree‑
ment has begun to converge in the field of mathematics on what good problem solving
looks like, and although there are many math problem-solving rubrics, they tend to be
more alike than different. Generally accepted criteria for mathematics problem solv‑
ing have included strategic knowledge and mathematical communication since at least
1989, when the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards (NCTM, 1989)
emphasized these skills as being on a par with mathematical knowledge.
The chapter ends by describing general rubrics for report writing and creativity that
I have developed. These are important school-based skills, and I have noticed that often
rubrics for these skills are wanting. For example, “creativity” rubrics are often about
artistic presentation rather than true creative accomplishment. I welcome comments,
suggestions, and additional examples from readers.

40
 General Rubrics for Fundamental Skills   |  41

Writing: The 6+1 Trait Writing rubrics

For decades, the 6+1 Trait Writing rubrics have been widely used by teachers,
schools, districts, and states. They have become a standard way to look at student
writing.

Evidence of effectiveness
A theme of this chapter is that when rubrics clearly characterize what student work
should look like, instruction, assessment, and learning improve. For the 6+1 Trait Writ‑
ing rubrics, expert opinion and research bear this out. These rubrics have changed the
teaching and learning of writing all across the country.
I asked Judy Arter, a professional developer, author, and researcher who has done
extensive work with the 6+1 Trait Writing rubrics, to comment on this notion that clear
rubrics help with teaching and learning and that the 6+1 Trait Writing rubrics are per‑
haps the most widely known example of that. Here is her reply (personal communica‑
tion, November 21, 2011):

I agree that 6+1 Traits transformed not only the way we think about writ‑
ing, but also the way we think about classroom assessment. It certainly
changed the way I have viewed assessment. In 1980 people were saying,
“We can’t assess writing, it’s too individualistic.” Then it was math problem
solving. Now people are saying, “Of course we can assess writing and math
problem solving, but we can’t assess critical thinking.” All it takes is a group
of people that try to define, in writing, what good ________ looks like, try it
out repeatedly, revise it repeatedly, get examples, etc. The more we do that,
especially with learning objectives that are slippery and hard to define, the
better off we’ll be.

Jan Chappuis, director of the Pearson Assessment Training Institute, says she felt
she learned how to teach writing when she went through the Puget Sound Writing
Program in the early 1980s. Although she found the writing process transformational for
her, there were still problems when it came to conferencing with students and guiding
their revisions (personal communication, December 19, 2011). She says:
   | 
42 How to Create and Use Rubrics

What I believe the 6+1 Trait rubrics did was take what individual teachers did
and put it all together, not just responding to one piece here and one piece
there, and put it together to define the domain of writing. It was the first time
I’d seen everything I was trying to teach about writing [in one place]. As a
guide for teaching, and as a guide for students as they are responding to
other students’ writing—what do I want feedback on? The 6+1 Trait rubrics
really did a wonderful job of filling all those needs, in a way that felt more
rigorous, and less idiosyncratic.

Research bears out the experience of Judy Arter, Jan Chappuis, and many teachers,
schools, and districts: The 6+1 Trait Writing rubrics clarify the qualities of writing and
make it easier to teach and learn. A recent federally funded study (Coe, Hanita, Nish‑
ioka, & Smiley, 2011) included 196 teachers and more than 4,000 students in 74 schools
in Oregon. The researchers compared posttest essay scores of students of teachers who
did and did not have professional development in the 6+1 Trait Writing model. They
controlled for students’ previous writing performance and school characteristics (pov‑
erty level, average hours of writing practice, along with teacher experience in general
and in teaching writing) and used a statistical model that acknowledged students were
clustered within schools.
This state-of-the-art statistical analysis indicated that using the 6+1 Trait Writing
model significantly increased student writing scores, with an estimated effect size of
0.109, a small but stable effect. Students improved significantly in three of the six traits
(Organization, Voice, and Word Choice). In the other three traits (Ideas, Sentence Flu‑
ency, and Conventions), performance improved but not enough to be statistically signifi‑
cant. This study used more sophisticated research methods than two previous studies of
the 6+1 Trait Writing model, one of which found improvement (Arter, Spandel, Culham,
& Pollard, 1994) and one of which did not (Kozlow & Bellamy, 2004).

Criteria and levels of performance

The 6+1 Trait Writing rubrics were developed in the 1980s by teachers working with
the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, now Education Northwest (education‑
northwest.org). Identifying the six traits was a large part of that work. The six (plus one)
traits are the following:

• Ideas
• Organization
 General Rubrics for Fundamental Skills   |  43

• Voice
• Word Choice
• Sentence Fluency
• Conventions
• (Presentation)

The “plus one” criterion, Presentation, is used when presenting a polished, published
written product is part of what students are intended to learn.
Originally, the criteria had five performance levels. A more recent version with six
performance levels, which also can be divided according to Proficient/Not Proficient,
has been developed. Appendix A shows the six-point rubrics for grades 3 through 12.
Notice that each element in the performance description is listed in its own lettered
row, making it easy to see the parallels in the descriptions across levels and also making
it easier for students to see how to engineer improvement on a particular trait in their
writing.
Education Northwest has also prepared a version of the six-point 6+1 Trait Writing
rubrics for K–2 students. The K–2 version includes examples of student work as part of
the performance-level descriptions. Appendix B presents this version of the rubrics.

Writing as a performance domain

If you are not familiar with the 6+1 Trait Writing rubrics, I suggest you read them
first and then try to apply them to a set of student work. You will see how nicely these
rubrics focus your review of student work on the substance of students’ writing and how
the students harnessed language to convey that substance.
If your students are not familiar with the 6+1 Trait Writing rubrics, it’s a good idea to
introduce them one at a time (for example, the rubric for Ideas), using examples of work
at each level as well as the rubrics themselves (Arter et al., 1994). Jan Chappuis points
out that using the 6+1 Trait Writing rubrics allows teachers of writing to go beyond for‑
mulaic teaching of writing and really delve into the heart of it (personal communication,
December 19, 2011):

When they are giving kids 5 points for this and 5 points for that, often the
teachers’ vision of quality [writing] is not clear enough. This problem is the
one the 6 Traits solve so beautifully. . . . The two things going on in. . . Ideas
are focus and details. How do I teach kids lessons on what is a narrow focus?
No amount of teaching how to write a topic sentence and supporting details
   | 
44 How to Create and Use Rubrics

will get you there. When you teach main idea, this is what you’re getting
at, but a better way is to work on focus and support. . . . Give them tightly
focused topics first, teach them how to select details that are interesting and
important, give them mini-lessons. . . . What are the main ideas inside each
trait, then you teach to those pieces, you ask students to self-assess on those
pieces. When a student’s piece is an organizational mess, often the problem
is focus. I’ve found the 6 Traits not only good for assessing and teaching . . .
but also how to diagnose problems and where to start.

Notice that each of the six traits (seven, if you count Presentation) employs a key
question to focus students and teachers on the meaning of the trait, and then four to six
elements identifying characteristics to look for in the writing. For clarity, the elements
are lettered. The elements are not the traits (or criteria, in the language I have been
using in this book). The elements are “look-fors”: indicators or pointers toward the
criteria.
For example, the key question for the Ideas trait is “Does the writer stay focused
and share original and fresh information or perspective on the topic?” The rubric identi‑
fies six elements to look for in the writing: (a) a narrow topic, (b) strong support for that
topic, (c) relevant details, (d) original ideas based on the author’s own experience, (e)
readers’ questions being answered, and (f) author helping readers make connections
with the writing. Each of these elements could support generating examples, targeted
instruction, student practice using the writing process, self-assessment, peer assess‑
ment, and teacher feedback.

Examples for designing effective rubrics

The 6+1 Trait Writing rubrics, in my opinion, did more than revolutionize the teach‑
ing and learning of writing. They showed people what this new tool called “rubrics”
could and should do.
The 6+1 Trait Writing rubrics are instructive for designing other kinds of rubrics
because they illustrate good ways around the two main pitfalls that are so easy for writ‑
ers of rubrics to fall into. First, they show how to avoid counting and other formulaic
approaches to description. Second, they show how to avoid narrow description that
leaves room for only one kind of good answer, and instead allow for multiple routes to
quality work. The antidote to both of these pitfalls is to describe what the work should
accomplish. The 6+1 Trait Writing rubrics do this by using a key question for each trait
and, for each element, describing the effect that successful work has on the reader.
 General Rubrics for Fundamental Skills   |  45

Probably my favorite example of that is how these rubrics show teachers and other
educators another way to evaluate grammar besides counting errors. In the Conventions
trait, grammar per se is not the issue. Rather, as the key question shows, the issue is
how much editing would be needed for readers to be able to understand the meaning
the writer is trying to communicate. Even for Exceptional (Level 6) performance,
“Author uses standard writing conventions effectively to enhance readability; errors are
few and only minor editing is needed to publish.” The desired quality is not “zero
errors,” but rather “readable.”
Another favorite example of mine is how
the Organization trait allows for multiple routes Self-reflection
to quality work. Many elementary teachers
instruct their students in paragraph writing with Do you use the 6+1 Trait Writing rubrics in your
a formulaic approach. Students start with a topic teaching? Did you learn to write using the 6+1
sentence, list three supporting details, and end Trait Writing rubrics when you were in school?
with a concluding sentence. This is not a bad What has been your experience with them?
protocol, but it is also not the only way to write an
organized paragraph. Similarly, some high school writing instruction teaches a five-para‑
graph essay format. Again, this is not a bad protocol, but it is not the only approach. The
key question for the Organization trait again is reading for meaning: “Does the organiza‑
tional structure enhance the ideas and make the piece easier to understand?”

Mathematics problem solving

Mathematics teachers seem to agree on the qualities of effective mathematics
problem solving. Many mathematics problem-solving rubrics now use three dimen‑
sions: Mathematical Conceptual and Procedural Knowledge, Strategic Knowledge, and
Mathematical Communication. Although you will still find many different mathemat‑
ics problem-solving rubrics, almost all of them use these dimensions, sometimes with
mathematical conceptual and procedural knowledge assessed as separate criteria.
These dimensions are found in rubrics for research, for state test programs, and for the
classroom.
Lane, Liu, Ankenmann, and Stone (1996) used rubrics for research on the assess‑
ment of mathematical problem solving that were based, in part, on rubrics used for
a state testing program at the time (California State Department of Education, 1989).
Attributes they considered under each criterion included the following:
   | 
46 How to Create and Use Rubrics

• Mathematical knowledge: Understanding the problem’s mathematical concepts and

principles, using mathematical terminology and notation, execution of algorithms,
and calculation accuracy.
• Strategic knowledge: Use of relevant outside information, identifying elements of the
problem and their relationships, use of a solution process, and whether that process
is systematic and complete.
• Mathematical communication: Completeness of response, clarity of explanations
and descriptions, appropriateness of diagrams, communication to audience, and
soundness (logic and support) of arguments.

Renee Parker (Parker & Breyfogle, 2011) found the same elements were important
in teaching 3rd graders how to solve problems and write about them in ways that would
prepare them to do well on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA).
Using problems based on released items from the PSSA and a student-friendly rubric
she found on the Illinois State Department of Education website, she developed a prob‑
lem set and associated rubric. Ms. Parker adapted the Illinois rubric to be even more
appropriate for 3rd graders. She used nouns instead of pronouns (for example, “the
problem” instead of “it”), made sure all verbs were simple and active, and changed some
words to match the language of elementary mathematics instruction. Parker and Brey‑
fogle’s student-friendly rubric for elementary mathematics problem solving is shown
in Figure 4.1. This rubric assessed the same problem-solving elements—mathematics
concepts, planning and using strategies, and explaining mathematics work in writing—
as did Lane and her colleagues; as did California, Pennsylvania, and Illinois; and, in fact,
as do many other schools, districts, and states too numerous to cite here.
Parker and Breyfogle titled their project “Learning to Write About Mathematics.”
Ms. Parker had embarked on her project because, although her students could solve
problems, they had trouble explaining their reasoning. Mathematical communication was
the area in which her students needed to improve the most, and, in fact, they did just that.
By the end of five weeks, average and below-average students were able to explain their
reasoning as well as her above-average students. The rubric itself didn’t do the trick. What
did it was using the rubric in a series of class activities and individual conferences, helping
the students talk about the criteria and how their work and others’ work met them.
We’ll talk more about how Ms. Parker used the rubric in Chapter 10. The purpose
for showing it in this chapter is to analyze its construction. As noted, this rubric is stu‑
dent friendly. It is written from the students’ point of view, using first person, in language
the students can understand. It is a great example of how “student-friendly language”
Figure 4.1 Math Problem-Solving Rubric

General Rubrics for Fundamental Skills

Source: From “Learning to write about mathematics,” by R. Parker and M. L. Breyfogle, 2011, Teaching Children Mathematics, 18(2), online appendix. Available http://www.nctm.org/uploadedFiles/
Journals_and_Books/TCM/articles/2011-Vol18/Extras-2011-Vol18/tcm2011-09-90z1.pdf. Reprinted with permission.

  | 
47
   | 
48 How to Create and Use Rubrics

does not mean simply easy vocabulary. It means that the descriptions are expressed in
the manner that students would think about their work. Thus student-friendly language
is not simply a matter of writing style; it’s also about students’ ways of thinking.
Probably the most important illustration in this rubric of expressing thinking from
the students’ point of view is in the descriptions of levels of performance for the Showing
Math Knowledge criterion. Mathematics problem-solving rubrics written for adults
describe students’ work in terms like “shows understanding of mathematical concepts
and principles,” “uses appropriate terms and notations,” and “executes algorithms
completely and correctly.” But you can’t ask students to evaluate their own “understand‑
ing of mathematical concepts and principles.” That is a judgment that must be made by
an external observer. In this student-friendly rubric, the concept of understanding has
been flipped over, from what the adult would observe to what the student would do. So
the language became “I figure out . . . .” Student understanding of mathematical concepts
and principles is exhibited in the course of “figuring out” the solution to the problem.
The other two criteria, Using Problem-Solving
Self-reflection Strategies and Writing an Explanation, similarly
use this flipping principle, describing not what an
If you are an elementary school teacher, how can
adult would observe but what a student would do.
you envision using the Math Problem-Solving
For example, “I use all the important information
Rubric in your classroom? If you teach secondary
. . .” is what a student does when an adult would
school mathematics, how might you adapt this
conclude that the student identified all the impor‑
rubric for your students?
tant elements of a problem. In these two criteria,
incorporating how students would think, as well as
speak, about their work into student-friendly language is not quite as obvious as for the
knowledge criterion, but it’s there nonetheless.

Writing reports
Written reports are important assignments in many different subject areas. Typi‑
cally the teacher’s intention is for the students to learn some facts and concepts about
the topic, analyze or process the material so that it answers a question or in some way
becomes a property of the student and not just a regurgitation of sources, and com‑
municate the results in the format of a term paper or report. That means the content,
the thinking, and the report writing are all important criteria. The rubric in Figure 4.2
reflects these criteria.
Figure 4.2 General Rubric for Written Projects (may be adapted for specific projects)

Content Reasoning & Evidence Clarity

4
The thesis is clear. A large amount and Information is clearly and explicitly related Few errors of grammar and usage; any
variety of material and evidence support to the point(s) the material is intended minor errors do not interfere with meaning.
the thesis. All material is relevant. This to support. Information is organized in a Language style and word choice are highly
material includes details. Information logical manner and is presented concisely. effective and enhance meaning. Style and
is accurate. Appropriate sources were Flow is good. Introductions, transitions, and word choice are appropriate to the project.
consulted. other connecting material take the listener/
reader along.

3
The thesis is clear. An adequate amount of Information is clearly related to the Some errors of grammar and usage; errors
material and evidence supports the thesis. point(s) the material is intended to sup- do not interfere with meaning. Language
Most material is relevant. This material port, although not all connections may be style and word choice are for the most part
includes details. Information is mostly explained. Information is organized in a effective and appropriate to the project.
accurate; any inaccuracies are minor and logical manner. Flow is adequate. Introduc-
do not interfere with the points made. tions, transitions, and other connecting

General Rubrics for Fundamental Skills

Appropriate sources were consulted. material take the listener/reader along for
the most part. Any abrupt transitions do
not interfere with intended meaning.

continued

  | 
49
 50
  | 
How to Create and Use Rubrics
Figure 4.2 General Rubric for Written Projects (may be adapted for specific projects) (continued )

Content Reasoning & Evidence Clarity

2
The thesis may be somewhat unclear. Some of the information is related to the Major errors of grammar and usage begin
Some material and evidence support the point(s) the material is intended to sup- to interfere with meaning. Language
thesis. Some of the material is relevant, port, but connections are not explained. style and word choice are simple, bland,
and some is not. Details are lacking. Infor- Information is not entirely organized in a otherwise not very effective or not entirely
mation may include some inaccuracies. At logical manner, although some structure appropriate.
least some sources were appropriate. is apparent. Flow is choppy. Introductions,
transitions, and other connecting material
may be lacking or unsuccessful.

1 The thesis is not clear. Much of the mate- Information is not related to the point(s) the Major errors of grammar and usage make
rial may be irrelevant to the overall topic or material is intended to support. Information meaning unclear. Language style and word
inaccurate. Details are lacking. Appropriate is organized in a logical manner. Material choice are ineffective and/or inappropriate.
sources were not consulted. does not flow. Information is presented as
a sequence of unrelated material.

Source: From How to give effective feedback to your students (pp. 63–64), by S. M. Brookhart, 2008, Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Copyright 2008 by ASCD. Reprinted with permission.
 General Rubrics for Fundamental Skills   |  51

This rubric also reflects changes in my own thinking about assessing term papers
and written reports (Brookhart, 1993). I have been persuaded in my own work with
teachers and students, and by advances in the field shown in the work of colleagues
(Arter & Chappuis, 2006), that general rubrics, used repeatedly for assessing similar
skills, help students learn.
General analytic rubrics that define for students what the criteria are for good report
writing as an overall skill, and that focus students on descriptions of quality of work for
those criteria, are useful not only for grading but also for learning. As students use these
rubrics on several different reports, they learn to focus on the elements of content (Do
I have a thesis? Do I support it with detailed, accurate, relevant material? Did I get the
material from appropriate sources?), reasoning and evidence (Did I write logically? Is it
clear how my details support my main points? Can a reader follow my reasoning?), and
clarity (Did I write clearly?).
Strategies for getting students to use rubrics to learn and to monitor their learning
are shared in Chapters 9 and 10. Strategies for using rubrics for grading are presented
in Chapter 11, although here I would foreshadow that discussion by noting that for some
written reports the Content criterion might count double. For now, it is sufficient to see
how the descriptions in these rubrics are general and would bear up under repeated use
for a fundamental skill such as report writing.

Creativity
Creativity is a general skill that is often incorporated as one of the criteria in task-
based rubrics for all sorts of written, oral, and graphic student products. “Wait!” you say.
“How can you assess creativity? Isn’t creativity some ineffable quality, some inspiration
that just springs from the mind in a flash of insight?” Actually, not so. Creative people do
have flashes of insight, but their creative processes are not different in kind from “nor‑
mal” thinking. Creativity is the exceptional use of “familiar mental operations such as
remembering, understanding, and recognizing” (Perkins, 1981, p. 274). If we can name
the sorts of things that creative students do, we can teach creativity and assess it. And
we need to do a better job of that than often happens.
Creativity is sometimes misinterpreted as a description of student work that is visu‑
ally interesting or persuasive or exciting (Brookhart, 2010). If this is the case, it is much
better to call the criterion what it is—visual attractiveness, persuasiveness, or whatever.
A pretty cover on a report may be “creative,” but it is much more likely to be simply a
   | 
52 How to Create and Use Rubrics

good use of media (hand lettering and coloring or computer clip art, perhaps), more
akin to a visual arts skill than creativity. Once the criterion is appropriately named, it
may drop off the list because it becomes clear that it is not really related to the learning
outcomes of interest.
I have seen creativity criteria in rubrics that intended to assess originality, and that’s
closer to the mark. The top category for a Creativity/Originality criterion describes
work as very original, creative, inventive, imaginative, unique, and so on. The levels
below devolve from that, with work described as using other people’s ideas, like every‑
one else’s, not very imaginative, and the like. Such rubrics work for me, and they can
work for students and teachers to the degree that they have good examples to show
what “original” means. These would be examples not for students to emulate the con‑
tent, but for them to emulate the way in which the content stands out from others.
However, there is more to creativity than just originality, and as we have seen in the
6+1 Trait Writing rubrics, the more clearly you define the criteria, the more helpful you
will be to students. If you ask, “What do creative students do?” the answer can be sum‑
marized into four categories. Creative students do the following:

• Recognize the importance of a deep knowledge base and continually

work to learn new things.
• Are open to new ideas and actively seek them out.
• Find source material in a wide variety of media, people, and events.
• Organize and reorganize ideas into different categories or combinations
and then evaluate whether the results are interesting, new, or helpful.
• Use trial and error if they are not sure how to proceed, viewing failure
as opportunity to learn. (Brookhart, 2010, pp. 128–129)

If these are the characteristics of creative students, then these characteristics should
be evident in their work. Excluding the last one—which is more of a personal trait than
something that would result in evidence in any one specific piece of work—we can
derive four criteria for creative work:

• Depth and quality of ideas

• Variety of sources
• Organization and combination of ideas
• Originality of contribution
 General Rubrics for Fundamental Skills   |  53

Figure 4.3 organizes these criteria into an analytic rubric. I have written the descrip‑
tions of performance along a continuum that could be labeled 4, 3, 2, 1, with 3 being the
Proficient level. Because “proficient at creativity” doesn’t sound right, I have labeled the
levels Very Creative, Creative, Ordinary/Routine, and Imitative. Although no one wants
to be “imitative,” there are times when ordinary work is appropriate. For assignments
and assessments where this is the case, my advice is don’t ask for creative work and
don’t use a rubric (or any other means) to assess it.
Many major assignments already have
analytic rubrics associated with them. In that Self-reflection
situation, adding four more rubric scales to the
assessment might be a bit much. Figure 4.4 Do you use rubrics for written reports or for cre-
organizes the same four criteria for creativity— ativity in your teaching? What has been your expe-
Ideas, Sources, Organization/Combination, and rience with them? How does that experience help
Originality—into one holistic rubric for creativity. you interpret the information about rubrics for
Note that there are still four criteria; it’s just that written reports and for creativity in this chapter?
they are considered simultaneously. So although
the rubric in Figure 4.4 looks one-dimensional, it’s very different from a creativity scale
that lists, for example, “very creative, creative, not creative,” or something like that. And
although you might use the holistic rubric in Figure 4.4 for grading, the analytic version
in Figure 4.3 would be better for teaching and learning.

Summing up
This chapter had two main purposes. The first was to make the case for using
general, analytic rubrics for fundamental skills. General, analytic rubrics that are worth
students’ time and effort are the antithesis of the task-based, “directions”-style rubrics
that count things rather than evaluate quality. General, analytic rubrics are good for
learning as well as for grading.
The second purpose was to show several wonderful examples. Each of them illus‑
trates the two defining characteristics of rubrics: appropriate criteria and, for each cri‑
terion, descriptions of performance along a continuum of quality. Their use of language
and their treatment of both the criteria and performance-level descriptions will help you
as you prepare your own criteria and performance-level descriptions. Most important,
 54
  | 
How to Create and Use Rubrics
Figure 4.3 Analytic Rubric for Creativity

Very Creative Creative Ordinary/Routine Imitative

Ideas represent a startling Ideas represent important Ideas represent important Ideas do not represent impor-
Depth and Quality variety of important concepts concepts from different con- concepts from the same or tant concepts.
of Ideas from different contexts or texts or disciplines. similar contexts or disciplines.
disciplines.
Created product draws on Created product draws on Created product draws on Created product draws on
Variety of Sources a wide-ranging variety of a variety of sources, includ- a limited set of sources and only one source, and/or
sources, including differ- ing different texts, media, media. sources are not trustworthy or
ent texts, media, resource resource persons, and/or appropriate.
persons, and/or personal personal experiences.
experiences.
Ideas are combined in original Ideas are combined in original Ideas are combined in Ideas are copied or restated
Organization and and surprising ways to solve a ways to solve a problem, ways that are derived from from the source(s) consulted.
Combination of problem, address an issue, or address an issue, or make the thinking of others (for
Ideas make something new. something new. example, of the authors in
sources consulted).
Created product is interesting, Created product is interesting, Created product serves its Created product does not
Originality of new, and/or helpful, mak- new, and/or helpful, making intended purpose (e.g., solv- serve its intended purpose
Contribution ing an original contribution an original contribution for its ing a problem or addressing (e.g., solving a problem or
that includes identifying a intended purpose (e.g., solv- an issue). addressing an issue).
previously unknown problem, ing a problem or addressing
issue, or purpose. an issue).
 General Rubrics for Fundamental Skills   |  55

Figure 4.4 Holistic Rubric for Creativity

Very Creative Ideas represent a startling variety of important concepts from different
contexts or disciplines. Created product draws on a wide-ranging variety
of sources, including different texts, media, resource persons, and/or 
personal experiences. Ideas are combined in original and surprising
ways to solve a problem, address an issue, or make something new.
Created product is interesting, new, and/or helpful, making an original
contribution that includes identifying a previously unknown problem,
issue, or purpose.

Creative Ideas represent important concepts from different contexts or disci-

plines. Created product draws on a variety of sources, including different
texts, media, resource persons, and/or personal experiences. Ideas are
combined in original ways to solve a problem, address an issue, or make
something new. Created product is interesting, new, and/or helpful,
making an original contribution for its intended purpose (e.g., solving a
problem or addressing an issue).

Ordinary/Routine Ideas represent important concepts from the same or similar contexts
or disciplines. Created product draws on a limited set of sources and
media. Ideas are combined in ways that are derived from the thinking
of others (e.g., of the authors in sources consulted). Created product
serves its intended purpose (e.g., solving a problem or addressing an
issue).

Imitative Ideas do not represent important concepts. Created product draws on

only one source, and/or sources are not trustworthy or appropriate.
Ideas are copied or restated from the source(s) consulted. Created
product does not serve its intended purpose (e.g., solving a problem or
addressing an issue).

the way the rubrics in this chapter use criteria and performance-level descriptions
should help you get a better sense of the nature of those two defining characteristics of
rubrics, another main theme of the book.
There are some occasions when task-specific rubrics are useful. The next chapter
considers task-specific rubrics and how to use them.
 5
Task-Specific Rubrics and Scoring Schemes
for Special Purposes

For me and for others who work with teachers and rubrics (Arter & Chappuis, 2006;
Arter & McTighe, 2001; Chappuis, 2009), the advantages that come with using rubrics
to support student learning are so significant that we more or less recommend you
always use general rubrics, except in special cases. In this chapter we explore those
special cases. Don’t be fooled, however, into thinking that means you should use task-
specific rubrics if general rubrics are more appropriate.

When to use task-specific rubrics

The special purposes for which task-specific rubrics are useful are related to grad‑
ing. In particular, task-specific rubrics are useful for grading student work intended to
assess recall and comprehension of a body of knowledge—remembering and under‑
standing facts and concepts.
Task-specific rubrics are easier than general rubrics to use reliably without a lot of
practice. It requires less inference to match a description of a right answer than to make
a more abstract judgment to match a description of performance quality. There are a
few grading purposes that capitalize on this one positive feature of task-specific rubrics.
When you are grading test questions for a final exam or any kind of test where students
will see only their grade and have no opportunity for feedback, revision, or further
56
 Task-Specific Rubrics and Scoring Schemes for Special Purposes   |  57

learning, task-specific rubrics for individual test questions make for quick, reliable grad‑
ing. Figure 5.1 gives an example of a task-specific rubric for a 4th grade mathematics
problem that requires students to solve a multistep problem and explain their reasoning.

Figure 5.1 A Mathematics Problem Scored with a Task-Specific Rubric

The Problem

An amusement park has games, rides, and shows.

•  The total number of games, rides, and shows is 70.

•  There are 34 rides.
•  There are two times as many games as shows.

How many games are there? ______________________

How many shows are there? ______________________
Use numbers, words, or drawings to show how you got your answer.
If you need more room for your work, use the space below.

Task-Specific Scoring Rubric

Extended
24 games and 12 shows with correct explanation or work

Sample Correct Response:

70−34=36 so there are 36 shows and games.
The number of games is twice the number of shows; there must be 24 games and 12 shows.

continued
   | 
58 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Figure 5.1 A Mathematics Problem Scored with a Task-Specific Rubric (continued )

Satisfactory
Has subtraction error but has games and shows in correct ratio (2:1)
OR
Has 12 games and 24 shows with work
OR
Has 24 games and 12 shows with no work

Partial
Finds 36, and has ratio of 2 to 1 (but not 24 to 12) and sum of games and shows is less than 36
OR
Has 36 games and 18 shows with or without work
OR
Has 72 games and 36 shows with or without work
OR
Shows a process that reflects understanding of the question, but does not find the correct ratio

Minimal
Finds 36 by subtraction or adding on to 34 to get 70
OR
Number of games plus number of shows is 36
OR
Has games and shows in a two to one ratio but nothing else correct

Incorrect
Incorrect response

Source: National Assessment of Educational Progress released items: 2011, grade 4, block M8, question #19. Available: http://nces.
ed.gov/nationsreportcard/itmrlsx/

Grading essay or other multipoint test questions

with task-specific rubrics
Task-specific scoring guides can be true rubrics, with criteria and descriptions of
performance at each level of quality. The example in Figure 5.1 shows how task-specific
rubrics would be useful for scoring a constructed-response test item in which students
have to solve a problem and then explain their reasoning. In this case, there are five
score levels. You could use task-specific rubrics with any number of levels of multipoint
scoring. Once you get beyond right/wrong (1/0) scoring, you need some sort of scoring
scheme to allocate the points. Even a simple Completely Correct/Partially Correct/
 Task-Specific Rubrics and Scoring Schemes for Special Purposes   |  59

Incorrect (2-1-0 or 3-2-1) scoring scheme needs descriptive information so you know
how to decide what level a student’s response exemplifies.
Brief essay questions on tests often use multipoint scoring as well. Figure 5.2 pres‑
ents an example of an essay question and a task-specific rubric a teacher would use to
score it.

Figure 5.2 A Science Essay Test Question Scored with a Task-Specific Rubric

Question
Lightning and thunder happen at the same time, but you see the lightning before you hear the thunder.
Explain why this is so.
________________________________________________________________________

Task-Specific Scoring Rubric

Complete
Student responds that although the thunder and lightning occur at the same time, light travels faster
than sound so the light gets to your eye before the sound reaches your ear.

Partial
Student response addresses speed and uses terminology such as thunder for sound and lightning for
light, or makes a general statement about speed but does not tell which is faster.

Unsatisfactory/Incorrect
Student response does not relate the speeds at which light and sound travel.

Source: National Assessment of Educational Progress released items: 2005, grade 4, block S13, question #10. Available: http://nces.
ed.gov/nationsreportcard/itmrlsx/

As you look at the examples in Figures 5.1 and 5.2, you are probably noticing an
important point—namely, that they are holistic (as opposed to analytic) rubrics. The
criteria for good work are all considered together. In the mathematics problem-solving
example, identifying the operations required for the problem, selecting and using the
right numbers, calculating correctly, and communicating the explanation by showing all
work are all assessed at once. In the science essay example, identifying the issue as one
of relative speed of travel and communicating that clearly are assessed together. This
approach is appropriate for questions on a test, where the score for individual questions
will be combined with scores for other questions to make a total test score. The advan‑
tage of analytic rubrics, which allow students to receive feedback on the criteria indi‑
vidually and use it for improvement, makes little difference in this case.
   | 
60 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Writing task-specific rubrics

Writing task-specific rubrics for multipoint test questions differs from writing
general rubrics for you and students to use together for both formative and summative
assessment. The first and most obvious difference is that for task-specific rubrics, you
write directly for a task. Remember that for general rubrics, you don’t write directly for a
task. Instead, you use criteria that describe the learning that would be demonstrated in
any one of a whole class of tasks.
Second, writing task-specific rubrics differs from writing general rubrics because
you can use teacher language. Students do not use task-specific rubrics. Therefore,
you can use adult vocabulary, bulleted lists, sample answers, and any combination of
notes that makes clear to you what you should be looking for at each level of perfor‑
mance. One thing to be careful of, however, is to leave room for multiple good answers
if the questions have multiple good answers. For example, sometimes there are several
ways to explain mathematical reasoning. Some essay questions ask students to draw a
conclusion and support it, and there might be several tenable answers. Make sure your
task-specific rubrics give appropriate points to all answers that merit them, not just to
the answer that you would have written if you were the student.
Third, you write task-specific rubrics at the same time that you write the test
question. Typically you will have a test blueprint and will know how many points are
required. Therefore, the decision about the number of performance levels is usually
more or less made for you. Solve the problem or write an answer that is complete and
correct and, in your view, would deserve full points. Describe that answer and then write
descriptions of answers that would qualify for fewer and fewer points, until you get to “no
answer” or “totally incorrect answer” or something like that for the lowest point value. In
most cases, the lowest point value for a task-specific rubric for a classroom test question
will be zero, consistent with the questions scored right/wrong (where a wrong answer
is worth zero points).

Grading essay or other multipoint test questions

with point-based scoring schemes
Sometimes essay test questions or other multipoint test questions are used to
assess whether students can recall a concept and explain it in their own words. Other
 Task-Specific Rubrics and Scoring Schemes for Special Purposes   |  61

multipoint test questions can assess student understanding of a body of knowledge; for
example, a question might ask students to list and explain steps in a scientific process.
I hope these are not the only, or even the main, type of constructed-response test
questions you pose for your students (Brookhart, 2010). However, for questions like
this, a point-based scoring scheme works well—often better than task-specific rubrics
would. There are at least two reasons this is so. One, in a point-based scoring scheme,
points can be allocated to the various facts and concepts in the body of knowledge you
intend to assess in a manner that weights knowledge of the various elements according
to their importance. Two, a point-based scoring scheme enumerates the elements—the
facts and concepts. Thus if recalling specific information is what the question intends to
assess, this enumeration allows you to check for each one. Figure 5.3 shows an example
of a point-based scoring scheme for an elementary social studies test question.

Figure 5.3 A Social Studies Test Question Scored with a Point Scheme

Question
Fill in the chart below with the name of each of the three branches of government and the main pur-
pose of each branch.

Branch of Government Main Purpose

________________________________________________________________________

Point-Based Scoring Rubric

Total possible points = 6
1 point each for naming the executive, legislative, and judicial branches
1 point each for listing the main purpose, at minimum:

•  Executive branch—Enforces laws

•  Legislative branch—Makes laws
•  Judicial branch—Interprets laws
   | 
62 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Writing point-based scoring schemes

To write point-based scoring schemes, identify the major facts and concepts and any
other elements of the body of knowledge you are trying to assess. List them.
Look at the elements in your list and decide whether they all contribute to the
answer in the same proportion—that is, with the same weight—or if some elements
(facts, concepts, explanations, and so on) are more important than others. Allocate
points accordingly. If the point-based scoring scheme is for one question on a test, make
sure that the number of points for the question gives it the weight it should contribute to
the total test score. If not, adjust either the question or the point scheme until it does.
In some cases, your point-based scoring scheme will specify that each fact, concept,
explanation, or other element of the body of knowledge you are testing must be present
in the students’ answers. The example in Figure 5.3 uses this kind of point-based scoring
scheme.
In other cases, you might specify the points
Self-reflection that will be earned for up to some number of a
larger number of possible elements. For example,
Can you envision a use for task-specific rubrics or
say you have just taught a unit on the causes of
point-based scoring schemes in your classroom?
the Civil War. Therefore, an essay question asking
How does this use fit with the discussion of task-
students to identify and briefly explain causes of the
specific rubrics and point-based scoring schemes
Civil War would require recall and comprehension.
in this chapter?
A point-based scoring scheme might say students
would receive one point each for identifying up to
four from a longer list of possible causes, and one point each for correct explanations,
up to a possible eight points for the question. Notice that this differs from effective
performance-level descriptions in rubrics, where counting things is discouraged except
in special cases. This kind of “counting” can work in point-based scoring schemes for
questions that are about recall of facts and concepts, because enumerating facts and
concepts is precisely what you are trying to assess.

Summing up
Task-specific rubrics serve a purpose—namely, grading. A book about rubrics
wouldn’t be complete without discussing task-specific rubrics, and that has been the pur‑
pose of this chapter. This chapter also considered point-based scoring schemes that are
 Task-Specific Rubrics and Scoring Schemes for Special Purposes   |  63

not rubrics, again for the sake of completeness. Task-specific rubrics and point-based
scoring schemes are two methods you should have in your scoring repertoire, even if
they aren’t the most important ones.
General rubrics are much more flexible and serve at least two purposes: learning
and grading. And general rubrics can be used with students, which is why I consider
them more important than task-specific rubrics. A special case of using general rubrics
occurs when schools and teachers adopt standards-based grading policies based on
demonstrating proficiency levels and coordinate all their rubrics. This situation requires
consensus from all the teachers in a grade or department that teach the same standards.
If the consensus exists, however, then assessment is simplified in some ways. Chapter 6
discusses proficiency-based rubrics that assist in standards-based grading.
 6
Proficiency-Based Rubrics
for Standards-Based Grading

Proficiency-based rubrics are rubrics aligned with standards-based grading scales

from the start, so that progress is described in terms of achievement of that standard.
Proficiency-based rubrics use the same scale—the same levels of achievement—for each
assessment, including both tests and performance assessments. Therefore, proficiency-
based rubrics document student performance in terms of proficiency level on a standard.
Although this might sound like simply using special rubrics—and in practice that’s
what happens—consistent use of proficiency-based rubrics for all assessments changes
the point of reference for interpreting student performance. It’s actually more of a shift
than it looks like.
Think about the traditional number-right and
Self-reflection percentage scales used to grade many tests. The
base of that percentage is a number that represents
Does your school use standards-based grading?
the test content, not the standard directly. Suppose
Have you noticed any advantages of standards-
a student scores 100 percent on a test. If you use
based grading compared with traditional grading?
standards-based grading, you might be tempted to
If you do use standards-based grading, do you use
say that student is “Advanced.” But what if that test
the same proficiency scale for each assessment
measured only the basic comprehension required
on a standard?
for the standard and did not ask any questions

64
 Proficiency-Based Rubrics for Standards-Based Grading   |  65

whose answers required advanced thinking? That 100 percent really indicates that the
student is “Proficient.” You would need a different assessment, one that has questions
or tasks that would allow advanced students to demonstrate extended thinking, to know
whether students could do that.

How to create proficiency-based rubrics

You can create proficiency-based rubrics in three steps. First, design a general
framework based on the number and names of proficiency levels, and what they are
intended to mean, in your school or district. Second, write general rubrics for each stan‑
dard, based on the framework. Third, for each assessment on that standard, describe
the specific performance requirements for each level.

Create the general framework

Proficiency-based rubrics begin with general rubrics that describe the expectations
for each level of proficiency, in the same terms as your standards-based report card. For
some districts, the levels are the same as for their state proficiency tests, but this is not
necessarily the case.
Identify the number and names of proficiency levels. Most educators know this already,
but it is worth mentioning as the first step because it is the foundation for constructing
proficiency-based rubrics. If your standards-based report cards use four levels, titled
Advanced, Proficient, Nearing Proficient, and Novice, then those are the levels to use.
If your standards-based report cards use some other levels, use those.
Describe what each level means in your system. Sometimes proficiency levels are
described in generic terms on standards-based report cards and their supporting docu‑
ments. Sometimes report cards have definitions, but they are not really helpful descrip‑
tions to use as the basis for rubrics. For example, they may simply repeat the level name
(for example, “Performs at an advanced level” and so on). If useful general descriptions
of what performance at each level means already exist, use them.
If such descriptions do not already exist, you need to design them. Use a team of
teachers to do this. The question of “how proficient a student needs to be to be profi‑
cient” should be decided collegially and not by any one administrator or teacher. Figure
6.1 presents an example of a general framework for proficiency-based rubrics using four
levels of proficiency.
   | 
66 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Figure 6.1 Sample General Framework for Proficiency-Based Rubrics

Shows a thorough understanding of the concept or skill, and extends

understanding beyond the requirements of the standard (e.g., by relat-
4
ing concept to other concepts, by offering new ideas, by a deep and
Advanced
nuanced analysis, or by demonstrating a level of skill beyond expecta-
tions for proficiency).

3 Shows a complete and correct understanding of the concept or the abil-

Proficient ity to perform the skill as articulated in the standard.

Shows partial mastery of prerequisite knowledge and a rudimentary

2
or incomplete understanding of the concept or a rudimentary ability to
Nearing Proficient
perform the skill as articulated in the standard.

1 Shows serious misconceptions or lack of understanding of the concept

Novice or an inability to perform the skill as articulated in the standard.

The example in Figure 6.1 is too general to use as is and is not meant to be used for
formative assessment or grading. It is a general framework or template for your thinking
as you make more specific rubrics for individual assignments.

Write a general rubric for each standard

For each standard you are going to assess, adapt the general framework into a
general rubric for the standard. If you use standards-based report cards, the “standards”
in question will be the reporting standards, which may be a bit more specific than your
state standards. If you do not use standards-based report cards, the “standards” in ques‑
tion may be state standards or curricular goals. If your school or district has done cur‑
riculum mapping, typically you will use the standards or goals listed on the curriculum
map. Figure 6.2 shows a general rubric for the standard “Understands the concept of
 Proficiency-Based Rubrics for Standards-Based Grading   |  67

Figure 6.2 Rubric for a Specific Standard

Standard: Understands the concept of area and relates area to multiplication and to addition.

Shows a thorough understanding of the concept of area and the ability

4 to relate this concept to multiplication and addition, and extends under-
Advanced standing by relating area to other concepts or by offering new ideas or
by solving extended problems.

3 Shows a complete and correct understanding of the concept of area and

Proficient the ability to relate this concept to multiplication and addition.

Shows partial mastery of prerequisite knowledge (e.g., what plane

2
figures are, how to measure length) and a rudimentary or incomplete
Nearing Proficient
understanding of the concept of area.

1 Shows serious misconceptions or lack of understanding of the concept

Novice of area.

area and relates area to multiplication and to addition” (CCSSI Standards for Mathemat‑
ics 3.MD) based on the general framework in Figure 6.1.
One important thing to notice is that the general rubric describes performance in
terms that are still too general to use for any particular assessment. The general rubric
begs a question at each level—for example, at the Proficient level: What does it look like
   | 
68 How to Create and Use Rubrics

when a student shows a complete and correct understanding of the concept of area and
the ability to relate this concept to multiplication and addition? This is what you will work
out for each assessment.

Describe the specific performance requirements

For each assessment on a standard, describe the specific performance require‑
ments for each level. Suppose that a 3rd grade teacher is preparing a mathematics unit
and one of the standards she will cover is “Understands the concept of area and relates
area to multiplication and to addition.” A number of assessments are possible, and
although she wouldn’t use all of them, she would probably use more than one. Here
are some examples of tasks students could do, on a test or performance assessment, to
demonstrate comprehension of the concept of area:

• Define or explain what area is, in their own words.

• Distinguish problems that require finding area from those that do not.
• Measure areas by counting unit squares (square centimeters, square meters,
square inches, square feet, and square invented units).
• Demonstrate that the area of a rectangle as found by counting square units is
the same as the area found by multiplying length and width, and explain their
reasoning.
• Use a formula (A = l × w) to find the area of a rectangle.
• Use diagrams to find the area of rectilinear figures by decomposing them into non‑
overlapping rectangles, and explain their reasoning.
• Construct a model room with rectangular surfaces (floor, walls, windows, sofa and
chair seats and backs, etc.), labeling each rectangular surface with its area.
• Write original mathematics problems whose solutions require finding the area;
solve the problem and explain reasoning.
• Write real-life problem scenarios whose solutions require finding area; solve the
problem and explain reasoning.

Note that these are not fully designed assessments. The list is intended to show that
many different assessments could be indicators of the standard.
Notice also that some of these assessments would not provide evidence of
Advanced-level understanding because such understanding entails the following:
“Shows a thorough understanding of the concept of area and the ability to relate this
concept to multiplication and addition, and extends understanding by relating area
 Proficiency-Based Rubrics for Standards-Based Grading   |  69

to other concepts or by offering new ideas or by solving extended problems.” Other

assessments do allow students, if they are able, to give evidence of extending their
understanding.
Consider an assessment in which students are asked to explain what area is, using
their own words. The teacher might ask students to do this using a short, constructed-
response test item or a stand-alone quiz or oral questioning. In any case, she might use
the following specific proficiency-based rubric:

Proficient (3) Complete and correct explanation.

Nearing Proficient (2) Partially complete and correct explana‑
tion, either missing an important detail or
including a small incorrect detail.
Novice (1) Incorrect explanation, or no explanation.

There is no Advanced (4) level because stating the explanation in your own words
does not match the performance expectations for Advanced. The description of Pro‑
ficient performance matches the description of Proficient in the general rubrics. The
teacher would need additional assessments to give evidence of Advanced performance
(extending understanding by relating area to other concepts or by offering new ideas or
by solving extended problems).
This specific proficiency-based rubric, then, describes what performance at each
level looks like on the specific assessment. It is still a general rubric, as opposed to a
task-specific rubric, because performance is described in general enough terms that
you can share the rubric with students. (A task-specific version of the rubric would
include the explanation of area itself, and that is not what is needed here.)
Suppose further that the teacher also designs a performance assessment in which
she asks students to write a real-life problem scenario whose solution requires finding
area, and then to solve the problem and explain their reasoning. (The performance
assessment would need more complete directions than that. I don’t mean to imply that
one sentence alone would suffice for the assignment to students. Because here we are
just concerned with the proficiency-based rubrics, we can proceed without that; but
it’s important enough that I want to clarify and make sure I don’t imply that one sen‑
tence constitutes a complete assessment.) The teacher might use the following specific
proficiency-based rubric:
   | 
70 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Advanced (4) Problem scenario, solution, and explana‑

tion show an extended understanding of
the concept of area and relate area to multi‑
plication and addition in a detailed analysis,
using mathematical language, of an elegant
problem solution.
Proficient (3) Problem scenario, solution, and explana‑
tion show a complete and correct under‑
standing of the concept of area and the
ability to relate this concept to multiplica‑
tion and addition.
Nearing Proficient (2) Problem scenario, solution, and explana‑
tion include some flaws and show a rudi‑
mentary or incomplete understanding
of the concept of area. Relation of area to
multiplication and addition is unclear.
Novice (1) Problem scenario, solution, and explana‑
tion show serious misconceptions or a lack
of understanding of the concept of area.
Relation of area to multiplication and addi‑
tion is incorrect or not addressed.

Notice that, like the rubric for explaining area in their own words, this rubric is general
enough that it may be shared with students at the time the assignment is made. This
rubric lends itself to looking at exemplars, supporting student self- and peer assessment,
and focusing teacher feedback on work in progress. And an important point is that this
specific proficiency-based rubric matches the general proficiency-based rubric for the
standard shown in Figure 6.2. A good way to think about it is that each proficiency-based
rubric is an instance or special case of the general one.
You can also use proficiency-based rubrics for describing performance on a unit
test. Sometimes—but not usually—you can simply define a percentage range for each
of the proficiency-based levels described by the general rubric for the standard. I say
“not usually” because you can only do that meaningfully when the test covers that stan‑
dard and no other, and when all the questions are all answerable at all levels, including
 Proficiency-Based Rubrics for Standards-Based Grading   |  71

Advanced. This is not usually the case. Most tests cover more than one standard or
include questions that do not allow Advanced performance.
Suppose the teacher had designed a unit test that included a set of proficiency-level
questions about area and its relationship to multiplication and addition, and an open-
ended question that allowed students to show extended insights and connections about
the concept of area (or not, depending on how the student answered). The teacher
might use the following specific proficiency-based rubric:

Advanced (4) At least 90% correct on proficiency-level

questions and a response to the open-
ended question that makes connections
among area, multiplication, addition, and
other concepts.
Proficient (3) At least 80% correct on proficiency-level
questions and a response to the open-
ended question that shows comprehension
of area and its relation to multiplication and
addition.
Nearing Proficient (2) At least 60% correct on proficiency-
level questions and a response to the
open-ended question that shows partial
understanding of area and its relation to
multiplication and addition.
Novice (1) Less than 60% correct on proficiency-level
questions and a response to the open-
ended question that shows major miscon‑
ceptions, or no response to the open-ended
question.

Notice that for proficiency-based rubrics, the percentage correct for the total test
may not be the appropriate percentage to use. Proficiency-based rubrics require consid‑
ering the question “percentage of what?” The test might have included questions about
other standards as well, and those would not figure in to the assessment of student
proficiency on this standard.
   | 
72 How to Create and Use Rubrics

How to use proficiency-based

rubrics in formative assessment
Use proficiency-based rubrics in all of the same ways you would use any rubrics for
formative assessment. Chapters 9 and 10 contain lots of strategies for using rubrics to
share learning targets and criteria with students and for using rubrics to help students
monitor and regulate their own learning.
It is worth pointing out that proficiency-based rubrics are particularly well suited for
a couple of those strategies because the rubrics apply the same meaning about profi‑
ciency to all assignments. The two strategies most enhanced by using proficiency-based
rubrics are student tracking of their own work and student goal setting.

Student tracking of their own work

The previous section showed that general proficiency-based rubrics for a standard
define a general framework for achievement. Each specific assessment and its associ‑
ated proficiency-based rubric aim to place student achievement within that framework.
Therefore, students can track their own work in a meaningful way by recording their
proficiency level for each assessment of that standard. The result will be a chart or graph
depicting student progress on that standard in the proficiency metric. Figure 6.3 presents
an example of a student tracking her achievement on a series of assessments of the stan‑
dard “Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning
introduces the story and the ending concludes the action” (CCSS ELA RL 2.5).
Notice that the standard is written in student-friendly language. The student herself
records the information and makes the graph. By keeping track of her progress, the
student is able to self-reflect, ask questions, develop confidence with the standard, and
self-regulate her learning.

Student goal setting

One of the main ways that student goal setting fails is that, in an evaluation-centered
classroom culture, students are tempted to express their goals in terms of grades. For
example, a student might say, “I want to get an A on my next test.” More useful student
goals are expressed in terms of what students want to learn and how they will know
when they have done so—for example, “I want to learn how to retell a story in my own
words well enough that my little brother will enjoy listening.”
Figure 6.3 Example of a Student Tracking Progress Using Proficiency-Based Rubrics

Proficiency-Based Rubrics for Standards-Based Grading

1

Story The Wonderful Cat What the Moon Said One Hundred Apples Dalton and His Dog The Great Mistake

I can map the beginning, middle, and end of a story and tell how these parts work together to tell the story.

  | 
73
   | 
74 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Proficiency-based rubrics describe performance and therefore are particularly

well suited to helping students set goals that describe learning. For example, instead of
saying “I want to get a 4,” a student can say, “I want to be able to go beyond the informa‑
tion about the water cycle I read in my textbook and see how I can connect it to the daily
weather in my town.”

How to use proficiency-based

rubrics in standards-based grading
When all of your assessment results for a report period are on the same scale, with
the levels having comparable meanings, combining the results is much easier. Look at
the pattern of a student’s achievement over time for the standard you are evaluating. If
the pattern resembles a “learning curve”—starting low, increasing, and then leveling
off—take the median of the student’s scores for the leveling-off period. These are the
scores that represent the student’s current achievement with respect to that standard.
Figure 6.4 illustrates this scenario for two students, Andrew and Bailey.
If the pattern does not resemble a learning curve, but rather fluctuates up or down
over time, take the median of the whole set of scores. This will represent the student’s
current achievement with respect to that standard as well; unfortunately, in this case it
represents a current standing that hasn’t improved during the report period. Figure 6.4
also illustrates this scenario, in the example of Cort.
Depending on the design of your report card, you may need to combine final profi‑
ciency evaluations from several standards into one grade for a subject or a larger report‑
ing standard. Chapter 11 describes grading procedures in more detail. The purpose of
this section is to point out that the special nature of proficiency-based rubrics keyed to
standards—all based on a common framework describing proficiency—simplifies final
judgments into summarizing a series of comparably rated performances.

Summing up
This chapter has described proficiency-based rubrics, which are coordinated with
definitions of various proficiency levels, standard by standard. Their common frame‑
work allows students to set goals and track progress. The common framework for
proficiency-based rubrics also simplifies teachers’ evaluation of students’ progress and
achievement.
Figure 6.4 Examples of Arriving at a Final Proficiency Grade on One Standard

Standard #1 Standard #2 Summary

assessments as needed.
Add sections for standards and
Student
9/9 9/14 9/22 9/27 10/3 10/6 9/8 9/14 9/21 9/26 10/3 10/7 Std. 1 Std. 2 Std. 3

Andrew 2 1 2 3 3 3 3

Bailey 2 2 4 3 4 4 4

Cort 3 1 3 2 3 1 2

Proficiency-Based Rubrics for Standards-Based Grading

(etc.)

Andrew: Andrew’s performance on Standard 1 shows the pattern of a learning curve, with a beginning practice period followed by a leveling off of achieve-
ment. After beginning at the level of Nearing Proficiency, Andrew’s performance on Standard 1 leveled out at a reliable 3, or Proficient, level. The
median of his performance after this leveling out is a 3 (median of 3, 3, and 3 = 3).

Bailey: Bailey’s performance on Standard 1 shows the pattern of a learning curve. After beginning at the level of Nearing Proficiency, Bailey’s performance on
Standard 1 leveled out at around 4, or Advanced. The median of her performance after this leveling out is a 4 (median of 4, 3, 4, and 4 = 4).

Cort: Cort’s performance does not form the pattern of a learning curve, with a beginning practice period followed by a leveling off of achievement. There is
no discernible improvement or decline in his performance on Standard 1 over time. The teacher should try to find out why this is the case. Unless the
teacher’s investigation finds some reason to revise the proficiency ratings over time, the best summary of Cort’s performance is the median of what he
has demonstrated, which is a 2, or the Nearing Proficiency level (median of 3, 1, 3, 2, 3, 1 = 2).

  | 
75
 7
Checklists and Rating Scales:
Not Rubrics, but in the Family

This chapter has two goals. First, I want to distinguish checklists and rating scales from
rubrics, with which they are often confused. Don’t use checklists and rating scales in
situations when rubrics are more appropriate. Second, I want to describe some situa‑
tions when checklists and rating scales can be useful.
Sometimes people use the term rubric—incorrectly—to mean any list-like evalua‑
tion tool, and therefore checklists and rating scales are sometimes confused with
rubrics. The most important difference between checklists and rating scales on the one
hand and rubrics on the other is that checklists and rating scales lack descriptions of
performance quality. As we have seen, rubrics are defined by two characteristics:
criteria for students’ work and descriptions of performance levels. Because checklists
and rating scales lack one of these two pieces, they are not rubrics.
Checklists and rating scales do have criteria.
Self-reflection The criteria are the “list” of things that you check
or rate. Checklists and rating scales are great when
Do you use checklists or rating scales in your
you don’t need descriptions of performance quality,
teaching? For what purposes do you use them?
but rather just need to know whether something
How do you involve students in their use?
has been done (checklist) or how often or how well
it has been done (rating scale).

76
 Checklists and Rating Scales: Not Rubrics, but in the Family   |  77

Checklists
A checklist is a list of specific characteristics with a place for marking whether that char-
acteristic is present or absent. Checklists by definition break an assignment down into
discrete bits (the “list”). This clarifies what is required for the assignment—namely, to
do this list of things. Most checklists are easier to use than rubrics because they require
low-inference decisions—is something there or isn’t it?
Checklists are particularly useful in two kinds of situations. First, checklists are
great for both teachers and students to use for situations in which the learning out‑
comes are defined by the existence of an attribute, not its quality. Some simple learning
outcomes are like this. For example, many elementary teachers I have worked with
use some version of a student checklist for sentencing skills like the example in Figure
7.1. Putting a period at the end of a sentence is a yes-or-no outcome; either the period
is there or it isn’t. Checklists for writing can be simpler—for example, for kindergarten
students the list might include just capital letter, period, and complete idea. Or they can
be more complicated, such as including in a checklist for older students the elements of
spelling, grammar and usage, and so on.

Figure 7.1 Sentence Skills Checklist

My sentence

_____ begins with a capital letter.

_____ ends with a period • or a question mark?or an exclamation point!

_____ is a complete thought.

_____ has a naming part (subject) and a telling part (predicate).

Second, checklists are helpful for students to use to make sure they have followed
directions for an assignment, that they have all the required parts of some project, or
that they have followed format requirements for a report. Wiliam (2011) calls these
“preflight checklists” (p. 141) if they are used before work is turned in. He recommends
a technique in which a partner uses the checklist to ascertain an assignment is ready to
turn in and becomes accountable for the completeness of the partner’s work.
   | 
78 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Notice that in this second use the checklist is not the evaluation of the quality of
the project. The checklist is used to make sure directions have been followed and all
required elements are present. These elements are what get “checked.” The teacher
will use rubrics based on the criteria for good work—which usually will not be the same
as the assignment’s required elements. For example, a report checklist might include
entries like “Has an introduction,” “Has a thesis sentence or research question,” “Has
at least three sources,” “Includes a chart or diagram,” and so on, essentially listing the
elements required by the directions for the report. The rubrics the teacher and students
use to evaluate the quality of the report would include criteria for the understanding and
analysis of the topic of the report, clear communication of reasoning and supporting
evidence, and so on.

Rating scales
A rating scale is a list of specific characteristics with a place for marking the degree to
which each characteristic is displayed. I think of rating scales as two-dimensional check‑
lists. Like checklists, they break down assignments into discrete bits. However, instead of
a yes-no or present-absent decision, rating scales use either frequency or quality ratings
—hence the name “rating scale.”
Frequency ratings are, unsurprisingly, scales that list the frequency with which some
characteristic is observed, from always (or very often) to never (or very seldom), or
something like that. They are great to use when you want to serve a purpose similar
to that of a checklist—evaluating whether various attributes exist in some work—but
the decision is not an all-or-nothing one. Frequency scales are excellent for assessing
performance skills (for example, in public speaking, “Makes eye contact” frequently,
occasionally, seldom, or never). Frequency scales are also excellent for assessing behav‑
iors, work habits, and other learning skills. Many behaviors are well described by noting
whether they occur always, frequently, sometimes, or never, for example.
Figure 7.2 lists several different kinds of frequency scales. To create a rating scale,
list the characteristics you wish to assess, as you would for a checklist, and then select
the frequency scale that best matches these characteristics. Show the frequency scale as
multiple-choice options, as boxes in a table, or as points on a line.
Figure 7.3 shows a frequency scale a high school chemistry teacher used to assist
her students in checking their work on volume and temperature problems. The list
includes six skills the students needed to use in their work. The frequency scale
 Checklists and Rating Scales: Not Rubrics, but in the Family   |  79

Figure 7.2 Examples of Frequency Scales

Scale Typical Uses

Always, frequently, sometimes, never To rate how often students exhibit behaviors or
learning skills (e.g., works independently; fol-
Consistently, often, sometimes, rarely lows directions; completes homework)

Always, usually, sometimes, never To rate how often students have certain feelings
or attitudes about their work (e.g., I am confi-
Almost always, usually, often, occasionally, dent in my work)
almost never

Very frequently, frequently, occasionally, rarely,

very rarely, never

[Four choices are usually sufficient. As illus-

trated, other numbers of options can be used.]

All, most, some, none To rate how often problems or exercises exhibit
certain characteristics (e.g., labeled the answer;
[Sometimes used with a noun—for example, all showed all work)
problems, most problems, some problems, none
of the problems; all sentences, most sentences, To rate how often a certain kind of work exhibits
some sentences, none of the sentences.] desired characteristics (e.g., instead of a check-
list for each sentence, students might make an
overall rating: My sentences . . . begin with capi-
tal letters, have proper punctuation, and so on)

indicates on how many problems (all, most, some, or none) the skill was demonstrated.
The student in this example could easily see he should recheck his problems, especially
to make sure he had written the Charles’s Law equation.
Quality ratings are scales that list judgments of quality—for example, excellent,
good, fair, poor. A big problem with quality rating scales is that they are often mistaken
for rubrics and used in place of rubrics. Quality ratings are almost never helpful for learn‑
ing. There are at least three reasons for this.
One, quality ratings constitute a rush to judgment in that they skip a step: they pro‑
nounce the verdict without describing the evidence. Quality ratings, in effect, declare,
“This is excellent because I rated it excellent,” and so on. There are “performance lev‑
els,” but they are not descriptions. I have seen many examples of what were titled
   | 
80 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Figure 7.3 A Rating Scale Used for Student Self-Assessment

On this assignment, I successfully used the skill on . . .

Skill
All problems Most   Some   None of  
problems problems the problems

Wrote the information into

a correct equation √
Identified the unknown  
in the problem √
Converted Celsius  
temperatures to Kelvin √
Wrote the Charles’s  
Law equation √
Solved the equation  
for the unknown √
Wrote all the numbers  
with correct unit labels √
“rubrics,” both in schools and on the Internet, that were actually quality rating scales for
“criteria” that were more often aspects of the task than of learning.
Two, because quality ratings are judgments and not descriptions, they do not
include information that will move learning forward. Quality ratings stop the action.
They provide no information for, for example, a student who is “good” and wants to
become “excellent,” to help that student decide what to do next. And although excellent-
good-fair-poor scales are more commonly the culprits in misguided uses of quality rating
scales where rubrics are intended, language that sounds “standards based” can be
co-opted into quality ratings as well. If the scale is just a list of words—like Advanced,
Proficient, Nearing Proficient, Beginner—without descriptions, that’s a rating scale. Or
sometimes what look like “descriptions” really aren’t. “Solves problems at an advanced
 Checklists and Rating Scales: Not Rubrics, but in the Family   |  81

level,” “Solves problems at a proficient level,” and so on, are just rating scales dolled up
into sentences. These sentences do not contain any descriptive information about
performance that will move learning forward.
Three, quality ratings often lure teachers into
using task-based criteria because quality ratings Self-reflection
are easy to apply to such criteria. For example,
for a written report, task-based criteria might be Can you identify any checklists or rating scales
Introduction, Text, Illustrations, and References. you use that you want to revise to become rubrics?
You just judge the quality—in effect, assign a Can you identify any rubrics you use that might
grade—to each part of the task. In fact, qual‑ be more effective if revised into checklists (for
ity rating scales used with schoolwork amount example, to lay out the requirements for an
to the same thing as assigning grades without assignment)? How would you proceed with
comments. Rubrics began to be popular in the these revisions?
1980s as an antidote to this very thing. As educa‑
tors began to see performance assessment as a solution to the problem of too much
minimum-competency testing, rubrics became the solution to the problem of the “just a
number” results of such tests. To co-opt rubrics into quality rating scales does violence,
in my mind, to the whole point and purpose of using rubrics in the first place.

Summing up
Why include a chapter on checklists and rating scales in a book about rubrics? I
hope that after reading the chapter several reasons are clear. First, distinguishing check‑
lists and rating scales from rubrics should make the characteristics of rubrics clearer.
Rating scales often masquerade as rubrics, and I hope you can identify those and avoid
them or revise them. Second, checklists and frequency rating scales have some impor‑
tant uses, on their own or in conjunction with rubrics. Checklists are great for helping
students see whether they have followed directions, included all required elements of an
assignment, adhered to format requirements, and the like. Frequency rating scales are
good for assessing certain kinds of performance skills and for assessing behavior, work
habits, and other learning skills. Finally, this chapter identified and defined quality rat‑
ing scales, which are often mistaken for rubrics. Be on the lookout for those and stamp
out their use whenever possible. They are Trojan horses that will allow old-fashioned
grading judgments to slip in where rubrics were intended.
 8
More Examples

This chapter contains more examples of rubrics in several different content areas and
grade levels: elementary reading, middle school science, and high school technology
education. I encourage you to read all the examples, even if the content or grade level is
not one you currently teach.

Oral reading fluency

I especially like the example related to Figure 8.1. Several Title I reading teachers
in a district I worked with used some version of it. Katrina Kimmell was a Title I reading
teacher at West Hills Primary School in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, and the version of the
rubric and student story I present here are from her classroom. The district’s 1st grade
students were working with a scripted curriculum that required monitoring progress
in fluency on at least a weekly basis. Progress in fluency was monitored using words
correct per minute. Thoughtful teachers knew that “oral reading fluency” should mean
more to students than words correct per minute. Figure 8.1 presents the rubric.
It is worth noting that the rubric uses simple intensity scales: “no, a little, some, lots”
and variations. These are words and concepts that Ms. Kimmell’s young students under‑
stood. However, by themselves the words are open to much interpretation (how much is
“some”?). Coupled with instruction, however, the points on the scale were clarified for
82
 More Examples   |  83

Figure 8.1 Oral Reading Fluency Rubric

Source: Used with permission from Katrina D. Kimmell, West Hills Primary School, Kittanning, PA.

students simultaneously with the learning target (oral reading fluency) and the criteria
(Expression, Phrasing, and Speed). Before using the rubrics for self-assessment, Ms.
Kimmell shared the learning target with students, using the rubrics but also using mod‑
eling and demonstration. Here is what she did.
First, she explained the context. She told students they were going to practice read‑
ing. After practicing a few times, students taped their oral reading with a tape recorder.
Then they evaluated their own performances using the Oral Reading Fluency Rubric.
Second, Ms. Kimmell explained the learning target and criteria for success. She did
this by using the rubric, but also by modeling and demonstration. She showed students
that the rubric has three different sections. Each section is something needed for stu‑
dents to become really good readers. The first one is Expression. She asked students,
“What do you think that means? What does reading sound like when it has good expres‑
sion?” Then she paused for class discussion.
The second criterion is Phrasing. The teacher explained that phrasing means
that you don’t read a sentence word by word like this (and modeled “robot reading”).
Instead, you read a few words at a time—just like we sound when we are talking. Then
   | 
84 How to Create and Use Rubrics

she paused for class discussion and demonstrations of “robot reading” versus “reading
like we talk.”
The last criterion is Speed. Good reading is not so fast that no one can understand
what you are reading, but not so slow that it’s boring or you lose your place. Then the
teacher went over the descriptions of top-level (4) performance in each category. The
students practiced reading, then taped themselves after practice. Finally, the students
used the Oral Reading Fluency Rubric to assess their own performance.
Before reading, Daniel, the boy whose example is shown, looked at a chart to see
how many correct words per minute he had read the previous week and found that it
was 51. Ms. Kimmell told him that she wanted him to try to read at least 53 words this
time, but he said he wanted to try for 61. She said, “That would be great, but anything
over 53 would be a good job.” He and the teacher discussed strategies he could use, like
finger tracking and sounding out words. Then when he read his passage, he read 61 cor‑
rect words per minute—and said, “I told you I would.”
Daniel’s self-assessment in Figure 8.1, coupled with the questions he asked and his
response to his success, suggest that learning how to read fluently was a target that he
understood. The rubric helped him engage with the target according to specific criteria
and helped him interpret his success as more multidimensional than just a words-per-
minute score.

Science laboratory reports

In an 8th grade science inclusion classroom, the regular and special education
teachers worked together. They wanted their students to learn science inquiry process
skills—how to write testable questions and hypotheses and gather and interpret data to
answer them—as well as how to write up the process in a conventional lab report. The
teachers prepared a handout, “How to Write a Lab Report,” and the rubric shown in
Figure 8.2, which they adapted from Internet sources. They also taught lessons about
lab reports that included having students look at sample lab reports before they began
work on their own. During their work, the teachers gave students information and
coaching on the science content (in this case, filtering water) and necessary materials.
After students completed their lab reports but before they turned them in, they used the
rubric for self-assessment and potential revisions.
Figure 8.2 Science Laboratory Report Rubric

4 3 2 1

Introduction— States a hypothesis that States a hypothesis that States a hypothesis, Does not state a hypoth-
Stating Research is based on research is based on research and/ although basis for the esis. Introduction may be
Questions and and/or sound reasoning or sound reasoning and is hypothesis is not clear a general statement of
Hypotheses and is testable. Report testable. Report title may or hypothesis is not test- the topic or the assign-
title reflects question or not reflect the question or able. Report title may not ment, or may be missing
hypothesis. hypothesis. reflect the question or or unclear.
hypothesis.

Procedure— Procedure includes a Procedure includes a Description or step- Description is unclear,

Designing the very detailed description very detailed description by-step list of how the and experiment could not
Experiment or step-by-step list of or step-by-step list of experiment was per- be repeated because of
how the experiment was how the experiment was formed is vague, and lack of description.
performed. All steps are performed; however, all experiment would be
included. steps are not included. hard for someone else to
duplicate.

Results—Collecting Results and data are Results are clear and Results are unclear, miss- Results may be present,
Data accurately recorded, labeled. Trends are not ing labels, and trends are but too disorganized or
organized so it is easy for obvious. not obvious at all. poorly recorded to make
the reader to see trends. sense of.
All appropriate labels are
included.

More Examples
continued

  | 
85
 86
  | 
How to Create and Use Rubrics
Figure 8.2 Science Laboratory Report Rubric (continued )

4 3 2 1

Analyzing Data The data and observa- Analysis is somewhat Analysis is lacking in Analysis is inaccurate
tions are analyzed accu- lacking in insight. There insight. Not enough data and based on insufficient
rately. Trends are noted. is enough data, although were gathered to estab- data.
Enough data were taken additional data would be lish trends, or analysis
to establish conclusion. more powerful. does not follow the data.

Interpreting Results Summarizes data used Summarizes data used to Conclusions about No conclusions about
and Drawing to draw logical conclu- draw conclusions about hypothesis are not hypothesis are evident.
Conclusions sions about hypothesis. hypothesis. Some logic derived from data. Some Logic and application of
Discusses real-world or real-world application logic or real-world appli- findings are missing.
applications of findings. may be unclear. cation may be unclear.

Source: Used with permission.

 More Examples   |  87

After using the rubric, the special education teacher reflected on the experience.
Most of his students, he said, “had a greater understanding of what constituted good-
quality work” and “a clear picture of what was expected.” Students who did this were
able to compare their work with the criteria and performance descriptions in the rubric
and, based on that comparison, make decisions about how to improve their work. In
addition, they took greater responsibility for their own learning.
One group did not meet expectations on every criterion, but even for that group the
rubric was helpful. The rubric allowed both teacher and students to identify the one area
(drawing and expressing conclusions that follow from the data) to work on. From this
perspective, the rubric was helpful even for unsuccessful work because it furnished the
information needed for the students’ next steps.

Welding
Technology education is an important content area that is outside my own teaching
background and experience. Andrew Rohwedder is a technology education teacher at
Richardton-Taylor High School in Richardton, North Dakota. Figure 8.3 presents Mr.
Rohwedder’s welding rubric.
The welding rubric is an excellent example of a well-constructed rubric. It is clear
and descriptive. It can be shared with students and would support learning and forma‑
tive assessment, especially student self-assessment, as well as grading.
Because technology education is not a content area I know anything about, I was
able to read this rubric as a new learner would. If that is the case for you, consider how
well-constructed rubrics clarify the learning target. When I first read the rubric, I was
able to envision what a good weld would look like.
I also had a question. Two of the criteria seemed to be about appearance (Weld Width
and Height, and Appearance). And yet, given how well the rubric was designed, I doubted
that Mr. Rohwedder had simply written the same thing twice. So I asked him what the dif‑
ference was between those two criteria, and I learned some more about welding.
He said, “The width of a weld will depend on many factors controlled by the welder.
Usually the width of a weld is proportional to the thickness of the metal and how the
joint is prepared. The height of the weld will depend on the heat and amount of filler
material laid down by the welder. Once again this is determined by the parent material
and joint preparation and type of joint. The appearance of a weld should be smooth,
uniform, and chipped free of slag.”
 88
  | 
How to Create and Use Rubrics
Figure 8.3 Welding Rubric

Advanced Proficient Basic Below Basic Total

4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point Points

Slag removed Bead is clean, has been Bead is somewhat clean. Bead needs major chip- Shows little care about
100% All slag chipped. chipped and wire-brushed. Minimum slag at the ping and brushing. quality.
Weld bead is clean. edges of the bead.

Weld width and height Bead is uniform width all Bead maintains width and Not a uniform thick- Weld is cut off in places,
100% Uniform width   along the length of each length. Shows some small ness throughout the not uniform along the
and thickness throughout weld. Has a smooth ap- blemishes along the weld. weld. Thickness goes to weld. Shows bare spots.
the entire length of   pearance. extremes.
each weld.

Appearance Weld shows a constant Weld shows a constant Weld shows definite areas Weld has been done too
100% Smooth, with speed and uniformity the speed with some blem- of speeding up and slow- fast or too slow. Weld is
uniform dense ripples; entire length. ishes that are minimal. ing down. Ripples tend to not complete. Trapped
doesn’t show the bead be coarse. impurities in the weld.
traveling too fast or slow.

Face of bead Has a nice rounded look. Bead is well rounded, Bead shows many high Weld does not blend into
100% Convex, free of Is not overly high, or low. mostly uniform over the and low areas. Total lack one single bead.
voids and high spots, Bead covers a wide area length of the weld. Shows of uniformity throughout
shows uniformity of each weld. some high spots and low the weld.
throughout the bead. spots.
 Advanced Proficient Basic Below Basic Total
4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point Points

Edge of bead Sides and edges are Moderately smooth blend- Float and undercut are Metal is burned through.
100% Good fusion,   smooth, blending into ing. Undercutting and float very apparent. Weld lacks Weld has no connection
no overlapping   each weld. Undercutting is are present. Strength of strength and flow. to metal.
or undercutting. kept to a minimum. Weld the weld is still strong.
does not float on surface.

Beginning and End of each weld is Weld ending is full but Crater distinctly present at Metal is burned through  
ending full size complete; the line doesn’t shows some tapering and the end of the bead. at the end.
100% Crater well filled. taper off. a crater present.

Surrounding plate Spatter is kept to a Some spatter is present Spatter is in large Spatter takes away from
100% Welding surface minimum. but not displeasing. amounts. the integrity of the weld.
free of spatter.

Penetration Weld penetrates deep Weld penetrates deep Weld is uneven in depth, Weld floats on top of the
100% Complete without into the metal and adds but does not resurface lacks uniformity along metal. Has no strength.
burn-through. strength and fusion to the through the bottom of a weld length.
edges and depth. jointed weld.

More Examples
Source: Used with permission from Andrew Rohwedder, Technology Educator, Richardton-Taylor High School, Richardton, ND.

  | 
89
   | 
90 How to Create and Use Rubrics

For me, this interchange was an object lesson in one of the main points this book
is trying to make. Good rubrics help clarify the learning target for students (or anyone
else who does not yet have a clear vision of it, like me with welding). Good rubrics
become a foundation for learning and formative assessment as well as for grading. Most
important, good rubrics are tools the students can use to help themselves learn.

Summing up
This book is full of examples, but I think you
Self-reflection almost can’t have too many! Chapter 2 included the
counterexample “My State Poster” rubric. Chapter
What is your current thinking about rubrics after
3 showed the silly example of a rubric for laughing
reading Part I of this book? How does it compare
and the example of the life-cycle project rubric, a
with your thinking from the first self-reflection,
work-in-progress that illustrated how you might
before you began to read?
approach revising and improving rubrics. Chapter
4 included examples of general rubrics for foun‑
dational skills: the 6+1 Trait Writing rubrics, student-friendly rubrics for mathematics
problem solving, and rubrics for report writing and for creativity. Chapter 5 presented
some examples of task-specific rubrics, and Chapter 6 contained examples of general
and specific proficiency-based rubrics for understanding the concept of area and its
relationship to multiplication and division. Chapter 7 contained examples of checklists
and rating scales, both to demonstrate their usefulness in their own right and to show by
contrast how they are not rubrics. This chapter added three more examples to the mix,
in elementary reading, middle school science, and high school technology education.
My hope is that from this collection of examples, you can by induction generalize
the characteristics of good rubrics yourself. Lay your conclusions beside what I have
listed as the characteristics of good rubrics in the book and—I hope!—see that they
match. At this point, then, you should have a firm idea of what effective rubrics look like.
This chapter concludes Part 1 of the book, which was about the various types of
rubrics (and, in Chapter 7, the related tools—checklists and rating scales) and how to
write them. Part 2 explains how to use rubrics. I hope that as you explore the different
uses of rubrics, you will see more and more why it is important to emphasize the two
defining factors of appropriate criteria and descriptions of performance along a con‑
tinuum of quality. These elements are the genius of rubrics because they are the “active
ingredients” in all of the uses described in Part 2.
Part 2
How to use
RubRics
 9
Rubrics and Formative Assessment:
Sharing Learning Targets with Students

Learning targets describe what the student is going to learn, in language that the
student can understand and aim for during today’s lesson (Moss & Brookhart, 2012).
Learning targets include criteria that students can use to judge how close they are to the
target, and that is why rubrics (or parts of rubrics, depending on the focus of the lesson)
are good vehicles for sharing learning targets with students.
The idea that students will learn better if they know what they are supposed to learn
is so important! Most teacher preparation programs emphasize instructional objectives,
which are a great planning tool for teachers. However, instructional objectives are writ‑
ten in teacher language (“The student will be able to . . .”). Not only are the students
referred to in third person, but the statements about what they will be able to do are in
terms of evidence for teachers. In contrast, learning targets must imply the evidence
that students should be looking for. Sometimes, for simple targets, instructional objec‑
tives can be turned into learning targets by simply making them first-person (“I will
know I have learned this when I can . . .”). More often, however, the language of the
evidentiary part of the learning target—what students will look for—also needs to be
written and demonstrated in terms students will understand. After all, if most of your
students understand what your instructional objective means, you probably don’t need
to teach the lesson.

93
   | 
94 How to Create and Use Rubrics

The most powerful way to share with students a vision of what they are supposed to
be learning is to make sure your instructional activities and formative assessments (and,
later, your summative assessments) are performances of understanding. A performance
of understanding embodies the learning target in what you ask students to actually do.
To use a simple, concrete example, if you want students to be able to use their new
science content vocabulary to explain meiosis, design an activity in which students have
to use the terms in explanations. That would be a performance of understanding. A
word-search activity would not be a performance of understanding for that learning
target because what the students would actually be doing is recognizing the words.
Performances of understanding show students,
Self-reflection by what they ask of them, what it is they are sup‑
posed to be learning. Performances of understand‑
How do you share learning targets with your
ing develop that learning through the students’
students? Do you ever use rubrics as part of this
experience doing the work. Finally, performances
communication? Besides giving the students the
of understanding give evidence of students’ learning
rubrics, what do you do? What have you learned
by providing work that is available for inspection by
from doing this?
both teacher and student. Not every performance
of understanding uses rubrics. For those that do,
however, rubrics support all three functions (showing, developing, and giving evidence
of learning).

How to use rubrics to share learning

targets and criteria for success
Use rubrics to share learning targets and criteria for success with students when
the learning target requires thinking, writing, analyzing, demonstrating complex skills,
or constructing complex products. These are the kinds of learning targets for which
checklists or other simple devices cannot fully represent the learning outcomes you
intend students to reach. This section presents several strategies for using rubrics to
develop in students’ minds a conception of what it is they are supposed to learn and the
criteria by which they will know to what degree they have learned it. Use one or more of
these strategies, or design your own.
 Sharing Learning Targets with Students   |  95

Ask students to pose clarifying questions about the rubrics

If rubrics are well constructed, and if students understand the performance criteria
and quality levels encoded into them, then the Proficient level of the rubrics describes
what learning looks like. An obvious but often overlooked strategy for finding out how
students think about anything, including rubrics, is to ask them what is puzzling (Chap‑
puis & Stiggins, 2002; Moss & Brookhart, 2009). Here is an organized way to do that:

• Give students copies of the rubrics. Ask them, in pairs, to discuss what the rubrics
mean, proceeding one criterion at a time.
• As they talk, have them write down questions. These should be questions the pairs
are not able to resolve themselves.
• Try to resolve the questions with peers. Put two or three pairs together for groups of
four or six. Again, students write down any questions they still can’t resolve.
• Collect the final list of questions and discuss them as a whole group. Sometimes these
questions will illuminate unfamiliar terms or concepts, or unfamiliar attributes of
work. Sometimes the questions will illuminate a lack of clarity in the rubrics and
result in editing the rubrics.

Ask students to state the rubrics in their own words

The classic comprehension activity is to put something in your own words. Reading
teachers have beginning readers retell stories. Teachers at all grade levels give students
directions and, to check for understanding, say, “What are you going to do?” Friends
and relatives, when finding you cannot tell them what they said, become justifiably
annoyed and snap, “Weren’t you listening?” Asking students to state the rubrics in their
own words is more than just finding “student-friendly language.” It is a comprehension
activity. Having students state rubrics in their own words will help them understand the
rubrics and will give you evidence of their understanding.
Below are several ways to have students state rubrics in their own words. Select the
one that fits your students’ needs and the content you are teaching. Or, inspired by one
of these methods, design your own.
Rubric translator. Put students together in pairs and give them your rubrics.
If possible, also provide them with a sample of work at each level. Give them a blank
template that matches the rubrics you gave them, which will look like an empty chart.
Alternatively, you can use a worksheet like the example in Figure 9.1. Fill in the top row
   | 
96 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Figure 9.1 Rubric “Translator” Template

Source: From Formative Assessment Strategies for Every Classroom, 2nd ed. (p. 90), by Susan M. Brookhart, 2010, Alexandria, VA:
ASCD. Copyright 2010 by ASCD. Reprinted with permission.

and have the students write in the bottom row. You will need one diagram like this for
each criterion.
Have students discuss each criterion in turn, using these questions or other similar
questions appropriate to the rubrics under consideration:
• How many criteria are there? This question ensures students can find the criteria on
the rubric.
• What are the names of each criterion, and what do these words mean? This question
focuses the students on the meaning of the criteria as traits or qualities before they
begin writing.
• For each criterion in turn, going one at a time, read the descriptions of work along the
whole range of progress. Discuss what elements are described and how they change
from level to level. For each criterion, students should do this for the range of
performance-level descriptions before they start to write.
 Sharing Learning Targets with Students   |  97

• Put the level descriptions in your own words, varying the same elements from level
to level as the teacher’s rubrics did. Students should discuss the wording with their
partners until they agree on what to write.
• If work samples have been provided, do the new “translated” rubrics still match the
work at the intended levels? This is a check on the rephrasing, so that students can
make sure their translations preserved the original meaning.

Ready-steady-pair-share. Moss and Brookhart (2012) describe this strategy for

having students discuss rubrics in their own words in order to understand their learning
targets and criteria for success. This strategy begins with understanding the rubrics and
carries through their use with a single performance. Here are the steps involved:

• Give a rubric to students before you give them an assignment. The assignment should
be a performance of understanding; that is, it should be a clear instance of demon‑
strating the knowledge and skills that you intend for students to learn.
• In pairs, students take turns explaining the rubric to their partners. This step lasts
until the students think they understand how the rubric applies to their work on the
assignment they are about to do.
• Students begin the assignment. Students do not need to remain in their “rubric pairs”
to work but should work on the assignment however it is designed—individually, in
other groups, or whatever.
• Halfway through the assignment, students return to their rubric partners and explain
how what they are doing meets the criteria and performance levels they discussed
at the beginning. Students may question each other about their work and their
explanations.
• Students finish the assignment. Students go back to work individually or in their
work groups, however the assignment is designed.
• When students have finished the assignment, they return to their rubric partners and
explain how what they have done meets the criteria and desired performance level.
After partners are satisfied with each other’s explanations, students turn in the
work. They may turn in the results of this final peer evaluation as well.

Student co-constructed rubrics. Involving students in constructing rubrics is

an excellent way to help them feel ownership of both their learning in general and their
achievement or accomplishment on specific assignments and assessments and to help
them learn more at the same time. The reason is that the criteria for good work are part
of the broader concept of what it means to know and be able to do something.
   | 
98 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Different procedures have been described for co-constructing rubrics (Andrade,

Du, & Mycek, 2010; Arter & Chappuis, 2006; Nitko & Brookhart, 2011). Having stu‑
dents co-construct rubrics is like the bottom-up method of developing general rubrics
described in Chapter 3, using student input. The balance between the amount of student
direction and the amount of teacher guidance will vary. For some very familiar skills,
student input can furnish all or most of the ideas needed for identifying criteria and per‑
formance-level descriptions, and the teacher can be a facilitator. For less familiar skills,
student input can be part of a dialogue with the teacher. Teacher guidance will come in
the form of asking probing questions of students and also contributing ideas to the mix.
Therefore, the steps below for student co-construction of rubrics are a general‑
ization of the major actions different authors have described. These steps need to be
adapted to the students’ content knowledge and skills and to their familiarity with the
content and with rubric development. In some cases, the teacher may add information
or suggestions; in others, the students can do most of the process themselves. I have
used different versions myself, depending on these aspects of the context.

• Identify the content knowledge and skills the rubrics will be assessing. For co-con‑
structed rubrics, the knowledge and skills should be something students are
already somewhat familiar with—for example, writing an effective term paper that
requires library and Internet research.
• Give students some sample work. Have students review the work. For short pieces of
writing—for example, a brief essay—the work can be read aloud. Or students can
look over the examples in pairs or small groups.
• Students brainstorm their responses to the work in terms of strengths and weak-
nesses. The more specific the responses are, the better. For example, “The report
answered all my questions about stars and raised some new ones I hadn’t thought
of” is more specific than “It was a good report”; or “I didn’t understand the explana‑
tion of how stable stars burn” is more specific than “The report wasn’t clear.”
• Students categorize the strengths and weaknesses in terms of the attributes they
describe. The teacher may have to guide students here so the attributes are not
attributes of the task (for example, cover, introduction, body, references) but rather
aspects of the learning that was supposed to occur (for example, understanding of
the content, communication of the content, clarity and completeness of explanation,
and so on).
• Further discussion and wordsmithing of the attribute categories continue until there is
agreement on criteria for the rubric. Attributes can be grouped and ungrouped until
 Sharing Learning Targets with Students   |  99

they express criteria at the appropriate level of generality. Attributes that are not
important for the learning to be assessed may be removed from the list of criteria.
For example, handwriting may be an attribute that was noted but, upon discussion,
found to be unrelated to the content and skills the rubrics are concentrating on.
• For each criterion, students discuss what elements should be described and how they
might change from performance level to performance level. As this discussion pro‑
ceeds, record the results as drafts of descriptions of performance at each level. One
effective way of drafting performance-level descriptions is to start with the descrip‑
tion of ideal work and “back down” the quality for each level below it. The “rubric
machine” in Figure 9.2, or something like it, may help with this. A separate template
of this sort is needed for each criterion.
• When students arrive at a draft rubric, they apply it to the original work samples. Addi‑
tional work samples may be used here as well. Students note where questions arise
and use these observations to revise the rubric.

Ask students to match samples of work to rubrics

Matching samples of work to rubrics is one way of building up by induction student
concepts of what the criteria mean. Identifying attributes and distinguishing examples
from nonexamples are classic concept-development strategies.
Sorting work. Give students rubrics for an assignment demonstrating the knowl‑
edge and skills students are about to learn. Also give students several examples of
work ranging from very poor to very good. Students sort work according to the criteria
and performance-level descriptions in the rubrics. When students see several differ‑
ent examples of the same criteria, they begin to generalize meaning. They can begin
to separate critical defining attributes of the criteria. For example, for the criterion of
understanding planetary orbits, students might observe a critical attribute to be that
the planets are placed in their appropriate orbits in a model of the solar system. They
will begin to distinguish critical attributes of the work from irrelevant attributes. For
example, what the model planets are made out of might be an irrelevant attribute, as
some perhaps are made out of modeling clay and others are made out of papier-mâché.
Students should discuss the attributes they are focusing on, and why, to help solidify
their concepts of the criteria and performance levels.
Clear and cloudy. As an extension of sorting work according to the various perfor‑
mance-level descriptions, you can ask students to identify which pieces of work they had
no trouble identifying with a particular level of a given criterion (“clear”) and which
   | 
100 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Figure 9.2 Template for Student-Constructed Rubrics

Source: From Formative Assessment Strategies for Every Classroom, 2nd ed. (p. 86), by Susan M. Brookhart, 2010, Alexandria, VA:
ASCD. Copyright 2010 by ASCD. Reprinted with permission.

pieces of work were difficult to evaluate or identify with a particular level of a given crite‑
rion (“cloudy”). Then discuss, again in pairs, small groups, or whole group, the reasons
for these designations. The “clear” and “cloudy” designations and discussion will illumi‑
nate what the criteria mean and how students are understanding them.
Highlighters or colored pencils. Students use highlighters or colored pencils to
mark qualities described in the rubrics and on sample work. For example, if the rubric
says “Identifies the author’s purpose and supports this conclusion with details from the
text,” the student would highlight this statement in the rubrics and at the location in
his paper identifying the author’s purpose and supporting details. Students learn what
the criteria and performance-level descriptions mean by locating and reviewing specific
instances in the work. A version of this activity can also be used with the students’ own
papers for formative assessment (see Chapter 10). When used with sample work before
 Sharing Learning Targets with Students   |  101

students have begun their own work, students can talk about what they highlighted and
why in pairs, small groups, or as a whole class. Comments from these discussions can
be used as an introduction to the knowledge and skills students will be learning.

Explore and teach one criterion at a time

To introduce students to criteria for new learning targets, handle one criterion at
a time (Arter & Chappuis, 2006; Moss & Brookhart, 2009). Adapt any of the previous
strategies to one criterion, setting aside the others for the time being, or use one of the
following strategies.
Strategic goal setting. Give students a rubric before they do an activity or assign‑
ment. Address one criterion at a time, with a minilesson if the concept is new. Ask
students to plan a separate strategy for successful performance on that criterion. Have
them record their strategies right on their copies of the rubric. When work on the activ‑
ity or assignment begins, have students use their rubrics, annotated with their personal
strategies, to monitor and regulate their work.
Coming to terms. Rubrics often contain terms that are new to students. In small
groups, have students read all the performance-level descriptions for one criterion and
make a list of all the unfamiliar words in the descriptions, at any level, for that criterion.
Then have students define, describe, and find examples of those terms. If the listing
of words is done in groups, the groups can exchange their lists to do the definitions,
descriptions, and examples. Alternatively, a merged list can be created, and then one or
several terms can be assigned to each group. They can share their definitions, descrip‑
tions, and examples as class presentations or small-group presentations.

Summing up
This chapter has explored ways to use rubrics for sharing learning targets and cri‑
teria for success with students. This is the first, and foundational, strategy for formative
assessment. It is also a foundational strategy for effective instruction. Although rubrics
are not the only way to communicate to students what they are about to learn, they are
an excellent resource for doing so. Rubrics make especially good vehicles for sharing
learning targets when the target is complex and not just a matter of recall of informa‑
tion. The reason is that rubrics bring together sets of relevant criteria. The nature of a
complex understanding or skill is that several qualities must operate at one time.
 10
Rubrics and Formative Assessment:
Feedback and Student Self-Assessment

Formative assessment is an active and intentional learning process that partners the
teacher and students to continuously and systematically gather evidence of learning
with the express goal of improving student achievement (Moss & Brookhart, 2009, p. 6).
Formative assessment is about forming learning—that is, it is assessment that gives
information that moves students forward. If no further learning occurred, then whatever
the intention, an assessment was not formative.
Chapter 9 described how to use rubrics to
Self-reflection help clarify learning targets for students—the
foundational strategy of formative assessment.
How do you use rubrics for feedback and student
This chapter covers the use of rubrics for giving
self-assessment in your classroom?
feedback that feeds forward, for supporting student
self-assessment and goal setting, and for helping
students ask effective questions about their work.

How to use rubrics for teacher and peer feedback

Because rubrics enumerate the criteria for learning and describe performance
along a continuum for each one, they are a good framework for feedback. This section

102
 Feedback and Student Self-Assessment   |  103

presents several strategies for using rubrics as the basis for teacher and peer feedback.
Use one of them or design similar strategies that work in your context.

Teacher feedback on rubrics-based feedback sheets

If you are using well-written, general, analytic rubrics (as I recommend for most
purposes) for sharing with students and for feedback, you can photocopy the rubrics
themselves, leaving space for comments. Provide feedback by circling the performance
level for each criterion that best matches the student’s work in its current form. Then
you will not have to rewrite the general description, which is already circled. Instead,
use what time you have available for written feedback to write something specific to the
student’s work.
For example, if the class is working on the ideas in their writing, the teacher
may give feedback on writing using the Ideas rubric in the 6+1 Trait Writing rubrics
(see Appendix A). If she has circled “Support for topic is incidental or confusing, not
focused,” the specific comments might tell the student what she found confusing or
why the supporting details did not seem, in fact, to support the topic. This combination
of general feedback from the rubric and specific feedback in writing will be enough for
many students to see the way forward and improve their work in revision. For a few
students, if conferencing is needed—for example, if the teacher wants to ask a student
about the logic of including some details or check for understanding of story details
that seemed confusing—much of the preliminary information is already present in the
circled portions of the general rubrics and in the specific written feedback.

Yellow and blue make green

Similar to the “highlighters or colored pencils” method presented in Chapter 9 for
helping students understand the learning target and criteria they are aiming for, you
can also use highlighters for teacher feedback on student work and student self-assess‑
ment. Ask students to use the highlighters as before, highlighting a statement from
the description of performance in the rubric and highlighting where they identify this
quality, but this time in their own work instead of in sample work. They can then assess
whether they are satisfied with the evidence they have highlighted or want to change,
augment, or revise it.
Two-color highlighting (Chappuis, 2009) can be used to compare teacher and
self-assessment perspectives on the same work. Students use yellow highlighters, and
   | 
104 How to Create and Use Rubrics

teachers use blue highlighters. Where there is agreement on what constitutes evidence
for performance as described in the rubric, the resulting highlights will be green.
This is not just a coloring-book exercise, however. Important information comes
with the comparison. If most of the highlighted area is green, both the student and the
teacher are interpreting the work in the same way and more or less agreeing on its
quality. If most of the highlighted area is yellow, the student is seeing evidence that the
teacher is not. It may be that the student is not clear on the meaning of the criterion, or
the student may be overvaluing the work. If most of the highlighted area is blue, the
teacher is seeing evidence that the student is not. The student may be not clear on the
meaning of the criterion or undervaluing the work.
Any place where teacher and student perspectives vary on the worth of the stu‑
dent’s work relative to criteria can be fertile ground for written feedback from the
teacher, student questioning, or conferencing. The feedback, questions, or conferences
should address more than just understanding the highlighting or the description of
current work. What should come next? Provide feedback on what the student can do to
improve the work.

Paired-peer feedback
Peers can use rubrics to give each other feedback. The rubrics provide structure
for peer discussions, making it easier for the students to focus on the criteria rather than
personal reactions to the work. The rubrics also aid dialogue. As the students use the
language of the rubrics to discuss each other’s work, they are developing their own con‑
ceptions of the meaning of the criteria while they are giving information to their peers.
The simplest form of peer feedback involves students working in pairs. The teacher
should assign peers that are well matched in terms of interest, ability, or compatibility,
depending on the particular assignment.
Peer feedback works best in a classroom where constructive criticism is viewed as
an important part of learning. In a classroom characterized by a grading-focused or eval‑
uative culture (“Whad-ja-get?”), peer feedback may not work well; students may hesitate
to criticize their peers so as not to imply there is anything “wrong.” Try peer feedback
only when you are sure that your students value opportunities to learn. If you try peer
feedback and it doesn’t work very well, even after careful preparation, be prepared to
ask yourself whether your students are telling you they are more focused on getting a
good grade than improving their work.
 Feedback and Student Self-Assessment   |  105

Assuming that you have a learning-focused classroom culture, you still need to
prepare students for peer feedback. Make sure that the students understand the rubrics
they will be using and that they can apply them to anonymous work samples accurately.
Make sure the students understand the assignments on which they will be using the
rubrics for the peer feedback. Set a few important ground rules and have students
explain, and even role-play, what they mean. Use rules that make sense for your grade
level, students, and content area. Here are examples of some common peer-feedback
ground rules:

When You Are Giving Peer Feedback

1. Read or view your peer’s work carefully. Talk about the work, not the
person who did the work.
2. Use terms from the rubrics to explain and describe what you see in
the work.
3. Give your own suggestions and ideas, and explain why you think these
suggestions would help improve the work.
4. Listen to your peer’s comments and questions.
When You Are Receiving Peer Feedback
1. Listen to your peer’s comments. Take time to think about them before
you respond.
2. Compare your peer’s comments to the rubrics, and decide what com‑
ments you will use in your revisions.
3. Thank your peer for the feedback.

Finally, peer feedback gets better with practice. When you use paired-peer feedback,
observe the pairs and give them feedback on their feedback, as it were. Look for, and
comment on, how students use the rubrics, how clearly they describe the work, how use‑
ful their suggestions for improvement are, how supportive they are, and so on. Just as for
any skill, giving and receiving peer feedback can (and should) be taught and learned.

How to use rubrics for student

self-assessment and goal setting
Because rubrics encode the qualities of good work that students are shooting for,
they are the appropriate reference point for students’ monitoring of their own work.
   | 
106 How to Create and Use Rubrics

This section presents some examples of how that might be done, and I encourage you to
devise others that fit the students, content, and grade level you teach.

Strategic goal setting revisited

In Chapter 9 we talked about students using rubrics to plan a separate strategy for
successful performance on each criterion and recording their strategies on their copies
of the rubric. When work on the activity or assignment begins, have students use their
rubrics, annotated with their personal strategies, to monitor and regulate their work.
They can use any number of methods for this. Here are a couple of them.
Quick-check. Each time students work on their assignments or projects, set aside
one minute at the end of work time. For each strategy students have identified, have
them check the following:

• Did I do this today?

• Did it help me?

For example, consider a student in a writing class that was using the 6+1 Trait Writing
rubrics. One student’s strategy for improving his performance (and learning) under the
Word Choice criterion was “I will check a thesaurus any time a word isn’t as powerful,
precise, or engaging as I would like.” Thus the student would ask himself, “Did I use a
thesaurus in my writing today? Did it help me choose more powerful, precise, or engag‑
ing words?” Students can make their own charts to record these checks, or they can
make a mark next to where they have written their strategies on their rubrics.
Journaling. In classes where regular journaling is part of student self-reflection,
students can record their strategies and their reflections upon the use of those strategies
as part of their regular self-reflection. Here the questions are similar—Did I actually use
the strategy I planned to and did it help me improve my work?—but there is room for
reflecting on what specifically the strategy helped (or did not help) the student do and
why that might be the case. Teachers may or may not read these reflections. The intent
is for students to exercise metacognition, to think about their thinking.
Think-pair-don’t share. Give students five minutes at the end of a work session
to work in pairs. Each partner will describe the strategies that were planned, whether
the strategies were used, to what degree the strategies helped, and why this might be
so. This activity is a sort of debriefing of the work session, strategy use, and perceptions
of learning. Similar to the conventional think-pair-share activity, students work with
partners for this self-reflection session. Unlike a conventional think-pair-share activity,
 Feedback and Student Self-Assessment   |  107

however, students do not share the results of their paired conversations with the whole
class. The teacher may speak with one or more of the pairs as they are reflecting, to help
them focus, as needed.

Charting progress
Charting progress means two different things. Students think of their progress
toward completing individual assignments or projects, and they think of progress more
broadly as learning. It is a good idea to have students chart at least the latter (learning
progress) and sometimes the former.
Charting progress on an individual assignment, with rubrics. Give students
the rubrics. Midway through the work, ask them to mark the rubrics at the level where
they are for each criterion. Students can place a vertical line or a large dot at the appro‑
priate level on each criterion. This can be done individually or in pairs. When the assign‑
ment or project is finished but before students turn it in, ask them to self-assess their
finished product with the rubrics. Then have them draw an arrow from the first dot or
line to the second, right on the rubrics, to make a graphic illustration of their progress.
Charting longer-term learning progress. General rubrics that are used across
tasks can be used for longer-term charting of progress during a report period, a semes‑
ter, or even a year. Depending on the purpose, students can use general rubrics for
foundational skills (Chapter 4) or standards-based grading rubrics (Chapter 6) to keep
track of their learning of those skills or standards. Have students construct a histogram
with time on the horizontal axis and performance levels on the vertical axis.
Figure 10.1 gives an example of one student tracking her progress on the criterion
“Writing an Explanation” in the Math Problem-Solving Rubric in Figure 4.1. Additional
charts would be needed for the other criteria in the rubric. Each performance is listed,
and then the student colors the bars in the graph to the height corresponding to her
developing ability to show mathematical knowledge.
I want to make several very important points right away, because such a chart is
prone to misinterpretation in classrooms that are grade oriented rather than learning
oriented. First, this chart is for formative assessment and represents the student’s
practice and learning. It does not represent final outcomes, except perhaps that the last
entry recorded shows the answer to the question “Where am I now?” The entries would
not be averaged or otherwise summarized into a grade. This chart is the student’s way
of keeping track of her progress as she is learning. She will eventually receive a grade
from a summative assessment of mathematical knowledge.
   | 
108 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Figure 10.1 Example of Charting Progress with Rubrics

WRITING AN EXPLANATION

5
•  I write what I did
and why I did it.
•  I explain each step
of my work.
•  I use math words
and strategy
names.
•  I write the answer
in a complete sen-
tence at the end of
my explanation.
4
•  I write what I did
and a little about
why I did it.
•  I explain most of
my work.
3
•  I write a little
about what I did
or why I did it, but
not both.
•  I explain some of
my work.
2
•  I write something
that doesn’t make
sense.
•  I write an unclear
answer.
1
•  I don’t write
anything to explain
how I solved the
problem.
Oct. 7 Oct. 14 Oct. 21 Oct. 28 Nov. 4 Nov. 11
Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem
set #1 set #2 set #3 set #4 set #5 set #6
Note: This example uses the Math Problem-Solving Rubric shown in Figure 4.1.
 Feedback and Student Self-Assessment   |  109

Second, the assessments or learning opportunities themselves are not “equal,” and
it is therefore mathematically inappropriate to summarize this chart by averaging. What
is constant is the existence of the descriptions of performance for the various levels of
Writing an Explanation, which are shown on the vertical axis. These performance levels
describe the student’s “steps” in learning. The assessments are simply opportunities for
the student to practice, learn, and show what she knows. The purpose of the chart is for
the student to see a learning curve. Bars that rise indicate progress. Bars that stay the
same or fall indicate lack of progress. The graphic representation helps students focus
on the performance levels and plan their next steps.

How to use rubrics to help students

ask effective questions about their work
The genius of rubrics lies in their two main features: the criteria and descriptions of
performance across a range of quality levels. The “main ideas” students need in order to
understand quality are named by the criteria themselves. The elements in the descriptions
flesh out these criteria with “supporting ideas” or aspects of the work that contribute to
overall quality. Both of these help students ask effective questions about their work.

Simple self-reflection with rubrics

For experienced, self-regulated learners, simply give students dedicated time for
self-reflection at designated points during their work, and ask them to use the rubrics to
do it. Appropriate points in the work will vary. For writing, they come after the first draft
and after subsequent revisions. For multipart projects, they come as different compo‑
nents of the project are drafted. For term papers, they come after each phase has been
attempted (draft thesis or research question, library/Internet research, outline, writing
of sections of the paper, and so on). Effective, self-regulated students can use rubrics to
ask themselves whether their work contains the qualities they are shooting for. Many,
if not most, students need more scaffolding and structure in order to use rubrics to ask
effective questions about their work.

Scaffolded self-reflection with rubrics

Rubrics with structure like the Math Problem-Solving Rubric in Figure 4.1 make
asking effective questions about work very straightforward. Ask students to focus first
   | 
110 How to Create and Use Rubrics

on the top category (or the category they are shooting for, if not the top one), and turn
the elements into questions:

• Do I figure out the correct answer?

• Do I solve the problem with no mistakes?
• Do I use all the important information from the problem? [and so on]

For rubrics that do not use such straightforward, student-friendly terms, you can
do one of two things. You can construct student-friendly rubrics with the students, with
the constraint that the descriptions have to be “I” statements that can be turned into “Do
I” questions. That exercise in itself is good for helping students learn exactly what their
target is (see Chapter 9).
Alternatively, you can have students use the criteria and descriptive elements in
rubrics to pose their own questions. For example, Level 4 of the Content category in the
rubric for written projects in Figure 4.2 says:

The thesis is clear. A large amount and variety of material and evidence
support the thesis. All material is relevant. This material includes details.
Information is accurate. Appropriate sources were consulted.

Brainstorm with students how questions can be written from these statements. If you
start with “The thesis is clear,” students might suggest questions such as these:

• Is my thesis clear?
• How clear is my thesis?
• How do I know my thesis is clear?
• How can I make my thesis more clear?

You can continue with each element in the description until you have a set of reflection
questions for students to use. Or if your students get the hang of this quickly, you can
use a few rounds of question generating to demonstrate how to turn descriptions into
questions about work, and then have students write their own questions as they reflect.

Feedback on student self-reflection

Asking effective questions about their own work is the first key to supporting
students’ effective self-reflection. The second, of course, is answering those questions.
As students are learning to self-reflect, give them feedback on how well they answer
the questions. Feedback on student self-reflection is generally oral, but it can be written
 Feedback and Student Self-Assessment   |  111

if students use a formal self-reflection format. Feedback on student self-reflection need

not be given to all students all the time. Feedback on student self-reflection is not used
for grades.
Parker and Breyfogle (2011) describe a
process of self-reflection that began with Ms. Self-reflection
Parker’s students using the Math Problem-
Solving Rubric to evaluate three anonymous How can you involve students more in self-
pieces of student work. Later in the project, the reflection in your classroom?
class evaluated anonymous work samples from
a student’s Week 1 and Week 4 work and talked about how the rubric described the
change. Then Ms. Parker used small-group time to elicit more details about the students’
observations of the work by asking probing questions herself. Finally, she used individual
conferences to ask students to apply the rubric to their own work. The follow-up ques‑
tions she used (for example, “You wrote what you did, but did you say why you did it?”)
functioned as feedback for the students, feeding them forward into their next steps in
observation (“No, I just wrote what I did”), and finally to an action plan (writing why).

Summing up
One of the advantages of rubrics is their usefulness for formative assessment.
Chapter 9 explored ways to use rubrics to share learning targets and criteria for success
with students. Chapter 10 explored ways to use rubrics to develop student work and to
give evidence of learning that students can use for further improvement. When students
have written, drafted, practiced, honed, and polished, eventually it is time for a grade to
certify the level of achievement or accomplishment the students have reached. Chapter
11 discusses ways to use rubrics in grading.
 11
How to Use Rubrics for Grading

Most of this book has been about how to write or

Self-reflection select high-quality rubrics and how to use them
formatively with students, as an aid to learning. I
How have you handled using rubrics in grading?
include this chapter on grading to complete the
What questions or issues have arisen for you?
picture. Sometimes teachers use rubrics well until
How did you resolve them?
they get to grading, and then meaning falls apart
because rubric levels are not the same kind of
numbers as the test scores and percentages most teachers grew up with. Note that this
chapter is not a complete treatise on grading, just a discussion of how using rubrics
plays out in the grading process. Readers who would like a more complete treatment of
grading should consult Brookhart (2011) or O’Connor (2011).

What is grading?
We commonly use the term grading to mean two different things. We say, “I graded
that assignment” or “I graded that test,” meaning a grade was assigned to an individual
assessment. We also use grading to refer to the process of summarizing a set of individ‑
ual grades to arrive at a grade for a report card. Report card grades are usually assigned
either to a standard or to a subject area, depending on whether the report cards are
standards based or traditional. In this chapter, I talk about using rubrics for grading
individual assessments and also about summarizing a set of grades that includes rubrics.
112
 How to Use Rubrics for Grading   |  113

Rubric-based grades and percentages—An important difference

Rubrics typically use short scales, often three to six levels. The meaning of the
distance between the levels is not the same as for a test, where one point usually means
one tiny increment on a scale, either from a right-wrong question or one point on a
multipoint question. Rubrics use ordered categories—descriptions of performance
along a continuum of quality—for each criterion. For this reason, turning rubrics into
percentages, which many people do out of habit or out of the expectations of gradebook
software, changes the meaning. For example, a 3 on a four-point rubric typically means
“Proficient.” Three out of four, however, is 75 percent, which in most grading scales is a
C and sometimes even a D. Neither of those grades means “Proficient.”
The goal for all the grading recommendations in this chapter is to have the final
grade end up representing, with as much fidelity as possible, the information about
student learning contained in individual grades or in the set of grades being combined
for a report card grade. Those who are interested in more of the quantitative reasoning
behind these recommendations should consult Nitko and Brookhart (2011).

How to use rubrics to grade individual assessments

Use the same rubrics to grade the assignment that students have been using for‑
matively as part of their understanding of their learning target and for monitoring and
improving their work. I hope for most readers this is a foregone conclusion.
If students have used rubrics formatively, as they worked, the main “grade” for their
assignment should communicate what level they finally achieved on each criterion. This is
the information that should be most meaningful to them because it will include descrip‑
tions of their work. One good way to do this is to circle the performance-level descrip‑
tion that applies to the final work, for each criterion. You don’t need to take the time to
write that general description, because it is already printed in the rubrics. With the time
you save, you can make a few comments specific to the student’s particular work—not a
lot, as the most effective time for feedback is before work is graded, not after.
If you need an overall grade for a performance assessment graded with analytic rubrics,
you can combine the levels achieved for each criterion. Whether you summarize the per‑
formance for each criterion into a total-performance description or not, students should
see how they scored on each criterion. Criterion-level results provide more useful
information for students than one amalgamated score. However, sometimes you need to
summarize an overall grade for one assessment for later use in a final grade. Sometimes
you don’t, as when each criterion is recorded as a grade under a different standard. For
   | 
114 How to Create and Use Rubrics

example, one rubric score might be recorded under the standard for science content,
one for inquiry skills, and one for communication.
If you do need one overall grade (for example, “Science”) and must summarize an
assessment with one overall score, use the median or mode, not the mean, of the scores
for each criterion. Figure 11.1 summarizes how to calculate mean, median, and mode,
the three most common ways to combine more than one score into a typical score. The
figure summarizes all three, even though the median is recommended, so you can see
how all three summarize “typical” performance but do so in different ways.

Figure 11.1 Three Ways to Summarize a Set of Scores: Mean, Median, and Mode

Measure of Central Tendency Example

On a six-point analytic rubric with four criteria, a

student scores 6, 5, 3, 3.

Mean Mean = 4.25

•  The sum of all scores divided by the number (6 + 5 + 3 + 3)/4 = 4.25
of scores
•  Also known as the arithmetic average

Median Median = 4
•  The score that has half of the scores above (line scores up in order first)
and half below it (even if it’s between two 6 5 3 3
scores) ^
4
•  Also known as the 50th percentile

Mode Mode = 3
•  The most frequently occurring score in the (line scores up in order first)
set of scores
•  Sometimes helpful to think of it as the “most 6 5 3 3
popular” score

Figure 11.1 uses as an example a performance that was scored with a six-point
analytic rubric with four criteria, on which one student scored 6, 5, 3, and 3, respectively.
The example assumes all four criteria were of equal weight, which will not always be
the case. To weight a criterion more heavily than others to calculate the mean, multiply
the weight times the score. For example, to double the weight of the criterion on which
 How to Use Rubrics for Grading   |  115

a student scored 6, for the mean, use 12 instead of 6, changing the mean to 5.75. To
weight a criterion more heavily than others to calculate the median, repeat it. That is,
use two 6s in the lineup, changing the median to 5.
I recommend the median for most summarizing purposes. The median is less prone
to being pulled by extreme scores than is the mean, as the examples in Figure 11.1
show. And the median is more stable than the mode, as the examples also show. Sup‑
pose one of the 3s in the example had been a 5? One change in one criterion, probably
not representing a hugely different performance overall, would change the overall score
by two points—a lot on a six-point scale. Plus the median is easy to calculate—for most
analytical rubrics you can just count in your head. In the next section, when I will recom‑
mend using the median for summarizing sets of grades on individual assessments, you
can let a spreadsheet do your median calculations.

How to combine individual rubric-based grades for a report card grade

The method you choose for combining grades should depend on two things: what
types of grades you need to combine and what meaning you want your report card
grade to convey. Ask yourself these questions:

• What kinds of individual grades am I going to summarize for the report card grade?
Are all your individual grades on scales from rubrics, or are your individual grades
a mixture of rubrics and percentages? If all your grades are from rubrics, are they
all on the same scale? Or were some four-point rubrics, some six-point, and so on?
This makes a difference in how you combine them. It’s the familiar “apples and
oranges” logic. Before you combine numbers meaningfully, they should be on the
same scale.
• How must I report the students’ grades on the report card? Does your report card
use letter grades (for example, A, B, C, D, F) or percentages or standards-based
performance categories? This distinction makes a difference in how you combine
individual grades as well.
• What is my report card grade supposed to mean? I’ll take it as a given that your report
card grade is supposed to reflect achievement (as opposed to effort, attendance,
and so on). Is achievement reported by subject or by standard on your report
cards? The reason this makes a difference for combining grades is that if achieve‑
ment is separated by standard, you can privilege the most recent evidence; as
the student improves on the standard, the grade will go up, even if it started low,
because it represents learning in the same domain. If achievement is reported
   | 
116 How to Create and Use Rubrics

by subject, then the order of the evidence makes less difference, because differ‑
ent standards are covered in different units. Doing poorly on one standard at the
beginning of the report period is not subject to revision because of doing well on a
different standard toward the end of the report period.

You can use Figure 11.2 to help you decide on a method to use for summarizing
your students’ individual grades into their report card grades. You will notice in Figure
11.2 that the methods follow three general steps. Each of these steps is worked out in
different ways depending on the answers you gave to the three questions (what kinds of
grades, how must you report, and what the reported grade is supposed to mean).
The figure lists each question in turn, and then displays two flow charts that start
with the answer to the first question. All the recommended methods accomplish these
objectives:

• Identify the set of individual grades you are going to summarize, based on what the
report card grade is supposed to mean.
• Make sure the individual grades to be summarized are on the same scale.
• Use a summarizing method that expresses in one grade the “typical” achievement
level shown in the set of individual grades.

The following sections discusses each of these points in greater detail.

Identify the set of individual grades you are going to summarize, based on
what the report card grade is supposed to mean. Usually report card grades are
supposed to reflect achievement of a standard or achievement in a subject. It is impor‑
tant to make sure you have recorded grades organized by standard or subject, respec‑
tively. That sounds obvious; in fact, it sounds like something you shouldn’t need advice
about. However, it’s worth mentioning, especially in a book on rubrics.
If you used analytic rubrics for a project and are grading by subject, typically you will
summarize the set of analytic rubrics for the project into one overall score, as discussed
in the previous section of this chapter. However, if you used analytic rubrics for a project
and are grading by standard, you may need to keep one or more of the criteria separate.
For example, if students wrote a report on an event in history and its effects, and you
graded it with the General Rubric for Written Projects in Figure 4.2, the “Content” and
“Reasoning & Evidence” scores might be put together to be indicators of a standard
about understanding and analyzing historical events, and the “Clarity” score might be an
indicator of a standard about communicating about historical events or a standard about
expository writing.
Figure 11.2 Decision Tree for Combining Individual Grades for Report Card Summary Grades

Questions: Answers: (Mixed scales)

What kinds of (Same scale) All individual grades are rubrics, Some individual grades are
individual grades All individual grades are rubrics, and but not all the rubric scales are OR rubrics and some are percent-
are you going to all rubrics use the same proficiency the same ages (e.g., test scores)
summarize for the scale (e.g., 4 levels where 3 means
report card grade? Proficent).

(Categories) (Percentages)
Letter grades (e.g., A, B, C, D, F ) Percentages (e.g., 98%,
OR 93%, etc.)
How must you Performance categories on the same
Performance categories (e.g.,
report the stu- proficiency scale (e.g., Advanced,
Advanced, Proficient, Basic, Below
dents’ grades on Proficient, Basic, Below Basic)
Basic; or Outstanding, Satisfactory,
the report card?
Needs Improvement)

What is your report Achievement for the report period sum- Achievement for the report period sum- Achievement for the report period Achievement for the report period
card grade sup- marized by standard (e.g., Numbers marized by standard (e.g., Numbers and summarized by subject (e.g., Reading, summarized by subject (e.g., Reading,
posed to mean? and operations, Finding main idea) operations, Finding main idea) Mathematics, Science, Social Studies) Mathematics, Science, Social Studies)

RECOMMENDED • Group individual grades by standard. • Group individual grades by standard. • Group individual grades by subject. Changing rubrics to percentages is not
METHOD: • Use the median proficiency level, • Transform each individual grade to the • Transform each individual grade to the recommended, but if policy requires it,

How to Use Rubrics for Grading

weighting as necessary, OR use a letter grade or performance category letter grade or performance category use this method.
logic rule. it represents (or record the grades this it represents (or record the grades this • Group individual grades by subject.
• If there are patterns of increase way in the first place). way in the first place). • Transform each individual grade to a
(or decrease) over time, use the • Use the median proficiency level, • Use the median proficiency level, percentage.
median of the most recent grades weighting as necessary, OR use a weighting as necessary. –– Leave scores that already are
(or, in special cases, the most recent logic rule. percentages as is.
single grade). • If there are patterns of increase (or –– Make percentages out of analytic
decrease) over time, use the median of rubrics with at least 20 total
the most recent grades (or, in special points by dividing total points
cases, the most recent single grade). earned by total possible points,
being sure not to use rubrics with
fewer than 20 total points, OR
use a conversion chart.

  | 
• Use the median or mean (average)
percentage, weighting as necessary.

Note: This chart summarizes the most common kinds of grading decisions. If the grading policies you must follow are not listed here, use the explanations in the text to figure out the best method to use.

117
   | 
118 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Therefore, it’s very important to know what specific set of information you will need
for your report card grade before you record your individual grades. If you have recorded
individual grades by standard or subject, as needed, you can easily calculate meaning‑
ful report card grades. If you have not, or if you have made overall grades out of rubric
results that should have been kept separate, you will not have the right information at
hand when it’s time to calculate final grades. Even worse, if you recorded improperly orga‑
nized grades into gradebook software that calculates final grades automatically, you may
not even be aware that your final grades do not mean what you intended them to mean.
Begin the report period by selecting the right organization method for your grade
records. It’s not hard to organize ahead of time. It’s very difficult, and sometimes impos‑
sible, to reorganize mixed-up results.
Make sure the individual grades to be summarized are on the same scale.
Here, the term scale means the numbers or levels in which the individual grade is
expressed. There might be several different kinds of scales within the set of grades you
identified as the set to be summarized for one report card grade. For example, you might
have percentages, some four-point rubrics, some six-point rubrics, and so on. Obviously
a 4 conveys very different information about achievement on those different scales, and
yet if you were to average them, those different meanings would become muddled.
If you have used rubrics with the same proficiency scale for every graded assessment,
whether it was a test or performance assessment or project or assignment of any type,
your individual grades are already on the same scale for grading purposes. Chapter 6
described how to create this kind of rubric.
If all your recorded grades for individual assignments are from rubrics, but the rubrics
have not been designed such that the levels have the same meaning, or if the rubrics do not
all have the same number of levels, or both, you need to put them all on the same scale
before you combine them. This follows the “comparing apples and oranges” principle.
You need to make sure all your rubrics are apples (or oranges, or bananas for that mat‑
ter); that is, that they are all comparable and can be meaningfully combined.
Whether your set of individual grades is by subject or by standard, if you are report-
ing in letter grades (for example, A, B, C, D, F) or performance categories (for example,
Advanced, Proficient, Nearing Proficiency, Not Yet), or in any other short scale that is
really a list of ordered categories of achievement, the easiest thing to do is to transform
each individual grade into a category on that scale. Then when you combine the grades,
your result will already be on the scale you need, and you’ll save yourself having to do a
 How to Use Rubrics for Grading   |  119

second transformation. I recommend you do this at the time you record each individual
grade, but if you haven’t, do the transformation before calculating the report card grade.
For example, consider Figure 11.3. The top section lists the grades for five assess‑
ments for four students. These grades illustrate a common situation that occurs when
teachers have used a mixture of tests or quizzes graded with percentages and perfor‑
mance assessments graded with rubrics. Using multiple, different measures is a good
practice. It allows for assessing different aspects of a content domain, at different cogni‑
tive levels, and with different performance modalities. It does, however, create a grading
situation with incompatible scales, as illustrated in Figure 11.3. Take a moment to verify
for yourself that if you simply “averaged” the numbers (added them up and divided by
5), you would get uninterpretable results.

Figure 11.3 Example of Summarizing by Converting Individual Grades

to the Scale Used for Reporting

Original Grades for Individual Assessments

Assessment Assessment Assessment Assessment Assessment

Student #1 #2 #3 #4 #5
Aiden 79 2 74 3 4
Brittney 68 2 69 2 3
Carlos 93 4 98 5 6
Daniela 88 3 92 5 5

Transformed Grades, with Report Card Grade (median)

Assessment Assessment Assessment Assessment Assessment Report

Student #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 Card Grade
Aiden C C C C B C
Brittney D C D D C D
Carlos A A A A- A A
Daniela B B A A- A- A-
Note: The original grades for Assessments #1 and #3 were in percentages. The original grades for Assessment #2 were on four-point
rubrics with 3 indicating Proficient. The original grades for Assessments #4 and #5 were on six-point rubrics with 4 and above indicating
Proficient. The transformed grades were put on a letter-grade scale (A, B, C, D, F ) because they were to be summarized into a letter
grade for the report card.
   | 
120 How to Create and Use Rubrics

The solution to this problem is to discern the meaning of each individual grade
in terms of the grading scale you must use for reporting so that you can meaningfully
combine the results. In this illustration, the report card requires letter grades. If the
report card required reporting proficiency levels (Advanced, Proficient, and so on), the
procedure would be the same but instead of converting to letters, you would convert to
proficiency levels.
In this example, Assessments #1 and #3 were tests, and their results were in per‑
centages. The percentages were transformed to letter grades using the scale 90–100=A,
80–89=B, and so on, for ease of illustration. You would, of course, use whatever scale was
in place in your district or school to do this transformation.
Assessment #2 was a performance assessment scored with four-point rubrics,
where 3 was Proficient. These rubric results were transformed to letter grades by a
judgment call, that 3 (Proficient) represented B-level work, 4 (Advanced) represented
A-level work, and 2 (Nearing Proficiency) represented C-level work. Assessments #4
and #5 were performance assessments scored with six-point rubrics, similar to the
6+1 Trait Writing rubrics, where 4 and above meant Proficient. In this example, to be
consistent with the decision to use a B to represent Proficient, the six-point rubric was
transformed as follows: 6=A, 5=A-, 4=B, 3=C, 2=D, 1=F. As for the percentage transfor‑
mations, you would use the conventions in your school or district to transform the rubric
results into letters, which would not have to match the transformations in this example.
If you are using rubrics but your report card grades must be expressed in percentages,
that’s a stickier wicket. Technically you can’t add precision (more distinctions or gra‑
dations in the scale) that wasn’t there in the first place. So mapping a small number of
performance categories from rubrics onto a scale with 101 possible points (0 to 100) is
not mathematically an appropriate thing to do. If you have to end up with percentages,
however, it won’t help you much if I just say don’t use percentages with rubrics. You
would be technically correct but left with no way to report students’ grades.
Therefore, I suggest that if you have to report in percentages you work to change
your district’s reporting system and in the meantime know that you are compromising
for the sake of following required policy. If you have to report final grades in percent‑
ages, it’s better to use judgments about student learning than mathematics that distorts
the meaning about student learning. Whether all your recorded grades for individual
assignments are from rubrics or some are from rubrics and others are expressed in per‑
centages, you need to put them all on the percentage scale before you combine them.
 How to Use Rubrics for Grading   |  121

The purpose is to make sure that they are all comparable and can be combined to yield a
meaningful result on the percentage scale.
If you know you need percentages, you can get such scores from rubrics in one of
two ways. You can calculate percentages mathematically from your rubrics, or you can
use a conversion chart based on judgment.
To calculate percentages from rubrics (I cringe even writing that! What a horrible
position to be in!), make sure all the rubrics you use for assignments have at least 20
total points. Thirty is even better. Using at least 20 total points helps address the prob‑
lem of percentage meanings not coinciding with rubric meanings, which was explained
in the introduction to this chapter. (Recall the example that three out of four is 75 per‑
cent, which is not “Proficient” on most percentage grading scales).
You won’t be able to avoid this problem entirely, but you can improve it a bit by
using larger numbers. Five 3s, on five 4-point rubrics, still yields 75 percent (15 out of
20 possible points). However, in the three-out-of-four case, the scale jumped from 75
percent to 100 percent; it was impossible to score anything in between. With five 4-point
rubrics for a total of 20 points, there are possible scores in between (80 percent for four
3s and a 4, 85 percent for three 3s and two 4s, and so on). The bottom line is, if you have
to convert rubrics to percentages—kicking and screaming at compromising information
about student learning—at least do it with total points of 20 or more.
I once had a question from a teacher during a workshop on grading. She asked
about rubrics in which the lowest category is a 1. Often the description of performance
in the low category includes things like “Answer was unreadable” or even “No answer
was given.” She was concerned that students would, in effect, be “getting points” for
doing no work. That was an interesting question, but it rests on the assumption that the
grades are for doing work. Grades are supposed to be measures of achievement, and
they are always on arbitrary scales invented by educators. If a student scores 25 percent
because of getting five 1s on an assignment scored with five 4-point rubrics, the student
still fails. In fact, that 25 percent is exactly the same as the chance (guessing) score for a
multiple-choice test with four-option questions scored right/wrong and then converted
to a percentage.
Using a conversion chart based on judgment to transform rubric scores into
percentages is a bit more defensible than calculating percentages from rubric scores
because the judgments are about what the scores say about student learning. It is still
mathematically impossible to make scores more precise than they were in the first
   | 
122 How to Create and Use Rubrics

place, but at least the judgments can be thoughtful. Figure 11.4 is an example of a con‑
version chart constructed by using teacher judgment.

Figure 11.4 A Judgment-Based Conversion Chart for Recording

Rubric Results as Percentages

Median of Scores for All Judgment-Based “Percentage”

Criteria on One Assessment Grade for That Assessment

4.0 99

3.5 92

3.0 85

2.5 79

2.0 75

1.5 67

1.0 59

The chart in Figure 11.4 reflects judgments about learning. The reasoning flowed
from the premise that the 3 was supposed to reflect proficiency and should therefore
end up being a “middle B” on the percentage scale used in the school. In this example,
for ease of illustration we are representing percentages on a scale where 90 to 100 is an
A, 80 to 89 is a B, and so on. Thus, in this conversion chart, a student with performance
at the bottom level of the rubric fails but is at the top of the F range on the percentage
scale. A conversion chart in a school with a different scale would have different num‑
bers. A conversion chart based on different judgments about what the four levels of
performance should represent on the scale would also have different numbers.
It is best if conversion charts like this one are constructed by several teachers or
a whole department or school. The more perspectives reflected in the judgments, the
better. And the more agreement there is about the judgments, the easier it will be to use
them and explain them to students and parents.
Finally, to end this section I want to repeat that making percentages out of rubrics is
a compromise, and one I’m not happy about. Do it only if your grading policies require it.
 How to Use Rubrics for Grading   |  123

Use a summarizing method that expresses in one grade the “typical”

achievement level shown in the set of individual grades. Once you have your set
of individual grades on the same scale—“apples to apples,” if you will—you are ready to
combine them. For most purposes, I recommend the median. It’s an appropriate mea‑
sure of “typical” performance when the performance measures are ordered categories.
Weighting more important grades is easy when you calculate a median (for example, to
double, just count the same grade twice; to triple, count it three times). The median does
not give any more weight to an extreme low or high score than to any other low or high
score.
If you are reporting in letter grades (for example, A, B, C, D, F) or performance catego-
ries (for example, Advanced, Proficient, Nearing Proficiency, Not Yet), or in any other short
scale that is really a list of ordered categories of achievement, use the median letter grade
or performance category. You have already transformed each of your individual grades
to the reporting scale. Before you take the median, decide if you need to weight any
individual grades more than others.
If you are reporting grades by subject, with the individual assignment grades measur-
ing learning on different standards, consider doubling individual grades that reflect more
important standards. Or you might consider doubling individual grades that reflect
more complex thinking or extended work compared with individual grades that reflect
recall and literal comprehension. After you are satisfied that the weights of your indi‑
vidual grades make them contribute their due to the whole set of information, then take
the median, as described above and in Figure 11.1. In the example in Figure 11.3, the
decision was not to weight any one assessment more heavily than another. Each indi‑
vidual assessment counted the same. The median was used to summarize the set of five
grades, and the results are shown in the column labeled “Report Card Grade.”
If you are reporting grades by standard instead of subject, with all the assignments
representing learning within the same domain, you should still weight individual grades
in proportion to the contribution you want them to make to the report card grade.
Once you have done that, however, pause before you calculate the median and look for
patterns in the individual grades over time. If the pattern looks like a learning curve—
that is, it starts low, then rises, and then levels off—those later individual grades in the
leveling-off period represent current student achievement of that standard. Take the
median of those.
If the pattern is the opposite of that, decreasing over time (rarer, but it happens),
you might still take the median of the recent evidence, or you might take the median of
   | 
124 How to Create and Use Rubrics

all the individual grades to give the student the benefit of the doubt. However, you also
need to find out the reason why a student went into a slump. In fact, it’s better if you
notice the slump before report card time and can do something about it.
If there is no discernible pattern, take the median of all the individual grades. The
case of Cort in Figure 6.4 illustrates this scenario.
If you are using rubrics but your report card
grades must be expressed in percentages, you have Self-reflection
already transformed each of your individual
grades into percentages. Give more weight Which branches of the decision tree in Figure 11.2
to assessments of more important standards are most relevant to your school and classroom
and assessments that measure complex and grading policies and needs? How do your grading
extended thinking, and less weight to assess‑ practices match with the recommendations made
ments of less important standards and assess‑ in this chapter?
ments of recall of information. I still recommend
that you use the median percentage as your summary grade. That way you minimize the
drastic effect of extreme scores and still report a defensible average grade. (Actually, I
recommend the median even for summarizing grades that all began as percentages, not
rubrics, for that same reason.) However, you could use the mean percentage as your
summary grade as well.

Summing up
This chapter explained how to use rubrics for grading individual assessments and
then how to combine them with other individual assessment results for report card
grades. In my opinion, the most important aspect of rubrics is how they can be used to
describe, develop, and support learning. The grading recommendations in this chapter,
for both individual assessments and report cards, are aimed at handling the results of
using rubrics for learning in a way that preserves the intended meaning about learning.
Because scores from rubrics look like any other numbers, teachers often unknowingly
total or average them in ways that are not appropriate for short, ordered-category scales.
I hope this chapter has helped you think through the meaning of grades resulting from
rubrics.
The chapter recommended report card grading practices based on a series of deci‑
sions about grading that depend on the kinds of individual grades you have, the manner
in which you must express your report card grade, and the meaning your report card
 How to Use Rubrics for Grading   |  125

grade is intended to have. That’s why there are different recommendations. The chap‑
ter, of course, could not cover every possible answer to those three questions. If your
situation was not covered, you can still follow the general plan: (1) identify the set of
individual grades you need to summarize, (2) put them all on the same scale, and (3) use
a summarizing method that is appropriate to the kind of scores you have and that results
in the most appropriate message about student achievement.
 Afterword

Rubrics are very common but, in my experience, are often poorly handled. It is common
to find trivial or list-based criteria (for example, “paragraph has four adjectives”). It is
also common to find rubrics used like any other point-based grading scheme, without
taking advantage of the formative and student-centered assessment opportunities they
afford. And it’s very common for grading practices to combine rubrics with test scores
and other grades in such a way as to misrepresent student achievement in the final
grade. One immediate benefit of this book is that it provides a resource that addresses
these common problems.
I believe, however, that this book will be
more than an antidote to problems associated Self-reflection
with rubrics. With clear explanations and a range
of examples, and with the inclusion of instruc‑ What is your current view of rubrics? Compare
tional strategies to use with rubrics, I hope this this reflection with the reflection you made at the
book inspires teachers to more effective use of beginning of this book.
rubric-based assessment and instruction and,
in particular, to more involvement of students in their own assessment and learning.
Therefore, I hope the book supports teachers and advances student learning. I also

126
 Afterword   |  127

hope that the examples and explanations support teachers in more active and thought‑
ful use of rubrics (designing and planning their own rubrics, not just grabbing rubrics
from a book or from the Internet). This, too, should lead to more strategic teaching and
learning.
   | 
128 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Appendix A: Six-Point 6+1 Trait Writing Rubrics, Grades 3–12

6-Point Writer’s Rubric

IDEAS

Not proficient

1 Beginning 2 Emerging 3 Developing

No main idea, purpose, or central Main idea is still missing, though Main idea is present; may be
theme exists; reader must infer possible topic/theme is emerging broad or simplistic
this based on sketchy or missing
details

A No topic emerges Several topics emerge; any might Topic becomes clear, though still
become central theme or main too broad, lacking focus; reader
idea must infer message

B Support for topic is not evident Support for topic is limited, Support for topic is incidental or
unclear; length is not adequate for confusing, not focused
development

C There are no details Few details are present; piece Additional details are present but
simply restates topic and main lack specificity; main idea or topic
idea or merely answers a question emerges but remains weak

D
Author is not writing from own Author generalizes about topic Author “tells” based on others’
knowledge/experience; ideas are without personal knowledge/ experiences rather than “showing”
not author’s experience by own experience

E No reader’s questions have been Reader has many questions due Reader begins to recognize focus
answered to lack of specifics; it is hard to with specifics, though questions
“fill in the blanks” remain

F Author doesn’t help reader make Author does not yet connect topic Author provides glimmers into
any connections with reader in any way, although topic; casual connections are
attempts are made made by reader

Key question: Does the writer stay focused and share original and fresh  
information or perspective on the topic?
 Appendix A   |  129

6-Point writer’s Rubric: IDEAS (continued )

IDEAS

Proficient

4 Capable 5 Experienced 6 Exceptional

Topic or theme is identified as Main idea is well marked by detail Main idea is clear, supported, and
main idea; development remains but could benefit from additional enriched by relevant anecdotes
basic or general information and details

A
Topic is fairly broad, yet author’s Topic is focused yet still needs Topic is narrow, manageable, and
direction is clear additional narrowing focused

B Support for topic is starting to Support for topic is clear and rel- Support is strong and credible,
work; still does not quite flesh out evant except for a moment or two and uses resources that are
key issues relevant and accurate

C Some details begin to define main Accurate, precise details support Details are relevant, telling; quality
idea or topic, yet are limited in one main idea details go beyond obvious and are
number or clarity not predictable

D Author uses a few examples to Author presents new ways of Author writes from own knowl-
“show” own experience yet still thinking about topic based on edge/experience; ideas are fresh,
relies on generic experience of personal knowledge/experience original, and uniquely the author’s
others

E Reader generally understands Reader’s questions are usually Reader’s questions are all
content and has only a few anticipated and answered by answered
questions author

F Author begins to stay on topic and Author connects reader to topic Author helps reader make many
begins to connect reader through with a few anecdotes, text, or connections by sharing significant
self, text, world, or other resources other resources insights into life

Key question: Does the writer stay focused and share original and fresh  
information or perspective on the topic?
   | 
130 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Appendix A: Six-Point 6+1 Trait Writing Rubrics, Grades 3–12

6-Point Writer’s Rubric

ORGANIZATION

Not proficient

1 Beginning 2 Emerging 3 Developing

Organization can’t be identified; Organization is mostly ineffective; Organization is still problematic,

writing lacks sense of direction; only moments here and there though structure begins  
content is strung together in direct reader to emerge; ability to follow  
loose, random fashion text is slowed

A There is no lead to set up what The lead and/or conclusion are Either lead or conclusion or both
follows, no conclusion to wrap ineffective or do not work may be present but are clichés or
things up leave reader wanting more

B Transitions between paragraphs Weak transitions emerge yet Some transitions are used, but
are confusing or nonexistent offer little help to get from one they repeat or mislead, resulting
paragraph to next and not often in weak chunking of paragraphs
enough to eliminate confusion

C Sequencing doesn’t work Little useful sequencing is pres- Sequencing has taken over so
ent; it’s hard to see how piece fits completely, it dominates ideas; it
together as a whole is painfully obvious and formulaic

D Pacing is not evident Pacing is awkward; it slows to a Pacing is dominated by one part
crawl when reader wants to get of piece and is not controlled in
on with it, and vice versa remainder

E Title (if required) is absent Title (if required) doesn’t match Title (if required) hints at weak
content connection to content; it is unclear

F Lack of structure makes it almost Structure fails to fit purpose of Structure begins to clarify purpose
impossible for reader to under- writing, leaving reader struggling
stand purpose to discover purpose

Key question: Does the organizational structure enhance the ideas and  
make the piece easier to understand?
 Appendix A   |  131

6-Point writer’s Rubric: ORGANIZATION (continued )

ORGANIZATION

Proficient

4 Capable 5 Experienced 6 Exceptional

Organization moves reader Organization is smooth; only a few Organization enhances and
through text without too much small bumps here and there exist showcases central idea; order of
confusion information is compelling, moving
reader through text

A A recognizable lead and conclu- While lead and/or conclusion go An inviting lead draws reader
sion are present; lead may not beyond obvious, either could go in; satisfying conclusion leaves
create a strong sense of anticipa- even further reader with sense of closure and
tion; conclusion may not tie up all resolution.
loose ends

B Transitions often work yet are Transitions are logical, though Thoughtful transitions clearly
predictable and formulaic; para- may lack originality; ideas are show how ideas (paragraphs)
graphs are coming together with chunked in proper paragraphs connect throughout entire piece,
topic sentence and support and topic sentences are properly helping to showcase content of
used each paragraph

C Sequencing shows some logic, Sequencing makes sense and Sequencing is logical and effec-
but is not controlled enough to moves a bit beyond obvious, help- tive; moves reader through piece
consistently showcase ideas ing move reader through piece with ease from start to finish

D Pacing is fairly well controlled; Pacing is controlled; there are still Pacing is well controlled; author
sometimes lunges ahead too places author needs to highlight knows when to slow down to
quickly or hangs up on details that or move through more effectively elaborate, and when to move on
do not matter

E Uninspired title (if required) only Title (if required) settles for minor Title (if required) is original,
restates prompt or topic idea about content rather than reflecting content and capturing
capturing deeper theme central theme

F Structure sometimes supports Structure generally works well for Structure flows so smoothly
purpose, at other times reader purpose and for reader reader hardly thinks about it;
wants to rearrange pieces choice of structure matches and
highlights purpose

Key question: Does the organizational structure enhance the ideas and  
make the piece easier to understand?
   | 
132 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Appendix A: Six-Point 6+1 Trait Writing Rubrics, Grades 3–12

6-Point Writer’s Rubric

VOICE

Not proficient

1 Beginning 2 Emerging 3 Developing

Author seems indifferent, unin- Author relies on reader’s good Author’s voice is hard to rec-
volved, or distanced from topic, faith to hear or feel any voice in ognize, even if reader is trying
purpose, and/or audience phrases such as “I like it” or   desperately to “hear” it
“It was fun”

A Author does not interact with Author uses only clichés, resulting Author seems aware of reader yet
reader in any fashion; writing is in continued lack of interaction discards personal insights in favor
flat, resulting in a disengaged with reader of safe generalities
reader

B Author takes no risks, reveals Author reveals little yet doesn’t Author surprises reader with
nothing, lulls reader to sleep risk enough to engage reader random “aha” and minimal
risk-taking

C Tone is not evident Tone does not support writing Tone is flat; author does not  
commit to own writing

D Commitment to topic is missing; Commitment to topic “might” be Commitment to topic begins to

writing is lifeless or mechanical; it present; author does not help emerge; reader wonders if author
may be overly technical, formulaic, reader feel anything cares about topic
or jargonistic

E Voice inappropriate for   Voice does not support purpose/ Voice is starting to support  
purpose/mode mode; narrative is only an outline; purpose/mode though remains
expository or persuasive writing weak in many places
lacks conviction or authority to set
it apart from a mere list of facts

Key question: Would you keep reading this piece if it were longer?
 Appendix A   |  133

6-Point writer’s Rubric: VOICE (continued )

VOICE

Proficient

4 Capable 5 Experienced 6 Exceptional

Author seems sincere, yet not Author attempts to address topic, Author speaks directly to reader in
fully engaged or involved; result purpose, and audience in sincere individual, compelling, and engag-
is pleasant or even personable, and engaging way; piece still ing way that delivers purpose and
though topic and purpose are still skips a beat here and there topic; although passionate, author
not compelling is respectful of audience and
purpose

A Author attempts to reach audi- Author communicates with reader Author interacts with and engages
ence and has some moments of in earnest, pleasing, authentic reader in ways that are personally
successful interaction manner revealing

B Author surprises, delights, or Author’s moments of insight and Author interacts with and engages
moves reader in more than one or risk-taking enliven piece reader in ways that are personally
two places revealing

C Tone begins to support and enrich Tone leans in right direction most Tone gives flavor and texture to
writing of the time message and is appropriate

D Commitment to topic is pres- Commitment to topic is clear and Commitment to topic is strong;
ent; author’s own point of view focused; author’s enthusiasm author’s passion about topic is
may emerge in a place or two starts to catch on clear, compelling, and energizing;
but is obscured behind vague reader wants to know more
generalities

E Voice lacks spark for purpose/ Voice supports author’s purpose/ Voice is appropriate for purpose/
mode; narrative is sincere, if not mode; narrative entertains, mode; voice is engaging, passion-
passionate; expository or per- engages reader; expository or ate, and enthusiastic
suasive writing lacks consistent persuasive writing reveals why
engagement with topic to build author chose ideas
credibility

Key question: Would you keep reading this piece if it were longer?
   | 
134 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Appendix A: Six-Point 6+1 Trait Writing Rubrics, Grades 3–12

6-Point Writer’s Rubric

WORD CHOICE

Not proficient

1 Beginning 2 Emerging 3 Developing

Vocabulary is limited; author Vocabulary is flawed, resulting in Vocabulary is understandable yet

searches for words to convey impaired meaning; wrong words lacks energy; some interpretation
meaning; no mental imagery are used; and reader can’t picture is needed to understand parts of
exists message or content piece

A Words are overly broad and/or so Words are so vague and mundane Words are adequate and correct
generic no message is evident that message is limited and in a general sense; message
unclear starts to emerge

B Vocabulary confuses reader and Vocabulary has no variety or Vocabulary is very basic;
is contradictory; words create spice; even simple words are simple words rule; variety starts to
no mental imagery, no lingering used incorrectly; no mental “show” rather than “tell”; mental
memory images exist images are still missing

C Words are incorrectly used, mak- Words are either so plain as to put Original, natural word choices
ing message secondary to word reader to sleep or so over the top start to emerge so piece sounds
misfires they make no sense authentic

D Misuse of parts of speech litters Redundant parts of speech   Rote parts of speech reflect a lack
piece, confusing reader; no mes- and/or jargon or clichés distract of craftsmanship; passive verbs,
sage emerges from message overused nouns, and lack of
modifiers and variety create fuzzy
message

Key question: Do the words and phrases create vivid pictures and linger in your mind?
 Appendix A   |  135

6-Point writer’s Rubric: WORD CHOICE (continued )

WORD CHOICE

Proficient

4 Capable 5 Experienced 6 Exceptional

Vocabulary is functional yet still Vocabulary is more precise and Vocabulary is powerful and
lacks energy; author’s meaning is appropriate; mental imagery engaging, creating mental
easy to understand in general emerges imagery; words convey intended
message in precise, interesting,
and natural way

A Words work and begin to shape In most cases words are “just Words are precise and accurate;
unique, individual piece; message right” and clearly communicate author’s message is easy to
is easy to identify message understand

B Vocabulary includes familiar Vocabulary is strong; it’s easy to Vocabulary is striking, powerful,
words and phrases that commu- “see” what author says because and engaging; it catches reader’s
nicate, yet rarely capture reader’s of figurative language—similes, eye and lingers in mind; recall
imagination; perhaps a moment metaphors, and poetic devices; of handful of phrases or mental
of two of sparkle or imagery mental imagery lingers images is easy and automatic
emerges

C Attempts at colorful word choice New words and phrases are usu- Word choice is natural yet original
show willingness to stretch and ally correct and never overdone; both words
grow, yet sometimes go too far and phrases are unique and
effective

D Accurate and occasionally refined Correct and varied parts of speech Parts of speech are crafted to
parts of speech are functional and are chosen carefully to commu- best convey message; lively verbs
start to shape message nicate message, and clarify and energize, precise nouns/modifiers
enrich writing add depth, color, and specificity

Key question: Do the words and phrases create vivid pictures and linger in your mind?
   | 
136 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Appendix A: Six-Point 6+1 Trait Writing Rubrics, Grades 3–12

6-Point Writer’s Rubric

SENTENCE FLUENCY

Not proficient

1 Beginning 2 Emerging 3 Developing

Sentences are incorrectly Sentences vary little; even easy Sentences are technically correct
structured; reader has to practice sentence structures cause reader but not varied, creating sing-song
to give paper a fair interpretive to stop and decide what is being pattern or lulling reader to sleep;
reading; it’s nearly impossible to said and how; it’s challenging to it sounds mechanical when read
read aloud read aloud aloud

A Sentence structure is choppy, Sentence structure works but has Sentence structure is usually cor-
incomplete, run-on, rambling, or phrasing that sounds unnatural rect, yet sentences do not flow
awkward

B No sentence sense—type, begin- There is little evidence of sen- Sentence sense starts to emerge;
ning, connective, rhythm—is tence sense; to make sentences reader can read through problems
evident; determining where flow correctly, most have to be and see where sentences begin
sentences begin and end is nearly totally reconstructed and end; sentences vary little
impossible

C Incomplete sentences make it Many sentences begin in same Simple and compound sentences
hard to judge quality of beginnings way and are simple (subject-verb- and varied beginnings help
or identify type of sentence object) and monotonous strengthen piece

D Weak or no connectives create “Blah’ connectives (and, so, but, Few simple connectives lead
massive jumble of language; then, and because) lead reader reader from sentence to sentence,
disconnected sentences leave nowhere though piece remains weak
piece chaotic

E Rhythm is chaotic, not fluid; piece Rhythm is random and may still Rhythm emerges; reader can read
cannot be read aloud without be chaotic; writing does not invite aloud after a few tries
author’s help, even with practice expressive oral reading

Key question: Can you feel the words and phrases flow together as you read it aloud?
 Appendix A   |  137

6-Point writer’s Rubric: SENTENCE FLUENCY (continued )

SENTENCE FLUENCY

Proficient

4 Capable 5 Experienced 6 Exceptional

Sentences are varied and hum Some sentences are rhythmic Sentences have flow, rhythm,
along, tending to be pleasant or and flowing; a variety of sentence and cadence; are well built within
businesslike though may still be types are structured correctly; it strong, varied structure that
more mechanical than musical or flows well when read aloud invites expressive oral reading
fluid; it’s easy to read aloud

A Sentence structure is correct and Sentence structure flows well and Sentence structure is strong,
begins to flow but is not artfully moves reader fluidly through piece underscoring and enhancing
crafted or musical meaning while engaging and
moving reader from beginning to
end in fluid fashion

B Sentence sense is moderate; sen- Sentence sense is strong; correct Sentence sense is strong and
tences are constructed correctly construction and variety are used; contributes to meaning; dia-
with some variety, hang together, few examples of dialogue or frag- logue, if present, sounds natural;
and are sound ments are used fragments, if used, add style;
sentences are nicely balanced in
type, beginnings, connectives, and
rhythm

C Sentence beginnings vary yet are Sentence beginnings are varied Varied sentence beginnings add
routine, generic; types include and unique; four sentence types interest and energy; four sentence
simple, compound, and perhaps (simple, compound, complex, and types are balanced
even complex compound-complex) create bal-
ance and variety

D Connectives are original and hold Thoughtful and varied connectives Creative and appropriate connec-
piece together but are not always move reader easily through piece tives show how each sentence
refined relates to previous one and pulls
piece together

E Rhythm is inconsistent; some Rhythm works; reader can read Rhythm flows; writing has
sentences invite oral reading, aloud quite easily cadence; first reading aloud is
others remain stiff, awkward, or expressive, pleasurable, and fun
choppy

Key question: Can you feel the words and phrases flow together as you read it aloud?
   | 
138 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Appendix A: Six-Point 6+1 Trait Writing Rubrics, Grades 3–12

6-Point Writer’s Rubric

CONVENTIONS

Not proficient

1 Beginning 2 Emerging 3 Developing

Errors in conventions are the norm Many errors of various types Author continues to stumble in
and repeatedly distract reader, of conventions are scattered conventions even on simple tasks
making text unreadable throughout text and almost always on anything
trickier

A Spelling errors are frequent, even Spelling is phonetic with many Spelling on simple words is
on common words errors incorrect, although reader can
understand

B Punctuation is often missing or Simple end (. ? !) punctuation Punctuation is inconsistent

incorrect is correct, internal (, ’ ; — : . . .)
punctuation is usually wrong or
missing

C Capitalization is random, inconsis- Only the easiest capitalization Capitalization is applied inconsis-
tent, and sometimes nonexistent rules are correctly applied tently except for proper nouns and
sentence beginnings

D Errors in grammar/usage are Serious grammar/usage   Inappropriate grammar/usage

frequent and noticeable, making problems of every kind make results from heavy reliance on
writing incomprehensible comprehension difficult conversational oral language;
meaning is confusing

E Extensive editing (on virtually There is still a lot of editing Too much editing is still needed to
every line) is required to polish required for publication; meaning publish, although piece begins to
text for publication; reader must is uncertain communicate meaning
read once to decode, then again
for meaning

Key question: How much editing would have to be done to be ready to share with an outside source?
(Note: For the trait of conventions, grade level matters. Expectations should be based on grade level and include only
skills that have been taught. Expectations for secondary students are obviously much higher than those of
the elementary grade levels.)
 Appendix A   |  139

6-Point writer’s Rubric: CONVENTIONS (continued )

CONVENTIONS

Proficient

4 Capable 5 Experienced 6 Exceptional

Author has reasonable control Author stretches, trying more Author uses standard writing
over standard conventions for complex tasks in conventions; conventions effectively to enhance
grade level; conventions are several mistakes still exist; for readability; errors are few and
sometimes handled well; at other secondary students, all basic only minor editing is needed to
times, errors distract and impair conventions have been mastered publish
readability

A Spelling is usually correct or Spelling on common grade-level Spelling is usually correct, even on
reasonable phonetic on common words is correct but sometimes more difficult words
grade-level words, but not on incorrect on more difficult words
more difficult words

B End punctuation is usually correct; Punctuation is correct and Punctuation is correct, creative,
internal punctuation is sometimes enhances readability in all but a and guides reader through entire
correct; for secondary students all few places piece
punctuation is usually correct

C Capitalization is mostly correct Capitalization is correct; more Capitalization is thoroughly under-

sophisticated capitalization is used stood and consistently correct

D Proper grammar/usage remains Grammar/usage is usually correct; Grammar/usage is correct and

inconsistent and inaccurate, there are few grammar mistakes contributes to clarity and style;
though problems are not serious yet meaning is clear meaning is more than clear; piece
enough to distort meaning is engaging and inviting to read

E Moderate editing (a little of this, a Several things still need editing Hardly any editing is needed to
little of that) is required to publish; before publishing; conventions are publish; author may successfully
meaning is clear more correct than not; meaning is manipulate conventions for stylis-
easily communicated tic effect; meaning is crystal clear

Key question: How much editing would have to be done to be ready to share with an outside source?
(Note: For the trait of conventions, grade level matters. Expectations should be based on grade level and include only
skills that have been taught. Expectations for secondary students are obviously much higher than those of
the elementary grade levels.)
   | 
140 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Appendix A: Six-Point 6+1 Trait Writing Rubrics, Grades 3–12

6-Point Writer’s Rubric

PRESENTATION

Not proficient

1 Beginning 2 Emerging 3 Developing

Presentation/formatting of piece Presentation/formatting delivers Presentation/formatting of piece

confuses message a message clear in places and delivers clear message, yet lacks
confusing in others a finished, polished appearance

A Handwritten letters are irregular, Handwritten letters and words are Handwriting creates little or no
formed inconsistently or incor- readable with limited problems in stumbling in readability; spacing
rectly; spacing is unbalanced letter shape and form; spacing is is consistent
or absent; reader can’t identify inconsistent
letters

B Many fonts/sizes make piece Few fonts/sizes make piece hard Fonts/sizes are limited in number;
nearly unreadable to read or understand piece starts to come together
visually

C No thought is given to white Understanding of white space White space begins to frame and
space—it is random and confus- begins to emerge, though piece balance piece; margins may be
ing; identifying beginning and seems “plopped” on paper without present, though some text may
ending of text is difficult margins or boundaries crown edges; usage is inconsis-
tent; paragraphs begin to emerge

D Visuals/graphics/charts are non- Visuals/graphics/charts “might” Visuals/graphics/charts match

existent, incomprehensible, and/or be related to text and integrate with text at times
unrelated to text

E No markers (title, bullets, page Perhaps one marker (a title, and Markers are used but do not
numbers, subheads, etc.) are single bullet or page number) is organize or clarify piece
present used

Key question: Is the finished piece easy to read, polished in presentation, and pleasing to the eye?
 Appendix A   |  141

6-Point writer’s Rubric: PRESENTATION (continued )

PRESENTATION

Proficient

4 Capable 5 Experienced 6 Exceptional

Presentation/formatting of piece Presentation/formatting enhances Presentation/formatting exceeds

works in standard, predictable understanding of message; piece best of finished pieces; formatting
fashion, delivering a clear mes- appears finished and is pleasing extends understanding of mes-
sage that appears to be finished to eye sage; finished appearance is of
superior quality

A Handwriting is correct and read- Handwriting is neat, readable, Handwriting borders on calligra-
able; spacing is consistent and consistent; spacing is uniform phy; is easy to read and uniformly
neat between letters and words; text is spaced; pride of author is clear
easy to read

B Fonts/sizes are consistent and Fonts/sizes invite reader into text; Fonts/sizes enhance readability
appropriate; piece is easy to understanding is a breeze and enrich overall appearance;
understand understanding is crystal clear

C White space frames text by White space helps reader focus White space is used to optimally
creating margins; usage is still on text; margins frame piece, frame and balance text with mark-
inconsistent on the whole; some other white space frames markers ers and graphics; all paragraphs
paragraphs are indented, some and graphics; usage is consistent are either indented or blocked
are blocked and purposeful; most paragraphs
are either indented or blocked

D Visuals/graphics/charts support Visuals/graphics/charts enrich Visuals/graphics/charts help

and consistently clarify text meaning of text and add layer of enrich and extend meaning by
understanding focusing reader’s attention upon
message

E Markers are used to organize, Markers serve to integrate Markers help reader comprehend
clarify, and present whole piece graphics and articulate meaning message and extend or enrich
of piece piece

Key question: Is the finished piece easy to read, polished in presentation, and pleasing to the eye?

Source: Copyright 2010 by Education Northwest. Available at educationnorthwest.org. Reprinted with permission.
   | 
142 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Appendix B: Illustrated Six-Point 6+1

Trait Writing Rubrics, Grades K–2
K–2 ILLUSTRATED BEGINNING WRITER’S RUBRIC

IDEAS

Exceptional • The Big Idea is clear and original; the topic is narrowed
6 • Supporting details are relevant, accurate, and specific
• Pictures, graphs, charts (if present) clarify the text
• Focus: The writing stays on topic
• Development is generous and complete

Experienced • The Big Idea is clear; the topic is narrowed

5 • Supporting details are relevant, logical, and mostly accurate
• Pictures, graphs, charts (if present) clarify the text
• Focus: Usually stays on topic
• Development is complete

Capable • The Big Idea is clear, but general—a simple story or explanation
4 • Support is presented in the text
• Pictures (if present) support the text
• Focus: Generally on topic, with a few missteps
• Development is adequate

Developing • The Big Idea is stated in text

3 • Support is minimal
• Pictures (if present) offer supporting details
• Focus: Limited to one sentence (or repeats the same idea)
• Development is simplistic

Emerging • Ideas are conveyed in a general way through text, labels, symbols
2 • Support: Not present in the text
• Pictures: Connect with a word, label, symbol
• Focus: Unclear or extremely limited
• Development: Not present

Beginning • Ideas are unclear; print sense is just beginning

1 • Support: Not present
• Pictures: Not clear
• Focus: Not present
• Development: Not present
 Appendix B   |  143

K–2 ILLUSTRATED BEGINNING WRITER’S RUBRIC: IDEAS (continued )

IDEAS

Exceptional
6

Experienced
5

Capable
4

Developing
3

Emerging
2

Beginning
1
   | 
144 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Appendix B: Illustrated Six-Point 6+1

Trait Writing Rubrics Grades, K–2
K–2 ILLUSTRATED BEGINNING WRITER’S RUBRIC

ORGANIZATION

Exceptional • The structure showcases the main idea

6 • Pictures (if present) enhance the text
• Transitions are smooth and varied
• Sequencing shows planning for impact
• An inviting lead and a developed ending are present
• Format assists reader orientation

Experienced • The structure is easy to follow

5 • Pictures (if present) clarify the text
• Transitions are somewhat varied
• Sequencing is sound
• An inviting lead and a concluding sentence are present
• Format is clear

Capable • Structure is clearly present and complete in a predictable manner

4 • Pictures (if present) show thoughtful placement of elements
• Transitions work in a predictable fashion
• Sequencing may take a circuitous route, but reader can follow
• A beginning, middle, and end are present (“The end”)
• Format is generally accurate in placement of elements

Developing • A structure is present

3 • Picture elements are placed logically
• Transitions are missing or rely upon connectives (“and,” “and then”)
• Sequencing: Not present or confusing
• A bare beginning and middle are present—no end
• Text and pictures are generally formatted correctly on page

Emerging • Structure is starting to emerge

2 • Pictures show attempt to order/balance elements
• Transitions: Not present
• Sequencing: Not present
• A beginning is attempted—no middle or end
• Formatting signs emerging (left-right orientation, picture and text placement, spacing)

Beginning • Structure is not present

1 • Picture elements are random, scattered, or unbalanced
• Sequencing and transitions not present
• Beginning or ending not present
• Format clues: not present
 Appendix B   |  145

K–2 ILLUSTRATED BEGINNING WRITER’S RUBRIC: ORGANIZATION (continued )

ORGANIZATION

Exceptional
6

Experienced
5

Capable
4

Developing
3

Emerging
2

Beginning
1
   | 
146 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Appendix B: Illustrated Six-Point 6+1

Trait Writing Rubrics Grades, K–2
K–2 ILLUSTRATED BEGINNING WRITER’S RUBRIC

VOICE

Exceptional • Exceptional expression of feeling, commitment to topic

6 • Pictures (if present) enhance the mood, atmosphere, point of view
• Exceptional audience awareness is present; compelling to read
• Unmistakably individual; sincere—unique expression

Experienced • The writer’s feelings about the subject are loud and clear
5 • Pictures (if present) enrich the mood, atmosphere
• Engages the audience (“Did you know?”)
• Individual and sincere expression

Capable • Identifiable feeling(s) are present in the writing

4 • Pictures (if present) capture the atmosphere or mood in a general way
• Audience awareness is present
• The individual emerges from the text

Developing • Feeling is expressed in a few words/punctuation (“fun,” “like,” “favorite,” underline,  

3 exclamation point)
• Pictures show expression in faces and detail
• Audience awareness is present in a general way
• Individual expression is present

Emerging • A general feeling is captured in words and/or pictures

2 • Pictures capture a mood, simple emotion, or action
• Audience awareness: Not yet present or clear
• Individual expression is emerging

Beginning • Not enough text is present to convey a mood or feeling

1 • Pictures are hard to interpret
• Audience awareness is not yet present
• Individual expression is not present
 Appendix B   |  147

K–2 ILLUSTRATED BEGINNING WRITER’S RUBRIC: VOICE (continued )

VOICE

Exceptional
6

Experienced
5

Capable
4

Developing
3

Emerging
2

Beginning
1
   | 
148 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Appendix B: Illustrated Six-Point 6+1

Trait Writing Rubrics Grades, K–2
K–2 ILLUSTRATED BEGINNING WRITER’S RUBRIC

WORD CHOICE

Exceptional • The text is comprised of words that convey a complete message

6 • Word choice includes striking, memorable phrases
• Vocabulary reflects precision and accuracy
• Repetition is rarely present

Experienced • The text alone conveys the message in several words

5 • Word choice contains moments of sparkle; everyday words used as well
• The vocabulary is expanding
• Repetition occurs infrequently

Capable • The words stand on their own to convey a simple message

4 • Words are basic and used correctly
• Vocabulary is mostly routine, with a few exceptions
• Some repetition is present

Developing • Word groups, phrases convey the topic with some help from pictures
3 • Word choice makes sense
• Vocabulary is limited to “known” or “safe” words
• Repetition of “safe” words and phrases

Emerging • A few words begin to emerge

2 • Word choice is difficult to decode
• Vocabulary relies upon environmental print
• Repetition: May repeat letters, alphabet, name, etc.

Beginning • No words are present (imitative writing)

1 • Word choice: Not present
• Vocabulary: Not present
• Repetition: Inconsistent letter shapes, imitative writing or none
 Appendix B   |  149

K–2 ILLUSTRATED BEGINNING WRITER’S RUBRIC: WORD CHOICE (continued )

WORD CHOICE

Exceptional
6

Experienced
5

Capable
4

Developing
3

Emerging
2

Beginning
1
   | 
150 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Appendix B: Illustrated Six-Point 6+1

Trait Writing Rubrics Grades, K–2
K–2 ILLUSTRATED BEGINNING WRITER’S RUBRIC

SENTENCE FLUENCY

Exceptional • Several sentences are present that vary in structure and length
6 • Sentence beginnings are varied
• Rhythm is fluid and pleasant to work with
• Connective words work smoothly

Experienced • Several sentences are present and employ more than one sentence pattern
5 • Sentence beginnings are varied
• Rhythm is more fluid than mechanical—easy to read aloud
• Connective words do not interfere with the fluency

Capable • The writing provides a limited sampling of sentence pattern

4 • Sentences do not always begin the same way
• Rhythm is more mechanical than fluid
• Connective words show some variation

Developing • Most of a sentence is present, decodable in the text (“Like bunne becuz their riree Fas”)
3 • Sentences begin the same way (“I like. . .”)
• Rhythm is choppy and repetitive
• Connective transitions serve as links between phrases (“and,” “then,” etc.)

Emerging • Part of a sentence may be present (“Cus it is clu”)

2 • A word or phrase may be repeated across the page to form the text
• Rhythm is not present
• Connective words may appear in sentence parts

Beginning • No sentences or sentence parts are present in the text

1 • The marks, lines, or scribbles may imitate writing from left to right
• Words stand alone
• Connectives: Not present
 Appendix B   |  151

K–2 ILLUSTRATED BEGINNING WRITER’S RUBRIC: SENTENCE FLUENCY (continued )

SENTENCE FLUENCY

Exceptional
6

Experienced
5

Capable
4

Developing
3

Emerging
2

Beginning
1
   | 
152 How to Create and Use Rubrics

Appendix B: Illustrated Six-Point 6+1

Trait Writing Rubrics Grades, K–2
K–2 ILLUSTRATED BEGINNING WRITER’S RUBRIC

CONVENTIONS

Exceptional • Capitalization: Accurate for sentence beginnings, proper names, titles

6 • Punctuation: End punctuation, commas in series, other varied uses for stylistic effect
• Spelling: Grade level words and “hard” words spelled logically, if not accurately
• Grammar and usage: Accurate
• Paragraphing: Consistent indention for paragraphs

Experiences • Capitalization: Capitals for sentence beginnings, proper names, titles usually correct
5 • Punctuation: End punctuation usually correct—some varied uses present
• Spelling: Usually accurate for grade level words
• Grammar and usage: Usually accurate
• Paragraphing: First line indented

Capable • Capitalization: Capitals for sentence beginnings, names, titles in evidence

4 • Punctuation: End punctuation is present
• Spelling: High use grade level words mostly correct; phonetic spelling easy to decode
• Grammar and usage: subject/verb agreement, tense, still spotty
• Paragraphing: spotty, or not present

Developing • Capitalization: Beginning sentence, names, title still inconsistent

3 • Punctuation: Period or other punctuation is present somewhere
• Spelling: Phonetic spelling decodable; accurate spelling of some words
• Grammar and usage: A grammatical construction is present, but missing parts
• Paragraphing: Not present

Emerging • Capitalization: Random use of upper and lower case letters

2 • Punctuation: None or random
• Spelling: Phonetic, some decodable and/or simple words spelled correctly
• Grammar and usage: Part of a grammatical construction is present
• Paragraphing: Not present

Beginning • Capitalization: Print sense still emerging

1 • Punctuation: None
• Spelling: Pre-phonetic or not present
• Grammar and usage: Not present
• Paragraphing: Not present
 Appendix B   |  153

K–2 ILLUSTRATED BEGINNING WRITER’S RUBRIC: CONVENTIONS (continued )

CONVENTIONS

Exceptional
6

Experiences
5

Capable
4

Developing
3

Emerging
2

Beginning
1

Source: Copyright 2010 by Education Northwest. Available at educationnorthwest.org. Reprinted with permission.
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Sadler, D. R. (1989). Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems. Instructional Science, 18,
119–144.
Wiliam, D. (2011). Embedded formative assessment. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.
 Index

Page numbers followed by f denote illustrations.

analytic rubrics, 6, 7f, 54f format criteria, 36

Arter, Judy, 41 formative assessment, rubrics and
assessment, formative, rubrics and about, 102
about, 102 paired-peer feedback, 104–105
paired-peer feedback, 104–105 proficiency-based rubrics and, 72–74, 73f
student self-assessment, 103–104, 105–111 student self-assessment, 103–104, 105–111
teacher feedback, 102 teacher feedback, 102
frequency ratings, 78, 79f, 80f
Chappuis, Jan, 41–42, 43–44
charting progress, 107–109, 108f general rubrics, 8f, 9–10, 40, 63
checklists, 18, 20, 27, 36, 76–78 creativity, 51–53, 54f, 55f
Conventions trait rubric (writing), 45, 138–139, 152–153 mathematics problem-solving, 45–48, 47f
creativity rubrics, 51–53, 54f, 55f writing, 41–45
criteria, in rubrics writing reports, 48–51, 49f–50f
characteristics of appropriate, 25f goal-setting, rubrics and, 105–111
format criteria, 36 gradebook software, 118
latent criteria, 24 grade-focused use of rubrics, 18
curriculum mapping, 66 grading and rubrics
about, 112
definable criteria, 24 converting rubrics scores to letter grades,
descriptions 118–120, 119f
rubrics as, 4–5 converting rubrics scores to percentages,
writing performance-level, 26–29, 28f, 38–39 120–121, 122f
essay-grading rubric, 58–59, 59f
Education Northwest, 41 instruction and, 12
elementary mathematics problem-solving rubric, 46, 47f point-based scoring schemes, 60–62, 61f
“empty rubrics,” 10 report cards, 115–124, 117f, 119f
English mechanics, 36 rubric-based, 113–115, 114f
156 essay-grading rubric, 58–59, 59f student self-, 12–13
 Index   |  157

grading and rubrics (continued ) Puget Sound Writing Program, 41

summarizing sets of scores, 114f
quality ratings, 79–81
holistic rubrics, 6, 7f, 55f quantities, rubrics not, 18–21, 19f
quick-check, 106
Ideas trait rubric (writing), 43–44, 128–129, 142–143
instruction, 12 rating scales, 18, 21–22, 76, 78–81, 79f, 80f
instructional goals, and criteria selection, 24–25 report cards, 115–124, 117f, 119f
report-writing rubric, 48–51, 49f–50f
learning, student requirements, rubrics not, 18–21, 19f
evidence for, 24, 34 rubrics. See also specific types of rubrics
focus on, 11 constraining nature of poor, 27
grades reflective of, 113, 120, 121 coordination of instruction and assessment, 12
rubrics and, 12–14, 51 definitions, 4
learning outcomes, different from tasks, 15–18 etymology, 3
learning targets and rubrics importance of, 11–14
about, 93–94 main function of, 22
clarifying questions, 95 not evaluative rating scales, 21–22
introduce one criteria at a time, 101 not requirements or quantities, 18–21, 19f
ready-steady-pair-share, 97 performance types for, 5f
restate rubrics in own words, 95–99, 96f purpose, 4–5
sample matching, 99–101 and teaching, 11
student co-constructed rubrics, 97–99, 100f rubrics, examples of
for creativity, 51–53, 54f, 55f
Maryland School Performance Assessment Program, for essay-grading, 58–59, 59f
16 first draft and revision, 35f, 37f
Mathematical Communication, 45–46 for laughing, 32f
Mathematical Conceptual and Procedural Knowledge, for mathematics problem-solving, 45–48, 47f
45–46 for oral reading fluency, 82–84, 83f
mathematics problem-solving rubrics, 45–48, 47f, “poor,” 19f
57f–58f for science laboratory reports, 84–87, 85f–86f
My State Poster rubric, 18–21, 19f for welding, 87–90, 88f–89f
for writing, 41–45
Northwest Regional Educational Library, 41 for writing reports, 48–51, 49f–50f
rubric-writing
observable criteria, 24 bottom-up approach to, 30–31
oral reading fluency rubric, 82–84, 83f examples, 31–39, 32f, 35f, 37f
Organization trait rubric (writing), 45, 130–131, 144–145 performance-level descriptions, 26–29, 28f
originality, 52 revisions, 36–39
selecting criteria, 23–26, 25f
paired-peer feedback, 104–105 top-down approach to, 29–30
Pearson Assessment Training Institute, 41
peer evaluation, 13–14 science laboratory reports rubric, 84–87, 85f–86f
performance-level descriptions, 4–5, 26–29, 28f, 38–39 scoring schemes, point-based, 60–62, 61f
performances, assessment of, 4–5, 5f self-assessment, student. See student self-assessment
performances of understanding, 94 Sentence Fluency trait rubric (writing), 136–137,
point-based scoring schemes, 60–62, 61f 150–151
“preflight checklists,” 77 6+1 Trait Writing rubrics, 41–45
Presentation trait rubric (writing), 140–141 Grades 3–12, 128–141
products, different from outcomes, 16 Grades K–2, 142–153
proficiency-based rubrics standards, 24, 27, 28
about, 64–65 standards-based grading and rubrics, 64–65, 65–71, 67f,
how to create, 65–71, 67f 74, 75f
using in formative assessment, 72–74, 73f Strategic Knowledge, 45–46
using in standards-based grading, 74, 75f student-friendly language, 46–48
   | 
158 How to Create and Use Rubrics

student learning targets and rubrics task-specific rubrics (continued )

about, 93–94 when to use, 56–57, 57f, 58f
clarifying questions, 95 writing and using, 60
introduce one criteria at a time, 101 teaching, rubrics and, 11
ready-steady-pair-share, 97 tests, scoring with rubrics, 56, 57f, 58f
restate rubrics in own words, 95–99, 96f think-pair-don’t share, 106–107
sample matching, 99–101
student co-constructed rubrics, 97–99, 100f Voice trait rubric (writing), 132–133, 146–147
student self-assessment, 80f, 103–104, 105–111
welding rubric, 87–90, 88f–89f
tasks, different from learning outcomes, 15–18 Word Choice trait rubric (writing), 134–135, 148–149
task-specific rubrics, 8f, 9, 10–11, 21, 62–63 work-habits issues, 36
essay-grading, 58–59, 59f writing, rubrics for, 41–45, 58–59, 59f
point-based scoring schemes, 60–62, 61f writing reports rubric, 48–51, 49f–50f
 About the Author

Susan M. Brookhart is an independent educational consultant based in Helena, Mon‑

tana, and senior research associate at the Center for Advancing the Study of Teaching
and Learning in the School of Education at Duquesne University.
She is the author or coauthor of several books and many articles on classroom
assessment, including ASCD’s How to Give Effective Feedback to Your Students and How
to Assess Higher-Order Thinking Skills in Your Classroom.

159
Related ASCD Resources: Formative Assessment
At the time of publication, the following ASCD resources were available; for the most up-to-date
information about ASCD resources, go to www.ascd.org. ASCD stock numbers are noted in
parentheses.

ASCD EDge Group

Exchange ideas and connect with other educators interested in rubrics and formative assess‑
ment on the social networking site ASCD EDge™ at http://ascdedge.ascd.org/

Mixed Media
Formative Assessment Strategies for Every Classroom: An ASCD Action Tool by Susan Brookhart
(one three-ring binder) (#707010)

Online Courses
Formative Assessment: The Basics (#PD09OC69)
Formative Assessment: Deepening Understanding (#PD11OC101)

Print Products
Checking for Understanding: Formative Assessment Techniques for Your Classroom by Douglas
Fisher and Nancy Frey (#107023)
Classroom Assessment & Grading That Work by Robert J. Marzano
Great Performances: Creating Classroom-Based Assessment Tasks, 2nd ed., by Larry Lewin and
Betty Jean Shoemaker
Formative Assessment Strategies for Every Classroom: An ASCD Action Tool, 2nd ed. by Susan M.
Brookhart
How to Give Effective Feedback to Your Students by Susan M. Brookhart (#108019)
Transformative Assessment by W. James Popham (#108018)
Learning Targets: Helping Students Aim for Understanding in Today’s Lesson by Connie M. Moss
and Susan M. Brookhart. (#112002)

Videos and DVDs

The Power of Formative Assessment to Advance Learning (three 30-minute DVDs with a compre‑
hensive user guide) (#608067)

The Whole Child Initiative helps schools and communities create learning envi‑
ronments that allow students to be healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged. To learn
more about other books and resources that relate to the whole child, visit www.wholechildeduca‑
tion.org.

For more information: send e-mail to [email protected]; call 800-933-2723 or 703-578-9600,

press 2; send a fax to 703-575-5400; or write to Information Services, ASCD, 1703 N. Beauregard
St., Alexandria, VA 22311-1714 USA.
EDUCATION

What is a rubric?
A rubric is a coherent set of criteria for student work that describes levels of perfor-
mance quality. Sounds simple enough, right? Unfortunately, rubrics are commonly
misunderstood and misused.

The good news is that when rubrics are created and used correctly, they are strong tools
that support and enhance classroom instruction and student learning. In this compre-
hensive guide, author Susan M. Brookhart identifies two essential components of
effective rubrics: (1) criteria that relate to the learning (not the “tasks”) that students
are being asked to demonstrate and (2) clear descriptions of performance across a
continuum of quality. She outlines the difference between various kinds of rubrics (for
example, general versus task-specific, and analytic versus holistic), explains when using
each type of rubric is appropriate, and highlights examples from all grade levels and
assorted content areas. In addition, Brookhart addresses

s Common misconceptions about rubrics;

s Important differences between rubrics and other assessment tools such as check-
lists and rating scales, and when such alternatives can be useful; and
s How to use rubrics for formative assessment and grading, including standards-
based grading and report card grades.

Intended for educators who are already familiar with rubrics as well as those who are
not, this book is a complete resource for writing effective rubrics and for choosing
wisely from among the many rubrics that are available on the Internet and from other
sources. And it makes the case that rubrics, when used appropriately, can improve
outcomes by helping teachers teach and helping students learn.

Alexandria, Virginia USA

Browse excerpts from ASCD books:

www.ascd.org/books

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