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Purpose and audience are two important considerations when developing a rubric. The point of including "critical vocabulary that you use in your classroom" and ensuring that it is "non-judgemental" are pieces that can be overlooked by educators.

I really like that this emphasizes that the rubric be free from educational jargon.

Student friendly language is key if we want the student self reflection to happen.

I think it's helpful to consider / reflect on the notion of the students as our audience in terms of assessment and feedback. Remaining non-judgemental is important to remember in the assessment mode.

I hadn't considered this being an issue until our small group assignment this week.  I've only used rubrics in isolation.  Interesting thought for teachers in department (i.e. Social Studies) using same rubric.

Inter-rater reliability is essential. The goal is promoting creativity and creating clear expectations. However, by including too many details, we run the risk of formulaic writing. It is important to ensure students understand the expectations, but also stretch themselves and do not do the minimum required to reach proficiency. On the other hand, when enough detail is not included, then we can run the risk of a rubric that becomes too subjective and then two scorers can review the same piece of writing and score it differently based on their own expectations.

As a psychology major, this was a big deal in making sure you had sound products you were using. I'm wondering how much we are testing ours today. I know some PLC's that practice scoring examples with rubrics, then discuss, to ensure they are on the same page.

I see how beneficial rubrics can be in "meaningful" assessment.  It provides clear expectations for both teachers and students, keeps the student focused, and hopefully created to meet standards or other meaningful benchmark.  

I think sometimes the rubric is a tool for the teacher to score and not as much a tool for feedback and encouraging learning (from earlier in the article). When teachers common score, are they using that discussion to shape their instruction and feedback to students? I don't mean to imply they aren't, I don't currently work with a PLC willing to common score. They simply use the same rubric.

We are running into this right now with our LMS... the new assessment piece doesn't allow us to upload the rubric. So, kids will have to do tasks without seeing the rubric. This is not okay with teachers, so hoping the tech people will build the rubric options in....

Agreed that withholding assessment tools does a disservice to the education for the students and is can give some teachers a power trip. I am glad to hear the tech at your school are working on this piece and that the LMS has a feature to upload rubric into the system.

We use a common rubric when assessing special education students with writing goals (although some students have modified or specific rubrics addressing the specifics of their goal).

I love the idea of common rubrics so that the goals are spelled out. especiallywhen one teacher likes it this way and another likes it this way can be so confusing.

I agree, it is nice to have the common rubric that makes all expectations the same.

In paper-writing, sometimes we get really caught up in measuring outcomes like mechanics (capitalization, punctuation), and not content. Often we get so caught up in assessing those things, we lose sight of the higher order thinking that we are really trying to measure.

rubrics are certainly less judgemental when they are used formatively along the way during the process... it's not an end-all "gotcha"

The system of a rubric can be very abstract and not concrete if being teacher made. This has pros and cons, one pro if the teacher lets the students see it ahead of time, is that the students know what is expected of their performance.

Agree! This can be challenging for a new teacher or one that is new to teaching that unit/class. The rubric also allows for standards to be measured in multiple assessments.

This reiterates to me the difference we are learning between assessing and grading. It is our job as teachers to make sure all students our learning and we aren't just going through the motions of going from chapter to chapter in a textbook.

Teaching is a personal profession and when a student doesn't perform well on an exam it can be a shot to the teachers ego. If we can get teachers to think of rubrics as a way to see if the students have learned it yet instead of just a summative yes or not they got it, it might become less personal and we can start focusing on how to get the students to actually learn in.

A beauty about Rubrics is they can be utilized in all content areas for all educators.

and they can be tailored for the specific assignment or project. I love that rubrics are not content specific and can be designed for individualized, specific things.

This makes me emotional and the emotion I feel is anger. That there are teachers that are still out there that try to one up the student and have a power trip. As an educator and mother of three students myself I see this and have to play the politically nice card and try to listen instead of get mad during conversations with teachers. This class is giving me knowledge on the importance of assessments and different types.

As stated in one of the videos teachers are not taught in pre-teaching programs how to ask good questions, nor do I think we were taught how to prepare well written rubrics. If rubric are well designed they should not be "formulaic" in their outcomes.

I would say this student was not given a well written rubric.

Agreed. The rubric apparently wasn't written so that it focused on an outcome the required something coherent.

Leave it to kids to take your words literally in order to drive you figuratively insane. This just goes to show that a rubric shouldn't be driving students to one right answer but rather guiding them towards quality and learning.

Absolutely. Kids will pick out one or two words and take them out of context. Is that what the intent of the rubric was? most likely no, but we need to teach the students that the rubric is a guide for expanding their learning with a few checks throughout the process.

Anything to mitigate teacher bias is an improvement for many teacher assessments and evaluations of student learning.

So true, removing teacher bias is difficult, and when we can do it, it is a good thing.

I love the term real-life learning. Most professions don't have a good and bad type of employee. There are different levels of employees, and there's usually room for improvement.

In this respect, rubrics protect both the student and teacher. This document removes any possible bias perceived by students and/or parents.

The problem, which I don't know that it is really a problem, is that grading writing is biased. What I find creative or thoughtful might not be what another teacher thinks. The rubric can assess the prescriptive things like thesis, intro., conclusion, etc.

I agree that it helps the students know what they need to strive for instead of just open ended questions and then you get back your grade and you did not do well because it wasn't what the teacher wanted. I struggled with this in my undergrad classes.

I agree with this too that it provides students with the clear and specific qualities of the academic piece of material they are working on to be assessed. I have never thought about it being related closely to real-life learning situations though which is an imperative connection that should be made.

I would say to that, it was a poorly written rubric is it is "dumb".

This has been my experience with rubric to be very specific in the world of special ed. especially when using them for IEP goal writing.

The examples of why rubrics haven't been appreciated mainly boil down to poor design.  I like this statement because it shows the flexibility of rubrics.  The creator can decide how in-depth the learning can go or encourage the student to expand beyond with skinny columns.

When I see a rubric performance descriptions include a certain number of something, I can't help but think about this.

In this case, a teacher could use a checklist instead of a rubric. Trying to reach a specific number seems like it would cut down on the quality of some student work and only produce quantity.

I understand this type of rubric but have also wondered what # of words/ correct words/spelling etc. constitutes an A/B/C...grade. What an A means to mean might not be the same to another person.

Even a well-intentioned rubric can leave something to be desired. This sounds more like a checklist but begs the argument around having a criteria for coherence.

I find this interesting. The formal, structured writing is favored and the in this particular task, the expressive abilities of a writer are not assessed and reported on and/or flexibility to consider creative structures is not in place. We should look at a student's overall writing abilities in a variety of settings.

This to me is important. I try to use rubrics to assess the more inquiry/student centered work I do. There is still a place for teacher centered as there are skills that must be conveyed to all students for foundational learning. Finding that balance between teacher and student based is what can be challenging.

I agree that there needs to be a balance and that balance can be challenging. I believe this is important as it helps to reach all learning styles.

I need to figure out a way to do this within our standards based grading system.

It can be challenging and time consuming to create a quality product. In my opinion, teachers that can work in teams to develop rubrics have a bonus. Several minds working together may help to produce a better rubric. A quality rubric is important so students do not have to guess what teachers want as they work on a project.

Also, I think the teachers having that discussion is powerful - it can help develop their ideas or challenge misconceptions. I know some teachers fear students looking at an exemplar or rubric and all students creating basically the same thing. I think that is an error of instruction/feedback/design and not a student error. I think teachers having that discussion can prevent that type of problem.

Descriptive vs evaluative is another way to think about this. It is difficult to keep evaluate words from our feedback and from rubric descriptions but descriptive feedback is more beneficial than evaluative feedback for students learning.

This is a powerful statement because it doesn't do any good to share rubrics with students if they don't understand the expectations or the way the teacher is using the rubric. Older students should have a better understanding of rubrics because they should have more experience with them. I think that younger students would benefit from initial exposures to rubrics especially since more and more teachers and employers are using them.

It is important that students and parents understand the rubric because usually the project grade is the product or reflection of the rubric. If the students or parents don't understand the components of the rubric, then they will question the validity of the grade that was given.

I agree. When we make these rubrics, we do need to discover its effectiveness.

Sometimes this looks like teachers' favorite parts - marking up the sheet in every possible way. I personally don't even have red pens! I think it sends the wrong message.

This is why students see school as a game and only want to talk about how to get more points.

I think the classic example of this is something like "3-5 spelling errors" as a criterion. Some rubrics are bad because they focus on delimiting every possible error instead of being growth or learning focused.

This is important, should help keep students work from becoming to "thoughless". So would you use a rubric to make sure you meet specific criteria, then use another for of assessment to grade creativity?

I think I would include the "creativity" within the rubric if that were part of the grade. I'm thinking that aside from the rubric, students could discuss their papers with a peer and they could also have a conference with the teacher. The verbal assessment would provide the student an opportunity to clarify information and even advocate for specific ideas within the paper.

I've never understood how to "grade creativity." What does that mean?!

I can see how rubrics can help in the writing process, but how can they work in a math class?

Ahhhh, here is the rub; well designed. We know that sometimes in the regular classroom teachers do not have the luxury of time to create rubrics that are well designed.

Yes, that is true. Much easier to make a test with T/F and multiple choice - and easier to grade too!

I agree with both of you. Rubrics need to be well designed if we hope to assess students with any fidelity, but it isn't easy to do that. It takes time as well as patience.

One aspect of "well designed" is time. For me, time is one component of what I see as my "capacity' issue. Do I also have or lack the background knowledge to design the rubric? Am I sure I know the key dimensions/traits to such a degree that I can measure them with validity.

Is it possible to create a basic rubric for writing assignments and edit/adapt to specific topic/assignment? I know I spend hours working on rubrics and then seem to find a paper/project that doesn't fit the rubric quite perfectly. How do you account for work ethic/employability skills (proofreading/grammar) in a rubric?

Yes, this hits the nail on the head; we need students to progress in their thinking and self assessment of progress.

The challenge in this is getting to know the things they will be using to conduct their self assessments.

I think that's exactly why a rubric used this way is so helpful - the students don't have to make up their own self-assessment, but can take their cues from what the instructor says is important.

Amen to all these comments!

Who among us has not experienced this example?

Agree... we always try to guess what the instructor wants, and by the end of the semester, some of us have it figured out, other students never do!

This reminds me of an expectations for a college paper: Answer the prompt as completely and thoroughly as possible. Imagine why he got responses ranging from 1 paragraph to 10 pages single spaced.

Wow, wouldn't this be lovely; producing students who thought statistically! A world I dream of....

I find this a little humerous that the word rubric spawned from directions used in religious services - correlating the seperation between church and state. A little funny I think.

Of course, what scares overwhelmed teachers like myself who are teaching more students and more subjects than ever before with more high-stakes consequences, all while trying to be a wife and mother, daughter and friend, is the perceive time-consuming element of assessing such things!

I have to wonder if our focus on high-stakes test results isn't stiffleing teacher and student creativity? to the point that we only teach what is on the test--and is that all that matters?

Don't tell me this is an argment for high stakes tests good. These tests lead to more creative, authentic instructional methods? Kind of interesting.

I never thought about this. I'm sure this would cause more difficulty for the gifted writer.

I see it even more a problem for the struggling writer.

Gracious, learning is a formula for all children. Teachers are guiding them through a process of aquiring skills and information that people who have lived before think is valuable. I think exploring with blending chalks or oil pastels is a skill my students should have. I show them the ways the chalks can be used. They explore. We do an assignment or two with a rubric. They develop confidence with the chalks, and become independent artists. I think the same is true with writing. Use the rubric as a tool to help the student create a persuasive essay. That essay is not the work of an accomplished author, it is a confidence building experience for the child, a learning step. Wow, look what I just did! A student with an interest or gift in writing will never be stifled by this process unless a poor rubric is used. They will learn what that teacher found to be important and will build their own beliefs on what they learned.

As with any tool or technology, it can be used in positive, helpful ways or destructive ways. The tool, in and of itself, isn't amazing or horrible. It depends on how it is used.

And again...the design should include time spent to involve students in the process

My "capacity" involves both time and content expertise. Am I sure there are not any "don't know what I don't know" issues. Maybe utilizing the community of colleagues as a filter to check the rubric would help me.

I think rubrics are particularly helpful in establishing consistency of assessment when there are a number of instructors trying to grade across multiple sections.

I agree.

Again, I think we know we're right on when it comes to assessment tasks which provide these real-life learning situations. We're to prepare kids for the real world and students crave realness yet it seems to be challenging for us to do in education consistently.

Two challenges I have with real world assignments.  When making something for real the product the students make and the product the client wants/expects don't always agree.  Using a rubric can help but getting true buy in from the students isn't always easy.

Activities that stretch student learning into the higher order thinking and measure more than their ability to recite facts and dates.

By being specific on the expectations of a project, students can take ownership, be creative, and produce quality items. This provides a "pro" because the students are actively engaged.

Students also take ownership and benefit from the critical thinking required to articulate the traits of a high quality product when they help develop the rubric.

The important point is not the assessment tool itself, but that it is a "quality" tool used to measure multiple pieces.

Look at rubric descriptors with your students. Ask them to clarify their understanding: "How would you say that in 'eighth grade words'?"

I agree. This is also important when involving parents in the education process who are not in the classroom hearing the content or language used.

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Engineering is a field that is all about applying what is learned, from building roads to building bridges. I can see how rubrics can be used to score performance based projects.

Everything that Iowa core is focusing on.