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Rubric Assignment

Sukyung Cho (260679983)

EDEE 355

Christina Delaney

October 2nd, 2017

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SECTION 1: ALL ABOUT RUBRICS!

a) What is a rubric?
- A rubric is a product of many minds working collaboratively to create new knowledge. (Griffin, 2004,
p.4)
- A rubric is a set of clear expectations or criteria used to help teachers and students focus on what is
valued in a subject, topic, or activity. (Wadham, 2011, p.1)

b) The purposes of using a rubric

- A rubric is created to help students understand the value of each subject, lesson and/or activity.
- The rubrics allow teachers to assess complex tasks. They serve as a way to visualize processes of students
they take to reach the top levels of performance. (Wadham, 2011, p.2)

c) Types of rubrics and descriptions: holistic vs. analytic, general vs. task-specific
- According to Mertler (2001), there are two types of rubrics: holistic rubrics and analytic rubrics. The
choice of rubrics can be made whether you are using to assess the criteria at a time or together.

Holistic rubrics Analytic rubrics

- All criteria are being evaluated - Focused type of response

simultaneously. - Contain multidimensional levels
- No definitive answer. - Process of marking is slower.
- Assess overall quality of student - Significant feedback is given (p.2).
work.
- Often use for summative assessment
- According to Brookhart (2013), descriptions of rubrics can be distinguished whether you are evaluating
specific tasks or general tasks. There are two types of those rubrics: general and task-specific.
General Task-specific

- Description gives characteristics - Description refers to the specific

that apply to a whole family of
tasks (e.g., writing)
- Can be reused.
- Students can build an
understanding of general rubrics.
content of a particular task (e.g.,
specifying a conclusion)
- Makes scoring easier, but need to make
a new rubric every time (p.9).

d) Step-by-step on creating a rubric

- According to Mertler (2001), designing scoring rubrics requires following a step-by-step process.
1) Examine the learning objectives to be evaluated by the task
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2) Specify observable attributes that you want to see and you dont want to see. For example, specify the
characteristics, skills and/or behaviors.
3) Identify ways to describe different level of performance. For example, how will you describe attributes
that are average, above-average and below-average?
4)a. For holistic rubrics, write a thorough description in each attribute (level) of performance.
b. For analytic rubrics, write a thorough description in each individual attribute of each criteria.
5)For both holistic and analytic rubrics, make sure that the levels range from excellent to poor.
6)Tip: Collect samples of student work that exemplify each level. These will help you in the
future when designing rubrics. (p.5)
- Mertler (2001) also made a graph of a summarization of these steps (p.6).

e) Characteristics of a good rubric

- A good rubric contains 3 to 5 criteria. However, too much criteria can overwhelm the students.
- Each criterion must represent a specific skill thats being evaluated. As well, a good rubric represents a
specific learning objective.
- Each criterion should not be task-specific.
- Have skills that can be taught and developed. For instance, grade one students can be evaluated on
reading response.
- Develops a rubric that improves instruction (Popham, 1997).
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- Able to provide individualized and constructive feedback to the students (Andrade, 2004).
- Below image is an example of a good rubric. It contains 3 to 5 criteria, each criterion is not task-specific,
and the description of each level is well-developed. Furthermore, the rubric is easy to read and easy to
understand.

f) Strengths and weaknesses of the tool

Strengths Weaknesses
- Useful to clarify teachers - Students need base knowledge about
expectation learning goals rubrics
- Help teachers to design instruction to - Even with the rubrics, teachers need
reach the goals to show good models and feedbacks
- Able to give feedbacks for students - During self-assessment and peer-
to improve assessment, students can be
- Help students to understand the goal disoriented because they do not know
of an assignment and focus on how to evaluate their works
targeting that goal. - Not a sole scoring tool
- Teachers can give informative task to
students.
- Individualized feedback, which is
important for individual
development.
- Self-assessment and peer-assessment
can be done by students using the
rubric.
- Able to assign challenging
assignments
- Keep teachers fair and unbiased
(Andrade, 2004)
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SECTION 2: SAMPLE OF A RUBRIC

Check your work! Can you get ?

Name

Picture

Coloring

Writing
Rubric courtesy of Samantha Francis (owlbeteachingyou.blogspot.com)

I have chosen a rubric for kindergarten class which I am in for my third field experience. My
cooperating teacher has told me that there is no requirement to use rubrics in a kindergarten
classroom. However, I believe that if rubrics are made with visuals, young students will feel
comfortable with them. In this rubric I have chosen, each criterion requires specific skill. For
example, coloring requires the students fine motor skills. Popham (1997) argues that a good rubric
contains criteria that evaluate specific skills, not tasks. Instead of using the word picture as my
second criterion, I would use drawing. I want to put emphasis that it is a skill that is being
evaluated. The rubric is ranged from one star to 4 stars. I believe that students can distinguish from
excellent work and poor work. Each level has models to exemplify the level of performance
accordingly. Each description is appropriate and easy to understand for kindergarten students. The
description is not worded. Instead, each description is drawn in order for young kids to understand
what is expected from them. However, it would be difficult to use this rubric for diverse group. For
instance, I cant assess by using the same rubric for students with disabilities. Students who are color
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blind cannot get the same result as what is shown under 4 stars for coloring. Each criterion is a skill
which can be developed gradually. For instance, students may have a difficult time writing their
name. Over time, students will gradually know how to write their name properly. Kindergarten
students must have an understanding of rubrics before its given to them. They might produce their
work as exactly the same as what is shown on this rubric.

SECTION 3: BRIEF POSITION STATEMENT ABOUT USING THE RUBRIC IN

CLASSROOM

According to my findings, creating a rubric that is right for every student requires lots of efforts.

From holistic to analytic rubrics, and from general to task-specific descriptions, I would have to choose

the right one for each assignment. Mertler (2001) argues that analytic rubrics contain multiple criteria

and different levels which means I can use this type of rubric to provide detailed feedbacks to my

students. I believe that I can utilize analytic rubrics from kindergarten to grade 6. As seen above,

teachers can present criteria through drawing thus making the rubric visual for kindergarten students.

Furthermore, my goal is to make students feel comfortable with using rubrics. before scoring my

students with rubrics, I will let them do self-assessment. This way, the students can train themselves to

produce work that meets high level of criteria. As Popham (2001) states, Rubric developers should

remember that their efforts should guide teachers, not overwhelm them.(p. 74) I will visually present

different examples of work to score together with my students. I believe that if I show my students how

they are going to be assessed, the quality of their work would increase.

Lastly, I want to show my students no surprising marks. In order to do so, I will give my students

feedback with a rubric. They will be expected to use the feedback to improve on their work. They will

be assessed again using the same rubric, and it will be their final grade. I want to encourage my students

to make improvements; it will also boost their self-esteem if they see their improved result. I will follow

the same procedure with younger students like kindergarten.

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References

Airasian, P. W., & Russell, M. K. (2008). Classroom assessment: Concepts and applications (6th ed.).

New York: McGraw-Hill.

Andrade, H. G. (2005). Teaching with rubrics: The good, the bad, and the ugly. College

Teaching, 53(1), 27-31. doi:10.3200/ctch.53.1.27-31

Brookhart, S. M. (2013). How to Create and Use Rubrics for Formative Assessment and Grading.

ASCD.

Griffin, M. (2009). What is a rubric? Assessment Update, 21(6), 4-13.

Mertler, C. A. (2001). Designing scoring rubrics for your classroom. Practical Assessment, Research &

Evaluation, 7(25), 1-10.

Popham, W. J. (1997). What's wrong- and what's right- with rubrics. Association for Supervision and

Curriculum Development, 72-75.