According to a study conducted by researchers at Grand Canyon University in 2013, “full-time online faculty reported spending the majority of their time on two teaching tasks: grading papers and assignments (36.93% of weekly time) and facilitating discussion threads (14.73% of instructional time).” We recognize the hard work and effort instructors spend on giving their students meaningful feedback, but we also recognize the need to streamline the grading process so your time can be spent elsewhere. While not appropriate for all assignments, rubrics–when designed well–can save you grading time and are a great tool to assess your students’ work.

What are rubrics?

Rubrics are tools that “describe the rules that guide [instructors’] evaluation of their students’ work or performance” by “add[ing] reliability, validity and transparency to assessments” (Chowdhury, 2018). While rubrics are not useful in all situations (a multiple choice exam, for instance), when it comes to performance-based tasks (writing, oral presentations, projects, etc.), rubrics can be extremely valuable for both students and instructors. Rubrics generally fall into three categories: analytic, holistic, and checklist.

Analytic rubrics

When you think of the typical “rubric,” the analytic rubric is probably the kind of rubric you picture in your mind. These rubrics “resemble a grid with the criteria [categories for grading] for a student product listed in the leftmost column and with levels of performance [scores or markers of success] listed across the top row often using numbers and/or descriptive tags” (DePaul University). Analytic rubrics are especially useful for students, because a task is broken down into specific categories with a range of performance levels. Students can focus on specific skills when working on their assignments, and they know exactly what to work on once they receive feedback from their instructor using this kind of rubric. 

Analytic rubrics also demonstrate a level of nuance. Unlike other rubrics which might take an “all or nothing” approach, analytic rubrics can reward students for the things they’re doing well, even if they aren’t yet at mastery of a particular skill or concept. While this all sounds great (and it is!), an analytic rubric is not appropriate in all circumstances. If the levels of performance aren’t very well defined, then the rubric is not a reliable tool. For some assignments, it may be more appropriate to look at other rubric types.

Developmental rubrics are a “subset of analytic trait rubrics” that are “designed to answer the question, ‘to what extent are students who engage in our programs/services developing this skill/ability/value/etc.’” (DePaul University)? These rubrics are often based on theories of development and may not be immediately helpful in higher education courses. However, if you work with students who may have a career working with children or teenagers, providing them opportunities to develop these kinds of rubrics could prove useful.

Analytic rubric example: 4 point discussion rubric from Carrie Levin

Holistic rubrics

Holistic rubrics “consist of a single scale with all criteria to be included in evaluation being considered together (e.g., clarity, organization, and mechanics)” (DePaul University). Holistic rubrics are easier to create and, with proper rater training, can be very reliable tools. Grading an assignment with a holistic rubric is generally a very fast process, as you are looking at the product as a whole as opposed to evaluating each aspect of the product.

These kinds of rubrics are especially valuable for assignments like reflections. Typically, in these kinds of assignments, we’re looking for students to share their thoughts and ideas, but there aren’t as many nuances in the levels of performance. A holistic rubric would allow an instructor to quickly share what aspects of the reflection are most important, giving students the freedom to tackle the assignment in a way that suits their learning styles best while still meeting the given requirements. 

While holistic rubrics can be a great tool, it is important to keep the descriptors short. A good rule of thumb is to be able to describe the levels of performance in 1-3 sentences. If you find yourself needing to write more to convey what you want from students, an analytic rubric might be a better choice.

Holistic rubric example: DePaul University

• Above Average (4 points): The audience is able to easily identify the focus of the work and is engaged by its clear focus and relevant details. Information is presented logically and naturally. There are no more than two mechanical errors or misspelled words to distract the reader.
• Sufficient (3 points): The audience is easily able to identify the focus of the students work which is supported by relevant ideas and supporting details. Information is presented in a logical manner that is easily followed. There is minimal interruption to the work due to the misspellings and/or mechanical errors.
• Developing (2 points): The audience can identify the central purpose of the student work without little difficulty and supporting ideas are present and clear. The information is presented in an orderly fashion that can be followed with little difficulty. There are some misspellings and/or mechanical errors, but they do not seriously distract from the work.
• Needs Improvement (1 point): The audience cannot clearly or easily identify the central ideas or purpose of the student work. Information is presented in a disorganized fashion causing the audience to have difficulty following the author’s ideas. There are many misspellings and/or mechanical errors that negatively affect the audience’s ability to read the work.

Checklist rubrics

Unlike the other rubrics discussed here, checklist rubrics feature “only two levels of performance” (DePaul University). These kinds of rubrics take an “all or nothing” approach to evaluation; either the product has what you’re looking for, or it doesn’t. Checklist rubrics might be longer than other rubrics due to the number of criteria, but if written well, using a checklist rubric might be a quick way to assess student work.

Checklist rubrics can be especially helpful in assessing work in fields like mathematics. If you want students to provide the correct answer to a problem, show their work, and explain their steps, you can create a checklist with those criteria and award points for each component that is present in their product. They are less helpful in assignments that have nuanced criteria or distinct and varied levels of performance.

Rubrics do not need to be used to assign grades. Checklist rubrics are great reflective tools for students. For example, you might provide a checklist rubric to students before they submit an essay or other written assignment, which they could use to double check their work before submitting. In these scenarios, it’s important for them to know if that rubric will also be used to evaluate their work or if it’s simply formative; with clear communication, students will find value in the opportunity to reflect before turning in assignments.

Checklist rubric example: math problem evaluation

Benefits of using rubrics

Developing a rubric can be a daunting task, and it can be easy to fall into the trap of focusing primarily on the disadvantages, some of which are outlined in ION’s rubric introduction. However, it’s important to note that these disadvantages largely arise from rubrics that are not fully thought out or developed. “Plus-one thinking” is especially important in rubric development; instead of focusing on getting all of your rubrics out there at once, try adding one rubric to an upcoming assignment. By taking the time to really focus on just one rubric, you’re likely to find that there are many advantages to these tools.

Course consistency

Rubrics include information about what the point value is for an assignment (or part of an assignment), with clear descriptions of what criteria were used to evaluate the work. If done correctly, these criteria are aligned with the learning objectives for the course (or unit/module), and “[t]his alignment helps teachers gain greater clarity on both content and outcomes as they are focused on what they [want] their students to learn” (Ragupathi & Lee, 2020).

Rubrics are also linked to more objective and consistent grading practices. In a literature review from Jonsson and Svingby, they concluded that “reliable scoring of performance assessment can be enhanced by the use of rubrics, especially if they are analytic, topic-specific, and complemented with exemplars and/or rater training” (2007). Ragupathi and Lee (2020) go on to assert that this is true, “even when multiple raters are involved in evaluating student work.” When we grade without a rubric–even when we internally know what we’re looking for–we create situations where we might be grading based on a “feeling” in that moment that is hard to reproduce. Rubrics can help keep our grading practices consistent from one submission to the next, and from term to term.

Student work

Rubrics don’t just benefit our courses and the instructors who use them; students also see benefits when rubrics are utilized for assignments. When instructors use rubrics to evaluate student work, students can use that feedback to “identify what they are doing well and what they need to do to improve their academic performance and achieve their learning goals” (Pinkerton, 2022). Rubrics are a form of feedback for students that allow them to see exactly where they are performing and what steps they would need to take in order to improve. This is especially helpful when instructors use the same rubric for multiple assessments (like using a rubric for your discussions in your courses). Based on your continued use of a rubric tool, students can see their starting performance and their growth over time.

But rubrics don’t have to only be used by instructors for students to see the benefits. Ragupathi and Lee (2020) describe ways in which rubrics can be used as “scaffolds for assessment as learning.” When students have access to the rubric for assessment ahead of time (or, better yet, they co-create a rubric with you), “students can then use rubrics to plan their assessment task, clarify targets, determine and focus effort where needed, identify issues related to the task, [and] regulate the process in the effort to produce high-quality work” (Ragupathi & Lee, 2020; emphasis added). Students can do this independently, or–in a peer review process–they can do this for each other with little to no intervention from the instructor.

Lastly, rubrics can be beneficial for students of color, first generation students, non-traditional students, and struggling students. Wolf and Stevens(link is external) assert that “[i]n academic environments we often operate on unstated cultural assumptions about the expectations for student performance and behavior and presume that all students share those same understandings” (2007). Through their research, they found that these groups of students “may have been raised with a different (but valid) set of rules and assumptions about language, communication, and school performance,” but that “rubrics . . . can make learning expectations or assumptions about the tasks themselves more explicit.” To some extent, this is also true for the faculty, staff, and peers who students may turn to besides their assigned instructor for assistance. When students seek help from The Learning Hub, former instructors or teachers, or friends or student tutors, those people offering assistance also benefit from having explicit expectations outlined in a rubric. The feedback and guidance they can provide becomes more targeted, and struggling students are able to receive more direct instructions for how best to succeed.

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