A Rubric for Rubrics

A Rubric for Rubrics
A Tool for Assessing the Quality and Use of Rubrics in Education

Criteria	1 Unacceptable	2 Acceptable	3 Good/Solid	4 Exemplary
Clarity of criteria	Criteria being assessed are unclear, inappropriate and/or have significant overlap	Criteria being assessed can be identified, but are not clearly differentiated or are inappropriate	Criteria being assessed are clear, appropriate and distinct	Each criteria is distinct, clearly delineated and fully appropriate for the assignment(s)/course
Distinction between Levels	Little/no distinction can be made between levels of achievement	Some distinction between levels is evident, but remain unclear	Distinction between levels is apparent	Each level is distinct and progresses in a clear and logical order
Reliability of Scoring	Cross-scoring among faculty and/or students often results in significant differences	Cross-scoring by faculty and/or students occasionally produces inconsistent results	There is general agreement between different scorers when using the rubric (e.g. differs by less than 5-10% or less than ½ level)	Cross-scoring of assignments using rubric results in consistent agreement among scorers
Clarity of Expectations/ Guidance to Learners	Rubric is not shared with learners	Rubric is shared and provides some idea of the assignment/ expectations	Rubric is used to explicitly introduce an assignment and guide learners	Rubric serves as primary reference point for discussion and guidance for course/assignment(s) as well as evaluation of assignment(s)
Support of Metacognition (Awareness of Learning)	Learners do not see/know of the rubric	Rubric is shared but no further reference is made to it in the course/ assignment(s)	Rubric is shared and identified as a tool for helping learners to understand what they are learning through the assignment/ in the course	Rubric is regularly referenced and used to help learners identify the skills and knowledge they are developing throughout the course/ assignment(s)
Engagement of Learners in Rubric Development/ Use *	Learners are not engaged in either development or use of the rubrics	Learners offered the rubric and may choose to use it for self assessment	Learners discuss and offer feedback/input into the design of the rubric, and are responsible for use of rubrics in peer and/or self-evaluation	Faculty and learners are jointly responsible for design of rubrics and learners use them in peer and/or self-evaluation

*Considered optional by some educators and a critical component by others

Scoring chart: 0 - 10 = needs improvement 11 - 15 = workable 16 – 20 = solid/good 21 - 24 = exemplary