Effective Use of Rubrics to Assess Student Learning Marta Colón de Toro, SPHR Assessment Coordinator College of Business Administration University of PR at Mayagüez February 2007

What is a Rubric? “A scoring tool that lists the criteria or 'what counts’ for a piece of work." Heidi Goodrich A scoring scale used to assess student performance along a task-specific set of criteria

Rubrics Powerful communication tool When shared among constituents it communicates in concrete and observable terms what we value most. Provides a means to clarify our vision of excellence and conveys it to our students Provides a rationale for assigning grades to subjectively scored assessments.

Think about it! Sharing the rubric with students is vital—and only fair—if we expect them to do their best possible work.

Advantages of using rubrics For Students Help them define "quality“ Promote student awareness of about the criteria to use in assessing peer performance Help students judge and revise their own work before handing in their assignments. Clearly show the student how their work will be evaluated and what is expected For the Professor Allow evaluation and assessment to be more objective and consistent Help focus to clarify his/her criteria in specific terms Provide useful feedback regarding the effectiveness of the instruction Provide benchmarks against which to measure and document progress

Types of Rubrics Analytical Holistic

Analytic Rubric Describes levels of performance for each criterion to assess student performance on each of them.

Analytical Rubric - Research Levels of Performance Criteria Weight 1 2 3 Number of Sources x1 1-4 5-9 10-12 Historical Accuracy x3 Lots of historical inaccuracies Few inaccuracies No apparent inaccuracies Organization Can not tell from which source information came Can tell with difficulty where information came from Can easily tell which sources info was drawn from Bibliography Bibliography contains very little information Bibliography contains most relevant information All relevant information is included

Holistic Rubric Assigns a level of performance by assessing performance across multiple criteria as a whole. Does not list separate levels of performance for each criterion.

Holistic Rubric - Research 3 - Excellent Researcher included 10-12 sources no apparent historical inaccuracies can easily tell which sources information was drawn from all relevant information is included 2 - Good Researcher included 5-9 sources few historical inaccuracies can tell with difficulty where information came from bibliography contains most relevant information 1 - Poor Researcher included 1-4 sources lots of historical inaccuracies cannot tell from which source information came bibliography contains very little information

Main Components of Rubrics Dimensions, Criteria, Traits, Attributes Elements that characterize good performance of a task Definitions and Descriptors To specify and clarify the meaning of each dimension Scale of Values Numerical or Qualitative or Combination Optional Weights Value that represents the relative value of each dimension Examples or Models

Scales Qualitative Quantitative May include labels such as: Not yet, developing, achieving Emerging, developing, achieving Novice, apprentice, proficient, distinguished No evidence, minimal evidence, partial evidence, complete evidence Exemplary, Acceptable, Unacceptable Quantitative Numbers representing 1 – 5 5 – 1 1 – 3 3 – 1 Actual point value May be used to reflect relative weight

Recommendations Criteria clearly aligned with the requirements of the task and the stated goals and objectives.  Criteria should be expressed in terms of observable behaviors or product characteristics. Scoring rubrics should be written in specific and clear language that the students understand. 

Recommendations The number of points that are used in the scoring rubric should make sense.  The separation between score levels should be clear.   The statement of the criteria should be fair and free from bias. 

Let’s try it! – Developing a Rubric Choose a learning goal or assignment Identify at least three (3) critical dimensions or elements of the task Design a scale of at least 3 levels For each dimension describe behaviors that represent each level of quality

Some Home-made Examples Rubric for Scoring Project Rubric for Peer Evaluation of Group Project

Rubrics Available Online Team work (2) Oral Communication skills (2) Writing skills (2) Leadership Critical thinking Ethical Considerations (2) Global Perspective Case Analysis

Where to Begin… Identify a learning goal Choose outcomes that may be measured with a rubric Develop or adopt (and adapt) an existing rubric Share it with students Assess / Grade Analyze and report results

Program Level Assessment Of Learning Outcomes Results Results Results Classroom-Level Assessment of Learning

Assessment of Program Learning Goals Ethics Information Technology Skills Teamwork We will select a rubric and ask professors to use it and provide us with the results to conduct assessment at the program level.

Some Links of Interest http://cnx.org/content/m14059/latest/ http://faculty.css.edu/dswenson/web/Gradingrubrics/rubricethics.html http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/d/x/dxm12/n458/sample_case_rubric.htm http://faculty.css.edu/dsurges/ASSESSMENT/rubricethics.html

Some Links of Interest http://www.tcnj.edu/~set/mw-steps.htm http://www.viterbo.edu/personalpages/faculty/WStobb/WAC%20-%20Pharm2.htm http://academic.scranton.edu/department/assessment/ksom/ http://academic.scranton.edu/department/assessment/ksom/Ethical-Considerations-Rubric.pdf (ECR ***)

Some Links of Interest http://www.winona.edu/AIR/rubrics.htm http://www4.nau.edu/assessment/main/degree/plans/BusinessAdminReport_Nov05.pdf http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.cfm?BenchmarkID=6&DocID=61 http://csethics.uis.edu/dolce/teachsoft.html http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/assess.html

Share your Rubrics

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