1. Ta-dah!
The Rubric

2. What is assessment?
Authentic assessment is geared toward assessment methods which correspond as closely as possible to real world experience.
The instructor observes the student in the process of working on something real, provides feedback, monitors the student's use of the feedback, and adjusts instruction and evaluation accordingly.
Students themselves are involved in the assessment process from helping to create the rubric to peer and self-assessment.

3. What is a rubric? The Rubric is
an authentic assessment tool which is particularly useful in assessing criteria which are complex and subjective
a scoring guide including a summary listing of the characteristics that distinguish high quality from low quality work
a formative type of assessment because it becomes an ongoing part of the whole teaching and learning process

4. What are the advantages?
The advantages of using rubrics in assessment are that they:
allow assessment to be more objective and consistent
focus the teacher to clarify his/her criteria in specific terms
clearly show the student how their work will be evaluated and what is expected

5. What are the advantages?
The advantages of using rubrics in assessment are that they:
promote student awareness of about the criteria to use in assessing peer performance
provide useful feedback regarding the effectiveness of the instruction
provide benchmarks against which to measure and document progress

6. How do we create a rubric?
Rubrics can be created in a variety of forms and levels of complexity, however, they all contain common features which:
focus on measuring a stated objective (performance, behavior, or quality)
use a range to rate performance
contain specific performance characteristics arranged in levels indicating the degree to which a standard has been met

7. Steps in developing a scoring rubric
Sometimes it is not possible to find an appropriate existing rubric to use or modify.  So we have to develop a scoring rubric "from scratch." 
Steps in developing a scoring rubric
Determine learning outcomes
Keep it short and simple (Include items; use brief statements or phrases)
Each rubric item should focus on a different skill
Focus on how students develop and express their learning
Evaluate only measurable criteria
Ideally, the entire rubric should fit on one sheet of paper
Reevaluate the rubric (Did it work? Was it sufficiently detailed?)

8. Terms to use in measuring range/scoring levels
Needs Improvement Satisfactory Good Exemplary
Beginning Developing Accomplished Exemplary
Needs work Good Excellent
Novice Apprentice Proficient Distinguished
Numeric scale ranging from 1 to 5, for example
Concept words that convey various degrees of performance
Depth Breadth Quality Scope Extent Complexity Degrees Accuracy
Presence to absence
Complete to incomplete
Many to some to none
Major to minor
Consistent to inconsistent
Frequency: always to generally to sometimes to rarely

9. Things to consider when selecting or evaluating a rubric
Does the rubric relate to the outcome(s) being measured? Does it address anything extraneous?
Does the rubric cover important dimensions of student performance?
Do the criteria reflect current conceptions of "excellence" in the field?
Are the categories or scales well-defined?
Is there a clear basis for assigning scores at each scale point?

10. Things to consider when selecting or evaluating a rubric
Can the rubric be applied consistently by different scorers?
Can the rubric be understood by students and parents?
Is the rubric developmentally appropriate?
Can the rubric be applied to a variety of tasks?
Is the rubric fair and free from bias?
Is the rubric useful, feasible, manageable and practical?

11. Rubrics should include criteria for scoring tone unity cohesion
comprehension
grammar and mechanics
format
use consistent terminology
emphasize the thesis
limit content on the rubric
provide a simple scoring scale
show a clear pass/fail division
Assessment Spring 2005
powerful 10
effective
9/8
adequate
7/6
inadequate 5
missing

12. How many points should a rating scale have?
There is no one right answer to this question. Consider these as you make your decision:
Each point on the scale needs to be well defined.  This may be difficult to do for large scales.
Larger scales make it harder to get good agreement among scorers (inter-rater reliability).
Extremely short scales make it difficult to identify small differences between students.

13. Why use rubrics?
Rubrics take the guesswork out of evaluating student work and progress by describing expected action. 
Beforehand, expectations for excellence and quality are established and shared with students. 
Students know what grade/points each level of effort will procure them. 
It includes criteria for what the educator thinks is exemplary, satisfactory, and unacceptable.

14. Rubric design helpful hints
The rubric should ideally be one page, but no longer than two pages.
Each rubric should have increasing levels of ability.
Each level should have clearly defined terms, easily understood by the student, of what is expected.

15. Rubric design helpful hints
VARIATION:
Instead of the educators developing the rubric guidelines, hold a class discussion and allow the students to take ownership of their learning by helping to create their own requirements for excellence.

16. Rubric Template Beginning 1 Developing 2 Accomplished 3 Exemplary 4
Score
Stated Objective or Performance
Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting a beginning level of performance.
Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting development and movement toward mastery of performance.
Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting mastery of performance.
Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting the highest level of performance.

17. Sample rubric No effort 1 Minimal effort 2 Below average 3 Average 4
No effort 1
Minimal effort 2
Below average 3
Average 4
Good 5
Excellent
Inquiry
Process
Deadlines
Bibliography
Display
Presentation
Mechanics
The Information
Research Journal
Comments

18. Rubric design helpful hints
VARIATION:
Are we suggesting too many rubrics for students to handle? 
Try merging them together and making it simpler. 
Have one rubric that fits on a single page with a section for evaluating each important area.

19. What do I do if I do not like rubrics?
Use a checklist. 
A checklist is a guide through the process and product. 
Just like any rubric, the checklist would be given to the student before any work begins, so that the student knows what the expectations are and can excel toward those expectations.
See Evaluation Checklist-the Product and Evaluation Checklist- the Research Journal for examples.

20. EVALUATION CHECKLIST: The Product
3 points points point
Excellent Satisfactory Needs No Effort
Improvement
VISUAL
___on time—met deadlines
___accurate, correct, and significant facts
___colorful and creative
___neat and organized
___shows originality
___no plagiarism
___emphasizes important points in student’s research
___credit/descriptive captions appear for graphics/documents when appropriate
___content emphasizes important points in student’s thoughts and opinions
ORAL PRESENTATION
___engaging, enthusiastic, interesting
___varies pace and does not use a monotone
___faces audience
___engages audience and answers their questions accurately
___directs audience, when appropriate, to emphasize points
WRITTEN
___purpose clearly stated
___proper grammar, punctuation, spelling
___uses words the students understands and can explain
___used complete sentences and variety of sentence formats
___contains original thoughts
___covers topic thoroughly: uses relevant details and examples

21. EVALUATION CHECKLIST: The Research Journal
+ complete satisfactory incomplete credit
1. TASK DEFINITION
___includes general topic notes from class discussions
___Pre-search Activity complete
2. INFORMATION SEEKING STRATEGIES
___Questioning complete
___Exploration Activity 1 complete
___Exploration Activity 2 complete
___Strategy complete
3. LOCATION & ACCESS
4. USE OF INFORMATION
___Source Note completed for each resource
___Source notes are in proper format
___Source Note summaries are in student’s words
Interview:
___Interview arranged appropriately
___Interviewer selected appropriate interviewee
___Interview questions appropriate and valuable
___Interview summary comprehensive and insightful
Survey:
___Survey arranged appropriately
___Selected survey format appropriate
___Survey questions appropriate and valuable
___Survey summary comprehensive and insightful
5. SYNTHESIS
___Dissemination form complete
___Dissemination tool selected appropriate to
audience & topic
___Story board complete and detailed
___Peer Conference complete
___Peer Evaluation complete and insightful
___Peer Evaluation guidelines followed
6. EVALUATION
___Daily Reflection completed for each inquiry day
___Daily Reflections include student’s thoughts
___Self Evaluation complete
___Self Evaluation includes constructive criticism
___Self Evaluation includes honest personal
assessment
___Peer Evaluation 2 complete
___Peer Evaluation 2 insightful and friendly
Bibliography
___turned in on time
___bibliography complete
___bibliography annotations include
personal reflections
___follows bibliographic format

22. Websites for rubric development

23. Conclusion
Rubrics are an effective assessment tool in evaluating student performance in areas which are complex and vague. By involving students in the creation of the rubric, the students take more responsibility for their own learning, are empowered by being involved in the teaching/learning process, and have a clearer idea of what is expected in terms of specific performance. Stakeholders are given clear information about student assessment and instructional objectives. Teachers clarify their goals, expectations, and focus, and even find that their paperwork is reduced because students are a part of the process of assessment development. There is, however, one drawback to the use of rubrics according to Harry Tuttle, a subject area technology integration teacher for the Ithaca City School District; "the students will want to have rubrics for everything they learn!"