Rubrics for Grading
RUBRICS FOR GRADING
Rubrics, or scoring guides, are useful tools that benefit faculty and students alike. Rubrics are grading tools, often formatted as a table, that outline your expectations on an assignment. These help students see what you want and what you prioritize, and help you move through the grading process efficiently, transparently, and objectively. Rubrics can be used for all kinds of assignments, from large-scale summative assessments and major essays, to small, low-stakes formative assessments, like discussions. And you can build them directly in Canvas, where the scores can automatically populate into your gradebook.
On this page, we will cover:
Why Use Rubrics?
Rubrics are an asset for both students and faculty, in many ways!
- Rubrics are one more way that teaching can be made more transparent and invitational (Bearman & Ajjawi, 2021). By sharing rubrics with students, instructors share with students what they want, and this helps students earn the score they want.
- Rubrics can also be used in conjunction with peer review, drafting, norming or other class activities, where students can use the rubric to help review each other’s work, or to practice scoring sample assignments so that they can see what you’re looking for (Almgano, 2016). If students are allowed revision options, rubrics demonstrate clearly the areas that need more attention.
- Faculty benefit from clear rubrics because they can help expedite the feedback process (Siegel, 2019). If the rubric defines issues of organization clearly, then the rubric provides that information, saving time commenting in a document – though there’s no rule saying you can’t use both comments and the rubric!
- Instructors also benefit by ensuring an objective metric for grading (Quinn, 2020). Using the objective values of the rubric to score an assignment helps counter implicit biases. The score is based on the precise descriptors provided in the rubric, which should help eliminate any other subjective metrics.
There are numerous benefits! And there are many resources about building your rubrics directly into Canvas Links to an external site..
Types of Rubrics
There are a few kinds of rubrics you might choose; different rubrics are better suited for different assignments. For example, a simple checklist of “complete/incomplete” might work for a low-stakes formative assessment, or a multi-step assignment where you’re assessing a students’ progress. While quick and easy to use, though, a checklist doesn’t show the student how well they did, which makes it less useful for larger-stakes assessments where you want to provide feedback. For those situations, you may want to select either a holistic rubric or an analytical rubric.
Holistic Rubrics
A holistic rubric provides general information about your expectations for an assignment, and provides one grading scale with descriptors. In this case, you provide a description of a response and the grade or point value that would be earned for meeting that description.
These easy rubrics show your students your expectations clearly and, when used in Canvas, can show the students exactly why they got the score they did.
For a discussion post assignment, a holistic rubric might look like this:
|
A Level Discussion (5/5 points) |
Initial response addresses all elements of the posted question and is posted on time. Three responsive posts provided are thoughtful, meet required word count, and are posted on time. |
|
B Level Discussion (4/5 points) |
Initial response addresses all elements of the posted question. Three responsive posts provided are thoughtful and meet required word count. Not posted on time. |
|
C Level Discussion (3.5/5) |
Initial response attempts to respond to the posted question. Three responsive posts are provided but not complete. Does not meet the required word count. |
|
D Level Discussion (3/5 points) |
Initial response does not adequately address the posted question. Not enough responses and/or not posted on time. Underdeveloped. |
Each letter grade and point value describes the discussion response that would earn that score.
Furthermore, the points accurately represent the percentage that typically correlates to the letter-grade value. 4/5 = 80%, and 3.5/5 = 70%, as opposed to a 3, which would be 60%, typically a D.
If you are scoring with the rubrics in Canvas and are using the rubrics to provide the grade, the student can see the description with the point value, clarifying the score.
Analytic Rubrics
Analytic rubrics provide more granular information about scores. Ideal for higher stakes assignments, analytical rubrics help take the guesswork out of the score for the students and streamline the process for you.
Here is a sample Analytical Rubric for a report.
|
Criteria |
Excellent 100-90% |
Good 89.9-80% |
Fair 79.9-70% |
Approaching Standard 69.9-0% |
|
|
Response to prompt |
10 to >8.5 pts Responds completely and thoughtfully to assignment. Unique approach. |
8.5 to >7.5 pts Responds completely to assignment. |
7.5 to >6.5 pts Attempt made at responding to assignment. Some critical element missed. |
6.5 to >0 pts More than one critical element of the assignment has been missed. (Response to prompt/topic, word count, minimum number of sources) |
/10 |
|
Research & Content Development |
20 to >17.5 pts Thoroughly researched.Credible sources. Developed. Synthesis of sources demonstrates a clear, nuanced, developed understanding of the topic. |
17.5 to >15.5 pts Researched. Credible sources. Demonstrates a clear understanding of the topic. |
15.5 to >13.5 pts Adequate sources. Less credible. Demonstrates a developing understanding of the topic. |
13.5 to >0 pts Underdeveloped. Inadequate research. |
/20 |
|
Format & Document Design |
20 to >17.5 pts Format is accurate in cover letter, cover page, and formal report. Design is effective and contributes to success of report. |
17.5 to >15.5 pts Format is accurate in all parts. Document design may be less effective. |
15.5 to >13.5 pts Minor but consistent errors with format and/or document design which negatively impact readability. |
13.5 to >0 pts Major, consistent formatting and/or document design issues. Does not demonstrate the understanding of the appropriate formatting for a formal report and related documents. |
/20 |
|
Writing Style |
20 to >17.5 pts Writing style is professional, clear, and concise, and is appropriate for purpose and audience. Contributes to the success of the document. |
17.5 to >15.5 pts Writing style is clear and generally appropriate for purpose and audience. |
15.5 to >13.5 pts Style is mostly clear, but wordy in some areas that impact clarity of the document. |
13.5 to >0 pts Writing style either inappropriate for audience and purpose or unclear. |
/20 |
|
Organization |
10 to >8.5 pts Organization Effective and Contributes to Documents success. |
8.5 to >7.5 pts Organization clear. |
7.5 to >6.5 pts Organization attempted. |
6.5 to >0 pts Organization is ineffective and negatively impacts clarity |
/10 |
|
Citations |
15 to >13.5 pts Consistent formatting in either APA or MLA format in the reference page and in text. |
13.5 to >12 pts Minor issues with citation in text or in the reference page. |
12 to >10.5 pts Consistent issues with citation in text and/or in reference page. |
10.5 to >0 pts APA/MLA inadequate or not attempted. |
/15 |
|
Grammar/Mechanics |
5 pts Excellent The document is correct in terms of syntax, grammar, punctuation. |
4 pts Good Sentence-level errors do not seriously detract from the document’s effectiveness. |
3.5 pts Fair Sentence level errors somewhat detract from the document's effectiveness. |
>3 pts Poor Sentence-level errors are so frequent that they detract from the document's effectiveness. |
/3 |
As this rubric shows, content development is worth as much as style, and organization is worth more than grammar and mechanics. This shows the students what the instructor feels is most valuable in the assignment. If you decided that grammar was worth the same as research and style, then that would also be clear in the rubric and transparent to the students.
Much of this rubric uses a range of values, which means that you can decide whether an element of the rubric should earn full credit, or somewhere on the continuum, approaching a higher or lower score, though Grammar and Mechanics are given a single value. When this rubric is used to assess scores in Canvas, you can click the related boxes to trigger the highest point value in the range and the grade can be automatically inserted into Speedgrader.
Rubrics + Feedback
As mentioned above, rubrics can help to streamline the grading process, but students will also benefit from written feedback. Rubrics in Canvas allow for an option to include additional feedback in the rubric itself, in addition to or in place of in-line comments.
Additional Resources
Canvas Guides:
What Are Rubrics? Links to an external site.
How Do I Add a Rubric? Links to an external site.
References
Almagno, S., PhD. (2016, February 15). Rubrics: An Undervalued Teaching Tool. Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning. Retrieved March 13, 2023, from https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/rubrics-an-undervalued-teaching-tool Links to an external site.
Bearman, M., & Ajjawi, R. (2021). Can a rubric do more than be transparent? Invitation as a new metaphor for assessment criteria. Studies in Higher Education (Dorchester-on-Thames), 46(2), 359–368. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2019.1637842 Links to an external site.
Cornell University. Using rubrics | Center for Teaching Innovation. (n.d.). https://teaching.cornell.edu/teaching-resources/assessment-evaluation/using-rubrics Links to an external site.
Quinn, D. (2020, October 26). Abating Racial Bias with Rubrics. Strategic Data Project. Retrieved March 13, 2023, from https://sdp.cepr.harvard.edu/blog/abating-racial-bias-rubrics Links to an external site.
Siegel, L. (2019.). Dr. Ingo Holzinger on Saving Time Using Canvas Rubrics & Speed Grader. Schulich Teaching & Learning. https://teachingandlearning.schulich.yorku.ca/save-time-when-grading-using-canvas-rubrics-speed-grader/ Links to an external site.
University of California, Berkeley. Rubrics | Center for Teaching & Learning. (n.d.). https://teaching.berkeley.edu/resources/improve/evaluate-course-level-learning/rubrics Links to an external site.