Rubrics - What are They?

And how to get it right...

OK, so do we really need rubrics?

Does every task need a rubric? Isn't there an easier way to assess student's work?

Not really. (Sorry if that wasn't the answer you wanted!) And rubrics range from the very simple through to the complex.

Over recent years, educators have become increasingly accountable for the results their students achieve. And even more accountable for the progress they make!

We have all heard heart-string accounts of how students progressed from a fail to an 'A' (I have a few of these stories of my own) and we, as teachers, were told that if we were doing a good job we should be able to develop skills in our students so that they were ALL capable of achieving an 'A'. But all things (and all people) are not equal.

However, this brief article will only deal with the tool itself - the rubric - and will not attempt to delve into hotly debated educational theory or argue what teachers should or shouldn't be able to do. One thing is certain, a good rubric will make learning outcomes easier to achieve and more transparent. They will facilitate line of sight from course descriptor, through tasks to the assessments. The alignment will be so clear that the rubric will become blindingly obvious. And students will know exactly what is required of them and where the benchmark sits.

So what is a rubric? Isn't it one of those things that sits in a series of boxes that tells you how to assess the student? A kind of wish list of outcomes? Yes, but like students, all rubrics are not equal!

“If your rubrics don't work, neither does your curriculum, much less outcomes for students!”

In many years of teaching experience, I became the go-to, to solve the rubric woes of teachers, firstly when the Australian Curriculum was introduced, later as a course writer for pre-tertiary, externally examined courses, and subsequently in the university sector.

What did I discover?

It wasn't pretty. Hats off to primary, secondary and pre-tertiary teachers - they are trained educators who, mostly, work at their craft, which gives them a head start. Even then, I know that writing rubrics was often the bane of their teaching lives! The tertiary sector, however, had a difficult time of it as they, generally, were not trained educators.

Rubric? Never heard of it... that's a bit of a sweeping statement, I know. Before you write a response that defends tertiary educators, read on. I love tertiary educators - I was one. So this is not a criticism of the tertiary sector or its educators.

However, for many educators (tertiary or otherwise) their understanding of rubrics is limited, and coming to grips with assessment strategies (that work) and that there might be a process in writing effective rubrics (that work) was a somewhat alien concept.

So, if rubrics make you feel like this (right) - you are not alone.

I came to love this environment as it gave me countless opportunities to work with 'educators' in the tertiary environment, and develop and deliver professional learning (online and face to face) around these critical concepts.

Why critical? Who is it that suffers if we get it wrong as an educator? Initially, the student and in time, the industry.

In fairness, educators are very busy people and if the focus of their learning as educators has not been on the finer points of assessment and consequently, rubrics, then it is no wonder that their rubrics easily become flawed tools that do not appropriately or effectively assess the learning and skills development journey their students have embarked on.

OK, time to confess - this is a personal soapbox! (One of.)

And I have spent countless hours fine tuning both the product (rubrics) as well as defining core understandings around how rubrics fit into the education process. And I see rubrics as a kind of art. A unique combination of words becomes a rubric - a real one. However, it is not like any other discipline of writing – rubrics have their own ‘rules’. You will discover this if you engage in any of our Masterclasses or online short courses.

A good rubric effortlessly guides assessment! And when it comes together like that, marking is a breeze.

What educator wouldn't want a rubric that makes marking easier instead of a chore that delivers more than the occasional ‘oops’ moment, on reflection.

In this brief article, I set out to impress on readers how important rubrics are but, more to the point, how important it is to get it right! Just any old rubric won't do.

If we don't have good rubrics, we don't have good assessment - yes, you guessed it - that works.

SASSeducation offers some free rubrics, Free Masterclasses in rubric writing, online courses and modules as well as professional development modules that will unravel the mysteries of rubrics. Just get in touch with us.

Make rubrics your friend. Life, as an educator, will be a lot simpler.

(Images courtesy Tyler Nix, Marcos Paulo Prado and Daniel Mingook Kim. Unsplash.)