How do I create meaningful rubrics to assess performance-based assessments?

A rubric is essentially a measurement tool that outlines the criteria against which a performance or a product is compared and judged. A rubric specifies what features of a performance or product are being assessed and provides detailed descriptions of the various levels of quality. Developing high-quality rubrics takes time and practice, but here are some steps that you can follow when developing a rubric for a performance assessment.

• STEP 1: Identify the type of rubric that you want to develop. There are two types of rubrics. A holistic rubric is used to provide a general, overall rating about a performance or product. An analytic rubric is more detailed and provides specific ratings for each aspect (a.k.a. criterion) of the performance or product. The situation dictates what type of rubric to use, but you will likely use analytic rubrics for most performance-based assessments.

• STEP 2: Determine the criteria that you will be assessing. These aspects will comprise the rows of your analytic rubric. In general, the task directions (if they are sufficiently detailed) will provide an outline of the criteria to include in the rubric. A rubric can include as many criteria as you like. It is important to note, though, that you should try to limit the number of criteria to only the most important aspects of the tasks. Having too many criteria can lead to an unwieldy, cumbersome rubric that is difficult to apply.

• STEP 3: Determine the number of levels on which to rate the performance or product. Typically, a rubric should include 3-5 levels. The more levels a rubric has, the more fine-grained the distinction becomes from one level to the next. Think carefully about how detailed the levels need to be in order to produce relevant, understandable assessment results. Once you decide on the number of levels to include in the rubric, decide how the levels will be labeled. Will you use a numeric scale (e.g., 4, 3, 2, 1)? Will you use a verbal rating (e.g., Exceeds, Proficient, Approaching, Needs Work, No Evidence)? Or will you use a combination of both? The key to choosing a labeling system is to ensure that the students (and you) clearly understand the meaning associated with each level and the expectations that must be met in order to adequately demonstrate proficiency.

• STEP 4: Develop the descriptions associated with each level for each criterion. For a given criterion, start by writing the description for the highest level of performance. Then, write the description for the lowest level of performance. Then write the descriptions for the in-between levels. Note that it is important to write the descriptions using a parallel format, and the descriptions often only have only minor word changes from one level to the next. Here is an example of the descriptions for a single criterion from an analytic rubric:

• STEP 5: Test out the rubric to see if it produces the expected results. The first iteration of a rubric is likely not perfect, so be prepared to make tweaks and changes as necessary.

Assessment is a significant part of the learning process. It is through assessment that educators and students can garner an understanding of what a student truly knows and can do. The results of an assessment, though, are only useful if they are authentic and if they accurately represent the knowledge and skills acquired by the student. Although objective assessments have their place on the assessment spectrum and can be appropriate assessments of student learning, performance-based assessment often provide the authenticity needed to accurately judge what a student knows or can do. Rubrics serve as tools that help to quantify and qualify the expectations of a performance or product associated with a performance-based assessment. Developing high-quality rubrics can be challenging and requires practice. Hopefully, the steps outlined above can help you hone your rubric-development skills and can encourage the use of performance-based assessments to authentically measure student learning.

Tip: Consider using AI tools like ChatGPT to generate rubrics - it does a pretty good job!  You can then make the necessary tweaks. 

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