Got Rubrics?

December 3, 2010 5:29 AM

I'm working with a few school start-up teams, and two of them are in search of resources for creating rubrics. I think I've convinced them that the act of creating rubrics is itself very valuable, but they still want to see some additional models before they jump in. Are there books or websites that provide strong sample rubrics as well as philosophical and practical guidelines for the creation of rubrics? Thanks--
posted by aimeedee to Education (2 answers total)

When I taught, since I came in with little experience, I found it helpful to observe and steal what I felt worked best. At one point, I was voluntold to work on an accreditation team and I got to look at the way that a number of different classroom teachers handled rubrics. One of the best that I saw was one that I called a subway map rubric. Each line in the rubric looked like this:

Category
0    2    4    6
O----O----O----O _
w    x    y    z

where "Category" is what the rubric measures.
0, 2, 4, 6 are points earned (could be anything - whatever the you feel fits best)
w, x, y, z are brief descriptions of what is needed to earn the point above the circle.
That last underscore is a place to put points earned.

For projects, I would include the rubric as part of the handout that had to be turned in.

As part of project introduction, I went over the rubric. When I graded, Put a mark on the line (usually, but not always in a circle) and wrote in the points on the right.

I *never* ever had grubbing for points using with this. I *never* ever had a student ask why they got the grade that they did. Each student had a direct answer to "what could I do better".

As an example, I did a project where I had students design a house and they had to do a preliminary floor plan. I used three broad categories for the project: neat, sweet, complete. I divided points up to in those categories to what I felt was most important, leaning much more heavily on neat and complete. Each had descriptions that described what needed to be done. I think that "neat" was:

0 - sloppy drawing, little or no use of straight edge, many cross-outs, few accurate right angles, consistently non-parallel walls
up to
max - clean lines, straight walls, accurate right angles, parallel walls

I think sweet was:
0 - unlivable space, imbalanced use of windows, lack of consideration of public/private space, few amenities, poor use of space, no consideration of traffic patterns
max - very livable space, very balanced use of windows, high consideration of public/private space, appropriate amenities, excellent use of space, excellent traffic patterns

I think complete was:
0 - missing scale, missing doors, inappropriate use of drafting symbols, no legend
max - correct scale, all doors, appropriate use of drafting symbols, complete legend

In an ideal world, these categories to have been informed by the learning outcomes which in turn are aligned with state standards.

Let me tell you, when it comes time for accreditation, if you can do that last thing then half your work is already done. It's really a nice solid example of "say what you do/do what you say".

As a final note, grading went hella faster and I honestly felt I was being fair.
posted by plinth at 5:54 AM on December 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

I use rubrics a lot for work, especially for evaluation of programs and observation of visitors to the museum. I typically just Google around for good samples, modifying the search if I'm looking for a "project rubric," "evaluation rubric", etc. There are many ways to set one up.
posted by Miko at 6:47 AM on December 3, 2010