My career as a teacher began way before the introduction of Rubrics to education. As an English teacher I was required to assess students’ writing and convert that assessment into a grade for the student. Back in the 70’s the most progressive grading method I was exposed to was giving a grade over another grade (85/95). The top grade was for the piece and the bottom grade was for the effort exhibited. The entire grade was almost totally subjective, and dependent on the good will of the teacher to attempt to be as objective as possible. I always considered the effort grade a way to clear the conscience.
I thought that this subjective method of grading was pretty much gone until I had a recent conversation with my daughter about her college writing class. It would seem her professor was old school and assigned grades on assignments using the holistic method of just reading and assigning a grade. Little explanation, or justification for the grade was presented. I began to wonder how many educators still employ these methods. I have seen research that indicated most kids do not read or respond to comments on papers left by instructors, but whatever was the basis for any assessed grade should be explained somewhere. We often tell students it is more about the learning than it is about the grade, yet we give the grade without an explanation, so how can learning take place? Of course time, or a lack of it, is often the reason for this, and that is a factor to be dealt with. As a former English teacher I know my visceral reaction to those who argue that class size should not matter; the more kids we have the less time we get.
Again, back in the day, I would underline mistakes without comment. My intent was to have students attempt to figure out why segments were underlined on their own. I even provided collaboration time so they could check with a “study buddy”. I would then meet with them for a brief face-to-face meeting for feedback and comments. This was time-consuming, but effective for some, not all. It was still difficult to objectify what was, so obviously, a subjective assessment. Can tone outweigh a few grammatical mistakes? Are two simple sentences worth less than a compound, or even more a complex sentence? Does the grasp of the content overshadow the poor sentence structure? Was I being consistent for every paper from each of my students? Were all papers being assessed equally? I was rarely satisfied with the answers to these questions that kept popping up in my head with every graded assignment.
I remember the first time I heard the term “Rubric” in a department meeting. I had no idea what it was, but I did not want that to be found out through my questioning, so I sat quietly until the conclusion of the meeting. My mistaken impression was that we were to break down the components that we were grading for, and assign a rating scale for each. That seemed simple enough. I have come to learn that many educators hold this simplistic view today. It is not truly what I came to understand as to what a Rubric is.
We were, as a department, giving a grade level assignment, so to make sure that the assessment of the assignment was as fair and objective as possible, we were to develop rubrics that all concerned teachers could live by. That would also enable anyone in the department to grade any paper with consistency. We discussed what was to be graded. What each section was to be worth. We described in detail what the top of the scale should include for each section, as well as the middle, and the bottom. We even defined what specifically constitutes a zero paper in the event that we got one.
I found the process in developing these Rubrics eye-opening. For the first time, I had a clear understanding of what it was I was looking for with specific guidelines and values. It was no longer a gut thing. We developed the entire list of Rubrics, arranged them in boxes, and placed the entire elaborate display horizontally on a single piece of paper. This was going to be great. I would include this with each of the assignment packets, and all would be clear to each of my students.
That clarity never came to my kids. I failed to recognize that what took me time to analyze, digest, and appreciate with understanding, only occurred over a period of time while developing the rubrics. That experience could not translate to reading a document, no matter how elaborate, or eye appealing it might be. I realized after the first class which I tried this in, that I needed a better strategy. I needed to spend more time up front, so I could use less time and get better results on the back-end.
My plan was simple: I was going to develop the Rubrics with my students. I reasoned that the process that worked for me, should work for them as well. I knew where I wanted to take them, because I worked out the rubrics already. I needed to guide them through it, taking their ideas, while explaining not only my expectations, but also what my means of assessment would be in determining their grade. They became part of the process and took ownership of the rubrics. I made some small adjustments based on their suggestions.
From that day forward, they had an understanding of Rubrics that lasted. It actually gave some means of control to the students. I was as limited to adhering to the Rubrics as the students were. It was a pact to be honored by all parties. The Students had a clear understanding of expectations on the assignment. They understood what would be graded and how it would be counted.
Some might argue that Rubrics enabled students to do less work to attain a minimum-passing grade. Rubrics might limit a few students in some ways to go beyond the rubrics. I did not find that to be true.
I know as an adult I want to know what is expected of me in given situations. As an adult, if I am to be judged on something, I want to know on what am I being judged and in what way. Kids should be afforded the same answers and it should not matter what subject in school this happens. This is how we learn. Is learning not what education is about?
My Island View 
Great post. But never forget that rubrics are inherently vague since they are generalizations of each level. The exemplars – sample papers – for each level are arguably more important. So, train kids the way we train scorers: have them sort papers into piles and generalize the sort rule – then you get true understanding of not just the criteria but the performance standard. (I have written extensively on this in Educative Assessment and a few times briefly in my blog).
Great topic. How are students using rubrics to gather feedback? Often rubrics are so general and meaningful feedback mechanisms fail to be in place. A rubric could even be utilized as a living feedback document, peer to peer exchange.
Reblogged this on instructionaltechnologist101.
Great post Tom. If you are going to be someone who argues against rubrics, then really you are going to be someone who is against formal assessment. Having the students involved not only makes them a part of the whole process, but it is a great point of critical reflection and higher order thinking. My only concern is when they churn out what they think you want to hear. Did you ever have this? What tricks did you use to break them away from simply regurgitating, rather than recreating?
You’ve really got me thinking.I too come from the era before Rubrics and I can remember being a young English teacher with that first set of essays and being so unsure of what kind of grade to give each one. Years later, I saw rubrics as a way to help students see what’s both good and bad about their writing. But you’re right, do they really focus on the rubric and the comments I’ve put on the paper? With Turnitin I can actually see who looked at their paper’s comments and many students don’t. I do like your idea of making the students part of the process but with the focus turning to standards based grading, how can we invite them in? In my AP classes, I’ve always used the papers on the Smartboard (with no names) to emphasize both greatness and weakness. This tool seems to help them see what to do to improve writing. Now that we’re halfway through the year, I’m seeing the change of tide to outstanding, AP worthy writing for many of my students, but not all. The ones I don’t see changing, they’re not reading the comments. Thanks for a great read!
Tom, whilst reading about your understanding of rubrics, I was hoping you would have come to the same understanding as I did some time ago. I was always uncomfortable preparing rubrics with my colleagues. Hours of work- making decisions as to exactly what our expectations were. I felt just as uncomfortable presenting this ‘pre built ‘ rubric to my students. Glazed eyes politely read this beautifully set out document- meaningless to most!
Creating a rubric together is fun. Kids love to be part of the learning process and as you mention- have some ownership of their learning!!! I find this applies to all their learning. As long as I ( as their guide and mentor) am totally clear of the outcomes of a learning task, and I share clearly the outcomes with my students, learning tends to go in all different directions. I truly love listening to their input and ideas and going from there. The kids become engaged and a feeling of excitement takes over. Of course this doesn’t happen all the time. When I realise we have deviated from the central idea and learning is just not happening, we regroup, I share how I am feeling and together we brainstorm other ways we might learn best. Students enjoy regrouping and being given the opportunity to have a say in their learning. In my early days of teaching I would have been petrified to do what I do now!
Thank you Tom for giving me this opportunity to share what excites me in our classroom.
Even I started teaching before rubrics or scoring guides, for that matter, were ever used. I’ve tried a number of ways to develop them and would agree that working it out with the students is a great idea. I like Grant’s idea, but it’s tough to do with a new assessment since I don’t get to field test my assignments. I’ll add another layer to this thought, though, because I’m thinking about our world gone standards and what many states/districts/schools are now calling GLEs (Grade Level Expectations). I’ve always like using a rubric to explicitly define what could be reasonably expected from students who put for a solid effort and give that a “high B” or a “proficient” or “meets the standard.” The final stretch of potential credit would be given to students who attempted things from a list of “stretch” ideas that we would generate. Think about creating a political cartoon or an infographic to go along with an argumentative paper.
As always, Tom, thank you for great writing and transparent reflection.
[…] My career as a teacher began way before the introduction of Rubrics to education. As an English teacher I was required to assess students’ writing and convert that assessment into a grade for the s… […]
Reblogged this on The Tech-Enabled Educator Network.
Hi Tom, Thanks for this post. I have mixed feelings about the rubric-writing process as well as its use as a grading tool, but I feel better about the use of the single-point rubric (http://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/tedfacpub/5/) paired with the use of the rubric conversion site, roobrix.com than I do about using the “traditional” rubric. It is so important to give students a target at which to shoot, but it’s also important to encourage students to exceed the expectations — and make it plain that we believe they can.
Jodie, thanks for posting this link to Fluckiger’s article. I have argued for this kind of rubric for years (mostly falling on deaf ears) and never knew there was a name for it. The main reason I prefer the single-point rubric is brevity — I’ve worked with middle school students and college students, and in both cases, the more words I have on a rubric, the less evidence I have that they paid any attention at all to it. It doesn’t look like a lot of research has been done comparing the effectiveness of the two — would love to see that, because I feel pretty strongly about it!
Been working with the itslearning platform, sharing standards-based rubrics that allow for descriptive feedback. Getting teachers to use them is a challenge. Most aren’t standards-based. https://vimeo.com/82832506
Tom, really enjoyed this post – had it in my cue to read for a few days now. I just finished “redeveloping” a few rubrics of my own, but your article reminded me of something I forgot – student involvement. I agree – it’s a really important factor – when students are involved in the development of the rubric they have ownership – and they begin to really understand the criteria we’re looking for when we assess.
I am an admittedly sentimental person, but as a parent of 3 school aged children, this really moved me. We’ve been rocked by Common Core upheaval, really more the halo of discord that surrounds it—teachers, parents, and administrators, than distress over the material(s). Add to this that at work I have a client in Ten80 Education, so I am trying to get up to speed on education reform. I think all too often the passion, effort, and journeys that educators make with their students in mind gets lost.
This post illustrates the hill that teachers climb twice each day, once for their employer and again for their students. Really remarkable.
Serge, your comment is succinctly and simply expressed: ‘when students are involved in the development of the rubric they have ownership – and they begin to really understand the criteria we’re looking for when we assess.’
Just wonder what happens when a student’s work/project is outstanding in ways not measured by the rubric–that is, the phenomenal piece cannot be evaluated by the boxes in the rubric. Yes, involving students in the development of how their work will be assessed has merit, but as a class, students will come up with a “group-think” assessment tool. Thus, although student engagement might have been heightened, is the rubric that they designed able to work for the student who submits something that does not conform, yet is far superior in other ways (and it does happen)? If we rely too heavily on rubrics, regardless of who creates them, are we asking students to fit into boxes? Yes, we all like to know criteria in advance, but does a rubric which assigns points or uses descriptors such as “exceeds expectations,” “meets expectations,” “does not meet expectations”–or some other descriptors–really help in all cases! I have seen rubrics like this which assign points per descriptor to come with a final grade when all the numbers are added together. I have also seen rubrics used in this way in which no comments/feedback is provided: just numbers circled or numbers placed in a box. Are we going too far in trying to standardize? Do rubrics let teachers/readers off the hook, so they don’t have to respond honestly in writing/orally to what a student/learner produces? Just playing devil’s advocate here, trying to look at the other side of the situation. Have we overused rubrics?
Judy, I used to worry about this as well. As I described here earlier, though, I came to realize that my rubrics could define what good/proficient work could look like and still leave the highest point values for any if a number of things that were done exceptionally or uniquely by students. Exceeds expectations, for my classes, was reserved for students who took our work into interesting places.
There was a guy (I think his name is Rob Zelazny, but it’s been a while) who used to write horoscopes, for example, that went way beyond the generic stuff you’d find in a newspaper. Humor, storytelling and true word smithing made his work different. Also think of the way Emeril adds personality and actual excitement to cooking shows. Ellen added dancing to talk shows. There are students who push generic assignments into exciting formats.
Rubrics don’t need to limit this level of work.
David, agree totally with your philosophy re rubrics- not ‘ boxing’ those interesting students who think ‘outside the square’ or ‘rectangle’ so to speak! Rubrics may guide us as a form of assessment but should not rule us – think this applies to most areas of assessment in learning. I believe that teaching, learning, dealing with student or parent issues, assessment (in some cases) can NEVER be either black or white. There are different shades of black and white ( grey areas too). We need to be open minded and flexible in different situations- applies to all areas of life! I have a permanent phrase displayed in my classroom:
“Not everybody gets the same but nobody misses out”
Enjoy the year!
[…] My career as a teacher began way before the introduction of Rubrics to education. As an English teacher I was required to assess students’ writing and convert that assessment into a grade for the s… […]
[…] My career as a teacher began way before the introduction of Rubrics to education. As an English teacher I was required to assess students’ writing and convert that assessment into a grade for the s… […]
[…] My career as a teacher began way before the introduction of Rubrics to education. As an English teacher I was required to assess students’ writing and convert that assessment into a grade for the student. […]
Great article. I, too, remember the first day I heard rubric. I have made them with students when time permits, but unfortunately it’s an exercise in and of itself that I could use in a “what defines success.” I agree with Dr. Wiggins regarding showing students examples, but just am overpressured for time to make that an activity.
And I don’t believe that rubrics are the end all. They’re still locking kids into the “What did I get” mentality where they’re lobbying for a point here and there and looking at scores not deep learning. I think rubrics are a great guide on that road, but sometimes I give an assignment with a checklist…it’s got elements of “what to expect” but it doesn’t put the scores in boxes. I don’t always assign a number or letter grade. I give feedback, conference style. This does a couple things–gets them in the habit of meeting with me as a professional, tells them I remember their work, and I give hard-core and direct feedback, the way people do to me in the business and tech worlds, “No, that won’t work.” “Sorry, I didn’t like that article.” I temper it with direction. “To be more successful with that, I need to see you… (insert feedback here.”
That, for me, really opens the dialogues when I feel they’re just looking at a rubric for a box or score. Even if they develop them, I watch them scan to the bottom score…And I laugh at myself, because we’re no different. Ever since the Danielson rubric became employed as high-stakes teacher eval, we all scan to see the #’s. It’s not the way I want to be defined as a professional educator–it hurts my practice. But if it were employed in a periodic self, peer, or non summative/high-stakes way, it’d be great. That’s how I view rubrics for students–a guide, a road map, but when all I see them doing is looking for the checkmarks in the high column, which are subjective even if I try to tighten them up, I mix it up a bit. It’s not the grade I care about… it’s whether I’d hire a student for my businesses or pass them along to my successful friends. And I’ve done that, even for students who got low rubric scores
Great article, Tom. Enjoyed it a lot and thanks for making me think not only about rubrics but our philosophy on assessment and grading as well.
When I first heard the term Rubric being used in grading, I asked why ‘why would you want to use instructions for the conduct of liturgy’ in a math class. The young recently licensed teacher who I asked said, ‘Huh.’