For Faculty

A rubric is a structured framework used to evaluate and provide feedback on student performance. It outlines specific criteria and performance levels, offering a clear and consistent method for assessing the extent to which students meet learning objectives. Rubrics enhance transparency, support equitable evaluation, and promote alignment between assignments and intended outcomes, serving as both a grading tool and a guide for student learning and improvement.

Benefits of Using Rubrics in Assessment
Rubrics are powerful tools for fostering clear communication, equitable grading, and meaningful feedback. They help instructors articulate expectations, streamline the evaluation process, and ensure consistency across assessments. For students, rubrics demystify grading criteria, providing a roadmap to success and encouraging self-assessment. By aligning assignments with learning outcomes, rubrics also support evidence-based insights into student learning, empowering educators to refine teaching practices and enhance academic achievement.

We've collected a set of resources for the creation of meaningful rubrics below, randing from books and articles to templates you can easily adapt for your courses.

Articles & Books

• Barney, S., Khurum, M., Petersen, K., Unterkalmsteiner, M., & Jabangwe, R. (2012). Improving students with rubric-based self-assessment and oral feedback. IEEE Transactions on Education, 55(3), 319.
• Brookhart, S. (2013). How to create and use rubrics for formative assessment and Grading. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/emerson/detail.action?docID=1123215
• Crews, K., Graham, R. D., Harris, W., & Yarbrough, W. (2020). Developing Culturally Relevant Rubrics to Assess General Education Learning Outcomes. Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 20(12), 95-105.
• Leisen, M. (2022). Make Your Rubric More than a Wall of Words. Educational Leadership, 79(7), 62–67.
• McConnell, K. D., Horan, E. M., Zimmerman, B., & Rhodes, T. L. (2019). We have a rubric for that : the VALUE approach to assessment. Association of American Colleges and Universities.
• Stevens, D. D. (2015). Rubrics from stickies to descriptions of dimensions. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVHlbRsjA1
• Stevens, D. D., & Levi, A. J. (2013). Introduction to rubrics: An assessment tool to save grading time, convey effective feedback, and promote student learning (2nd ed.). Stylus Publishing. 

Other Resources

• Designing & Implementing Meaningful Rubrics presentation by OAA & ITG 
• Rubric for Rubrics adapted by OAA 
• Canvas "How To" Guide for Adding/Editing/Creating Rubrics
• Best Practices for Designing Effective Rubrics (ASU – Teach Online)
• A step-by-step guide to designing rubrics that will save hours of marking time

Templates:

Below you will find links to three different rubric templates. Once you click on one of the links, it will prompt you to make a copy. This copy can then be found in your own Google Drive and is completely editable.

1. Template: Analytic Rubric
2. Template: Holistic Rubric
3. Template: Single-Point Rubric

Rubric Scale Wording Options: The terms below can be used to describe different scale levels. Stevens and Levi (2013) advocate for the use of clear and tactful scale labels that are positive and active. Note: While the following examples are for a four-level rubric scale, they can be modified to three and five-level scales.

Evaluating your Rubric

Once you've created a rubric, use this Rubric for Rubrics to double-check that it includes the clear, meaningful criteria needed to be effective for you and your students.

• ACRL Value Rubrics
  VALUE (Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education) is a campus-based assessment approach developed and led by AAC&U. VALUE rubrics provide needed tools to assess students’ own authentic work, produced across students’ diverse learning pathways, fields of study and institutions, to determine whether and how well students are meeting graduation level achievement in learning outcomes that both employers and faculty consider essential. Teams of faculty and other educational professionals from institutions across the country—two- and four-year, private and public, research and liberal arts, large and small—developed rubrics for sixteen Essential Learning Outcomes that all students need for success in work, citizenship, and life. The VALUE rubrics are being used to help institutions demonstrate, share, and assess student accomplishment of progressively more advanced and integrative learning.

• ACRL Value Rubrics FAQ
  ACRL has compiled an FAQ of frequently asked questions regarding the VALUE rubrics.

• Crews, Kimberly, Rebecca D. Graham, Whitney Harris, and Wynn Yarbrough. "Developing Culturally Relevant Rubrics to Assess General Education Learning Outcomes."
  Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice 20, no. 12 (2020): 95-105.
  Abstract: Life skills, including oral and written communication, are fostered by institutions of higher education and valued by employers. This university used the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC& U) VALUE rubrics to develop assessment tools that evaluate student work in the General Education (GE) program. Using rubric calibration "best practices, "faculty teams updated program rubrics in alignment with GE outcomes that serve the University's multicultural student population. The public speaking rubric exemplifies this inclusive process, which stands as a model for faculty engagement while developing assessment tools that capture institutional uniqueness, facilitate instructional improvement, and yield reporting data for stakeholders.
   
• Syracuse University has a rubric library that is organized by a range of topics and disciplines.