Effective Rubric Characteristic
Project Information | Logistics | Effective Rubric Characteristics | Co-construction Process | Using Co-constructed Rubrics | Rubrics Examples | Research Methods | Recommendations for Practice | References & Publications | Model of Collaborative Rubric Construction | Workshop
Informed by a literature review and advice from assessment experts, a set of 37 characteristics of effective rubrics were identified and categorised into six groups:
  1. Purpose of rubrics
  2. Marking criteria
  3. Performance descriptors
  4. Feedback narrative
  5. Rubric development
  6. Rubric application
Category Effective rubric characteristic
Purpose of rubrics Rubrics are useful as instructional tools for providing assessment guidelines to students.
Rubrics help in providing quality feedback to students.
Rubrics are a time-efficient way for teachers to provide feedback to students.
An effective rubric reduces marker bias.
Rubrics provide students with indicators for success and descriptions of these indicators.
Rubrics provide teachers with indicators for success and descriptions of these indicators.
Rubrics help focus student effort.
Rubrics are useful as assessment tools (e.g., for grading).
Rubrics are useful as instructional tools (e.g., for teaching and learning).
Rubrics help teachers communicate intended learning outcomes.
Rubrics help students to plan their approach to an assignment.
Rubrics promote consistent marking of student assessments.
Students’ use of rubrics improves the standard of their work.
The use of rubrics reduces marking subjectivity.
The purpose of a rubric is better understood if it is co-constructed by teachers and students.

Marking criteria

Rubric marking criteria should align with the learning outcomes of an assessment.

Performance descriptors

Performance descriptors should be informative of what is good and bad work.
Performance descriptors should be worded concisely.
Performance descriptors should reflect clear gradations of quality.

Feedback narrative

Students benefit from feedback comments at the end of a rubric.

 

Rubric development

The effectiveness of a rubric should be tested against benchmarked performance standards.
Rubrics should be created not based on personal demands but rather on discipline standards.
Rubric creators should be sensitive to the use of academic discourse (e.g. terminology or jargon).
Rubric creators should avoid vague and ambiguous language.
Peer-marking should occur among teachers to assess the effectiveness of a rubric.
The co-construction of a rubric provides learning opportunities for students.
Co-creating a rubric allows teachers and students to have a shared understanding of the expectations of an assessment.
The wording of a rubric is more clearly understood by students when they are a part of constructing the rubric.

 

Rubric application

A rubric should be provided to students prior to them starting an assessment.
An effective rubric provides students with the opportunity to self-evaluate their own work before submission.
The purpose of a rubric should be explained to students.
Teachers should receive instruction in how to use the rubric prior to marking.
Students should receive instruction in how to use the rubric prior to submission.
Examples of exemplar work should be provided to students to illustrate work of high quality.
Rubrics do not replace good instruction.
Students should be provided with opportunities to practice their use of the rubric (e.g., provision of work of different standards to mark).
Students should be encouraged to read the rubric after a grade is provided.

 

 

The method used to identify these effective rubric characteristics (ERCs) were published in the project’s first publication: Towards engaging students in curriculum transformation: What are the effective characteristics of rubrics? This paper was presented at the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) Conference in June 2017 and published in the conference proceedings in December 2017.

The full text of this paper is available here: HERDSA 2017 Conference Proceedings: Williams et al.

Williams, A., Northcote, M., Morton, J. K., & Seddon, J. (2017). Towards engaging students in curriculum transformation: What are the effective characteristics of rubrics? In R. G. Walker & S. B. Bedford (Eds.), Research and Development in Higher Education: Curriculum Transformation. Refereed papers from the 40th HERDSA Annual International Conference (Vol. 40, pp. 423-433). Hammondville, NSW, Australia: Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia, Inc.


Download: Effective Rubric Characteristics Inventory (ERCI)

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