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Types of Rubrics

The document discusses two types of rubrics - holistic and analytic rubrics. Holistic rubrics provide an overall assessment of student work based on broad criteria, while analytic rubrics assess student work on multiple detailed criteria. The document provides examples of both holistic and analytic rubrics and discusses their advantages - holistic rubrics are simpler while analytic rubrics provide more detailed feedback.

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2K views

Types of Rubrics

The document discusses two types of rubrics - holistic and analytic rubrics. Holistic rubrics provide an overall assessment of student work based on broad criteria, while analytic rubrics assess student work on multiple detailed criteria. The document provides examples of both holistic and analytic rubrics and discusses their advantages - holistic rubrics are simpler while analytic rubrics provide more detailed feedback.

Uploaded by

maria joy asirit
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Types of Rubrics: Holistic and Analytic

There are two types of rubrics and of methods for


evaluating students’ efforts: holistic and analytic rubrics.
Select each rubric type identified below to see an
example.

Holistic rubrics
 single criteria rubrics (one-dimensional) used to
assess participants' overall achievement on an
activity or item based on predefined achievement
levels;
 Performance descriptions are written in
paragraphs and usually in full sentences.
Example

Analytic rubrics
 Two-dimensional rubrics with levels of achievement
as columns and assessment criteria as rows. Allows
you to assess participants' achievements based on
multiple criteria using a single rubric. You can
assign different weights (value) to different criteria
and include an overall achievement by totaling the
criteria;
 written in a table form.

Analytic Rubrics

Analytic Rubrics feature a grid of “criteria” (columns) and


“levels” of achievement (rows). The instructor assigns points or
weights to particular criteria, and then evaluates student
performance in each area. This is useful in providing feedback
on areas of strength and weakness. Because of this, analytic
rubrics take more time to develop than a holistic rubric.
See example of an analytic rubric.
Analytic rubrics are particularly useful for problem-solving or
application assessments because a rubric can list a different
category for each component of the assessment that needs to be
included, thereby accounting for the complexity of the task. For
example, a rubric for a research paper could include categories
for organization, writing, argument, sources cited, depth of
content knowledge, and more. A rubric for a presentation could
include categories related to style, organization, language,
content, etc. Students benefit from receiving rubrics because
they learn about their relative strengths and weaknesses.
What are the advantages of using an analytic rubric? Evaluate
the following statements.

Holistic Rubrics

Holistic Rubrics describe characteristics of each level of


performance for an assignment or activity overall (e.g.
characteristics of an excellent research paper). See an example
of a holistic rubric.
Holistic rubrics are best to use when there is no single correct
answer or response and the focus is on overall quality,
proficiency, or understanding of a specific content or skills.
What are the advantages of using a holistic rubric? Evaluate the
following statements.

You want to assign a score based on an overall judgment of your


students’ work. Would you choose an analytic rubric or a holistic rubric?

You want to assign points based on achievement level for several


criteria. Would you choose an analytic or a holistic rubric? Instructors
have many tasks to perform during the semester. Among those is
grading, which can be subjective and unstructured. Time spent
constructing grading rubrics while developing assignments benefits all
parties involved with the course: students, teaching assistants and
instructors alike. Sometimes referred to as a grading schema or matrix, a
rubric is a tool for assessing student knowledge and providing
constructive feedback. Rubrics are comprised of a list of skills or
qualities students must demonstrate in completing an assignment, each
with a rating criterion for evaluating the student’s performance. Rubrics
bring clarity and consistency to the grading process and make grading
more efficient.

Rubrics can be established for a variety of assignments such as essays,


papers, lab observations, science posters, presentations, etc. Regardless
of the discipline, every assignment contains elements that address an
important skill or quality. The rubric helps bring focus to those elements
and serves as a guide for consistent grading that can be used from year
to year.

Whether used in a large survey course or a small upper-level seminar,


rubrics benefit both students and instructors. The most obvious benefit is
the production of a structured, consistent guideline for assigning grades.
With clearly established criteria, there is less concern about subjective
evaluation. Once created, a rubric can be used every time to normalize
grading across sections or semesters. When the rubric for an assignment
is shared with teaching assistants, it provides guidance on how to
translate the instructor’s expectations for evaluating student submissions
consistently. The rubric makes it easier for teaching assistants to give
constructive feedback to students. In addition, the instructor can supply
pre-constructed comments for uniformity in grading.

Some instructors supply copies of the grading rubric to their students so


they can use it as a guide for completing their assignments. This can also
reduce grade disputes. When discussing grades with students, a rubric
acts as a reminder of important aspects of the assignment and how each
are evaluated.

Below are basic elements of rubrics, with two types to consider.

I. Anatomy of a rubric
All rubrics have three elements: the objective, its criteria, and the
evaluation scores.
Learning Objective
before creating a rubric, it is important to determine learning objectives
for the assignment. What you expect your students to learn will be the
foundation for the criteria you establish for assessing their performance.
As you are considering the criteria or writing the assignment, you may
revise the learning objectives or adjust the significance of the objective
within the assignment. This iteration can help you hone in on what is the
most important aspect of the assignment, choose the appropriate criteria,
and determine how to weigh the scoring.
Criteria
when writing the criteria (i.e., evaluation descriptors), start by describing
the highest exemplary result for the objective, the lowest that is still
acceptable for credit, and what would be considered unacceptable. You
can express variations between the highest and the lowest if desired. Be
concise by using explicit verbs that relate directly to the quality or skill
that demonstrates student competency. There are lists of verbs
associated with cognitive categories found in Bloom’s taxonomy
(Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Evaluation, Analysis, and
Synthesis). These lists express the qualities and skills required to achieve
knowledge, comprehension or critical thinking (Google “verbs for
Bloom’s Taxonomy”).
Evaluation Score
the evaluation score for the criterion can use any schema as long as it is
clear how it equates to a total grade. Keep in mind that the scores for
objectives can be weighted differently so that you can emphasize the
skills and qualities that have the most significance to the learning
objectives.
II. Types of rubrics
There are two main types of rubrics: holistic (simplistic) and analytical
(detailed).

Selecting your rubric type depends on how multi-faceted the tasks are
and whether or not the skill requires a high degree of proficiency on the
part of the student.
Holistic rubric
a holistic rubric contains broad objectives and lists evaluation scores,
each with an overall criterion summary that encompasses multiple skills
or qualities of the objective. This approach is more simplistic and relies
on generalizations when writing the criteria.
The criterion descriptions can list the skills or qualities as separate
bullets to make it easier for a grader to see what makes up an evaluation
score. Below is an example of a holistic rubric for a simple writing
assignment.

Analytical rubric
an analytical rubric provides a list of detailed learning objectives, each
with its own rating scheme that corresponds to a specific skill or quality
to be evaluated using the criterion. Analytical rubrics provide scoring for
individual aspects of a learning objective, but they usually require more
time to create. When using analytical rubrics, it may be necessary to
consider weighing the score using a different scoring scale or score
multipliers for the learning objectives. Below is an example of an
analytical rubric for a chemistry lab that uses multipliers.

It is beneficial to view rubrics for similar courses to get an idea how


others evaluate their course work. A keyword search for “grading
rubrics” in a web search engine like Google will return many useful
examples. Both Blackboard and Turnitin have tools for creating grading
rubrics for a variety of course assignments.

Louise Pasternak

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