RUBRICS FOR ACADEMIC ASSESSMENT A Workshop in Assessment

RUBRICS FOR ACADEMIC ASSESSMENT A Workshop in Assessment of Student Learning

Why use rubrics for academic assessment? ■ While indirect methods of assessment such as surveys and focus groups can provide a great deal of important information, we also frequently need direct evidence of student learning. ■ In some fields, multiple choice tests and similar instruments are appropriate and practical. In many fields, however, such instruments are not appropriate. ■ Using rubrics to assess student artifacts can allow for the type of holistic and organic measurement of learning that tests and surveys can’t.

Who should create rubrics for academic assessment? ■ While administrative and support staff can help, rubrics should be designed by faculty. ■ Because rubrics will be used to judge knowledge of academic content, it’s important that those developing rubrics subject-matter experts. Faculty ultimately control curriculum and thus should control the tools used to measure how effectively students are absorbing curriculum. ■ Faculty panels can be nominated within departments to develop rubrics, with each member providing feedback at various stages of development.

What are the necessary elements of a rubric? ■ Any rubric must articulate rankings of success – that is, a numerical scale to denote levels of proficiency or categories such as Below Average, and Above Average. ■ A rubric must also provide systematic guidelines for how these rankings should be used, explaining the difference between the various levels of success.

Holistic vs Multileveled ■ Holistic – A holistic rubric has only one level of ratings. That is, the artifact to be rated is evaluated altogether, according to the rubric’s criteria, rather than split into a series of attributes. ■ Holistic rubrics can be a good choice for fields that tend to judge student work more holistically, such as in the arts or humanities. ■ Multilevel – A multilevel rubric has several different sets of ratings, which correspond to particular attributes of the evaluated artifact. For example, a multilevel writing rubric might consider a text’s grammar, mechanics, organization, and style separately, with raters assigning different scores for each. ■ The ratings of different sections can be averaged or added together to arrive at a final score.

What resources are available to aid in rubric development? ■ The Academic Assessment Manager can assist faculty in rubric development. ■ The Writing Across the Curriculum program may provide a workshop on rubrics if requested. ■ There are many online and print resources available detailing the process. The Academic Assessment Manager can make recommendations.

The VALUE Rubrics ■ The Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education (VALUE) rubrics are a set of standardized rubrics created by the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) to help promote consistency in assessment between institutions and contexts ■ VALUE Rubrics are free to use and can be modified to fit the needs of specific programs