How to Create Rubrics

If the benefits of using rubrics appeal to you, follow these steps to create them from
scratch for use in your classroom.

 Identify the purpose of the evaluation.

Knowing what you want to accomplish with the evaluation is a must-do because it
guides your selection of the type of rubric and aids in determining how many levels of
performance are needed. If the evaluation is being conducted for instructional purposes
to help students develop their skills, create an analytical rubric since it provides more
specific information about the performance/product than a holistic rubric. However,
when you are working with large-scale evaluation and need to grade
performances/products quickly, you will want to use a holistic rubric.

If you want to determine whether a student can perform a skill, a Yes or No checklist
with two levels of performance is sufficient. However, if you are concerned about the
quality of a student's performance, you'll need to use three or more levels of
performance.

 Determine what to evaluate.

Review the listings of performance indicators in the National Curriculum Planning Guide
2000 or in your state's curriculum guide(s). These statements in the National Curriculum
Planning Guide 2000 were developed through the cooperation of businesspeople and
educators. They define the core concepts and skills that should be taught in business
and marketing classes. Select those statements whose performance or final product
can be observed by others.

 Decide how much to evaluate.

Examine the performance indicator and its objectives to determine what aspects you
want to evaluate with the rubric. For some performance indicators, you will be able to
evaluate all of the objectives with the rubric. For others, you will need to evaluate a
portion of the objectives. Assess those whose product/performance will be observable
and suitable for performance assessment versus paper-and-pencil tests. Make a list of
the objectives that you will use.

 Refine factors to evaluate.

This is an excellent time to review student work related to the performance indicator
chosen for  evaluation. Review work from the last few years in light of what you want to
accomplish. This can give you a new perspective on what students are producing and
might reveal instructional gaps that may need to be addressed. It will also help you to
see what factors you have previously evaluated.

Make a list of the factors related to the objectives you have targeted that can be
evaluated through performance assessment. To assess a student's oral presentation,
for example, some of the factors to list might include: relevant information, confidence,
grammar and vocabulary, volume and pace, student's appearance, use of visual aids,
pronunciation, ability to answer questions, originality, nonverbal communication, length
of presentation, structure of presentation, clarity of purpose, etc.

Review the listing of factors that you have generated. Are there additional factors that
should be included? Have factors been included that, on second thought, are not
significant to the overall performance of the performance indicator or its objectives?
Refine your listing.

 Group related factors.

Examine the listing of factors to determine what they have in common. For assessment
of an oral presentation, are the factors aspects of the way the presentation is
organized? The presentation's content? The speaker's delivery style? The mechanics
used?

Group the related factors together, and assign them a descriptive label. These labels
are the criteria on which students will be assessed. To use the rubric for more than one
task/scenario, write general criteria rather than making them scenario specific.

 Define the criteria.

For the criteria you identify, write a brief definition to communicate their intent/focus in
the rubric. Avoid using positive or negative comments in the definitions. Simply define
the criteria as they relate to the final performance/product.

 Describe an outstanding performance.

For each of the grouped, related factors that you have identified for each criterion,
determine what you would look for in a performance/product that would designate
quality work. What would an outstanding performance look like? The Mechanics
criterion for oral presentations might include such descriptions as used silent pauses
for emphasis, used standard grammar throughout presentation, etc.

As you do this, keep in mind that the final product or performance is what you will be
evaluating. You will not be able to assess the steps students take to develop the
product or performance. Instead, you must look for evidence that the steps have been
taken. For example, if the activity is to conduct an oral presentation, you will not be able
to evaluate whether the student researched one source or 20 sources. Rather, you will
need to look for evidence during the presentation that the background research has
been done. You might, for example, evaluate whether the students are familiar with their
topics and whether they are able to answer questions about their topics.

The descriptions of the quality of student work are critical components of the rubric and
will be known as the descriptors. They provide the basis for discriminating between the
different levels of performance in student work. As you write them, use terminology that
can be easily understood by students. Also, write these descriptions in general terms
rather than making them specific to one situation. By doing this, the same rating scale,
or rubric, can be used to evaluate a variety of scenarios, situations, or problems
developed for a performance indicator. For oral presentations, a general factor deals
with the quality of the content rather than specifying what content to evaluate.

After the descriptions are written, review them carefully to determine whether some of
them

 can be combined to make more substantive descriptors,

 are saying basically the same thing,
 cannot be observed, and/or
 are not significant to the overall final product/performance.

If so, pare down the listing, writing the descriptors so that they are discernibly different
from each other, observable, and substantive.

 Obtain feedback.

Show the listing of criteria and their descriptors to a variety of audiences. Start with your
colleagues. Ask them to review the information to make sure that your groupings of
factors are logical and that you have comprehensively addressed the criteria and
descriptors. Ask that they check the listing of descriptors to be certain that an evaluator
could observe the descriptors. If not, you will need to modify or delete descriptors.

Ask your advisory committee for their input. Do they agree with the criteria? Can they
identify additional descriptors to include in the listing? Would they recommend deleting
or combining any descriptors? On the basis of 100 points, how important do they
consider each criterion to the overall performance?

Now, ask students to read the criteria and descriptors to check their clarity. If students
identify confusing or unclear statements, discuss them with students, asking for their
input to improve the statements.

 Develop a continuum of performance levels.

Student performance can be rated on a continuum from outstanding to inadequate.

Your job is to decide how many levels of performance you will use and what labels you
will assign them. Fewer levels make for easier scoring, while more levels provide more
complete feedback for the student. However, use of too many levels loses the rubric in
detail. Use of an even number of performance levels forces the evaluator to decide
whether a performance falls on the negative or positive side of the rating scale.

Examples of performance levels are:

Exemplary     →   Accomplished  →   Developing  →   Beginning

Professional  →    Experienced    →  Developing  →     Novice

Frequently      →    Sometimes      →       Rarely      →     Never

When developing the continuum of performance levels, be consistent in naming the

different levels. If you are evaluating frequency, for example, all levels should focus on
frequency: often, occasionally, rarely, never. On the other hand, if you are evaluating a
student's expertise, you should develop levels that deal with expertise: professional,
experienced, developing, novice.

 Define poor performance.

For each descriptor identified for the outstanding performance, describe its poor
performance. In oral presentations, an exemplary performance under Mechanics is:
Speaker pronounced words correctly and clearly, making it easy for the audience to
understand what was being said. The opposite of that performance might include:
Speaker mumbled and mispronounced words throughout the presentation, making it
almost impossible for the audience to understand what was being said.

 Complete the continuum.

For each pair of exemplary and poor performances, fill in the intervening levels of
performance. Levels of performance are used to designate the quality, how well the
student performed each of the descriptors. A student's performance can vary across all
levels of the continuum, e.g., some aspects of the performance may be at the top level
while others are at the poorest. Still other aspects may fall somewhere in between.

 Create task/scenario.

Now is the time to design the activity through which students will demonstrate their
mastery of the performance indicator. This is a fun step because it allows you to use
your creativity, developing tasks/scenarios that are challenging and realistic. As you
construct the scenario, be sure that it requires students to use the skills you want them
to master that are identified in the descriptors.

When writing tasks/scenarios, you will need to develop directions, a situation/problem,

and a listing of equipment/supplies/materials needed to perform the tasks. Directions
should be clearly and succinctly stated so that students understand specifically what
they are to do.

For the situation/problem, create a realistic project that students are likely to encounter
in the work world. Creating situations/problems from the real world gives students a
view of what will be expected of them beyond school. Many students find school more
relevant in this context.
The situation/problem should be new, not one that has been covered in class or in
homework assignments. In this way, students are applying what they have learned as a
result of classroom instruction. Ideas for situations/problems can be found in any
number of places. Think about how students will be required to use the skill on the job
or in their careers. Many activities you already use in your classroom can be modified
and turned into performance assessment activities with a little thought. Professional
publications, other teachers, and members of your advisory committee are also good
sources of ideas for situations/problems.

The situation/problem should identify the setting in which and the audience for which the
problem/situation is to be solved or performed. Is the student to perform the activity at
work? In class? As a competitive event for a student organization? Many teachers use
audiences from the world of work—employers, coworkers, and community agencies.

As you identify the resources that students will need, think about what materials,
equipment, and supplies students would have access to if they were assigned the
problem/situation at work. Develop a complete listing of all the resources students
should obtain before beginning the project.

The tasks/scenarios should be fair and free of bias. In other words, all students must
have an equal opportunity to perform the projects successfully. They should not be
hindered in their performance due to gender, culture, socio-economic status, or access
to resources. All students must have access to the required tools.

Compare your completed tasks with the objectives with which you began.
Does the task you've designed require students to use the skills you want them
to learn?

 Revise, revise, and revise.

Before implementing the tasks, ask several teachers and students to read the activities
for clarity. When you write something, you know what you want to say, so it's easy to
think you've conveyed your thoughts clearly. However, someone who is unfamiliar with
the topic may not understand what you mean. Students must know exactly what is
expected of them.

Periodically, analyze the various elements of your rubric. You'll find that improvements
can always be made.