How to Create and Use Rubrics for Formative Assessment and Grading

by Susan M. Brookhart

What is a rubric? A rubric is a coherent set of criteria for student work that describes levels of performance quality. Sounds simple enough, right? Unfortunately, rubrics are commonly misunderstood and misused. The good news is that when rubrics are created and used correctly, they are strong tools that support and enhance classroom instruction and student learning. In this comprehensive guide, author Susan M. Brookhart identifies two essential components of effective (1) criteria that relate to the learning (not the "tasks") that students are being asked to demonstrate and (2) clear descriptions of performance across a continuum of quality. She outlines the difference between various kinds of rubrics (for example, general versus task-specific , and analytic versus holistic ), explains when using each type of rubric is appropriate, and highlights examples from all grade levels and assorted content areas. In addition, Brookhart addresses
* Common misconceptions about rubrics;

* Important differences between rubrics and other assessment tools such as checklists and rating scales, and when such alternatives can be useful; and

* How to use rubrics for formative assessment and grading, including standards-based grading and report card grades.
Intended for educators who are already familiar with rubrics as well as those who are not, this book is a complete resource for writing effective rubrics and for choosing wisely from among the many rubrics that are available on the Internet and from other sources. And it makes the case that rubrics, when used appropriately, can improve outcomes by helping teachers teach and helping students learn.

Genres: Education, Teaching, Nonfiction, Textbooks, Academic

159 pages, Paperback

First published January 11, 2013

Reviews

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provided a lot of information about making rubrics/scoring guides. I learned that my scoring guides are less than satisfactory....good scoring guides do not have quantitative measures, lists of items that were to be included in a project... Effective scoring guides describe what quality work looks like, when a student demonstrates learning... I plan to use this book as a reference tool when I create my future scoring guides.

[Neil R. Coulter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative and clear. For anyone with an education degree, there's not likely to be anything new here. But for me, working in a place where I've inherited some "rubrics" that are really just checklists, it was helpful to think more deeply about how I evaluate student work. This book isn't specifically intended for tertiary level, but there's nothing about it that's particularly inappropriate, no matter what the level.

[Alyson Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book: How to Create and Use Rubrics for Formative Assessment Grading
Author: Susan B. Brookhart
Rating: 2 Out of 5 Stars

Confession time…I actually read this one awhile ago for PD and just never got around to writing the review until now. I think a lot of it has to do with the fac that I had to stop and take some time process what I have read. Plus, I actually needed some time to think about if I actually gained anything by reading this book.

Okay, I am an honest reviewer and I’m just going to be honest about this one. I did not gain anything new by reading this book. There, I said it. If you are someone with an education degree and have been working in a classroom, you are not going to gain anything knew. I do feel like this would be a good read for someone who is very early in their education major-maybe first year or so. I really could see this one benefiting them, because I do feel that this is a pretty solid introduction to rubrics and would be a great starting place for someone who is new to them.

With all of that being said, if you are someone who is using rubrics in your classroom already, you probably are not going to gain a lot of insight into the actual making and use of rubrics. If you are someone, though, who is looking to improve on how and what you use rubrics for, then this may be a book to help you. I’m going to go on from there. I found that the last couple of chapters of the book were actually very useful. These chapters were written for teachers who are already using rubrics in the classroom, but are looking to improve on how they use them. We are given a series of tips and tricks as to actually improve, not only how we create rubrics, but how we use them to provide student feedback and gain the results that we are looking for. I don’t know about anyone else, but I am always looking for ways to improve both student work and student growth.

Since reading this book, I have for sure been putting more thought into how I use and make my rubrics. I am looking more at the bigger picture and what I want my students to gain. Yes, small details are still important, but I am finding myself moving toward looking at the end goal. I am finding myself planning backwards. I am looking at what I want to use to reflect the final grade and what I actually want my students to gain. I think this is what the book was trying to aim at. If it was, then I suppose it did do its job.

I did find a lot of the information that we were given to be very repetitive though. I feel like what the book said could have been presented in a much shorter way. I watch a lot of teaching Youtube videos and I have watched videos on this very topic. These videos are much shorter and much more to the point than the book was. I know the book is on the shorter side, but it felt like we were repeating information for the sake of making the book longer. I spend a lot of time reviewing fiction titles for publishers and I am able to quickly tell when a book is longer than it needs to be. Here, it was clear after the first chapter or so. It’s okay to have a shorter book. You don’t have to keep going over the same information time and time again. Again, this will be useful to someone who is just getting used to the idea of creating and using rubrics. However, once again, someone who is using rubrics is not going to gain anything from this repetitive nature.

While, I do think that there are some good points in this one, I think that an experienced educator is not going to gain a lot of new insight by reading this book. Someone is new to education will more than likely gain a lot of insight.

[Gerhard Burau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brookhart advocates for the implementation of rubrics as a primary strategy for student-centered and learning-focused assessment, attributing its efficacy to the provision of meaningful feedback. Brookhart, however, acknowledges a drawback associated with rubrics when it comes to reporting final grades. Mixing rubrics with other assessment strategies like percentages, commonly employed in test scores, can dilute their significance. Brookhart emphasizes the potential loss of meaning when converting rubrics into percentages, prompting her to guide readers in finding a balance between diverse grading methods that upholds the learning-oriented approach while adhering to reporting requirements.

This book proves instrumental in comprehending student assessment, self-assessment, and the advantages of incorporating rubrics for formative assessment. Yet, a pertinent question arises regarding the applicability of this approach within institutions in higher education, which integrate Canvas and frequently employ percentages. Is there an alternative perspective advocating for the use of percentages to enhance student learning and demonstrate progress? The latter question attempts to find other assessment methods, that exceeds Brookhart's suggestion of using rubrics as a potent tool for evaluating student learning.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been recommending this book to fellow teachers, and I took so many notes on the library ebook that I wound up ordering my own copy. Both of these statements are the highest compliments one could give a pedagogy book!

I have historically been a skeptic of rubrics, and this book helped me understand why — i.e., most of them are badly done. But rubrics have enormous potential in helping students learn, and Susan Brookhart is an excellent mentor for teachers who want to figure out how to use them effectively. Seriously, I kept pausing between chapters to play around with the rubrics I want to use this coming school year; that’s how exciting I found this work.

Highly recommended!

[Beltran De Prada · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es un libro dirigido a personas quienes estén en la necesidad de hacer rúbricas en su día a día. Está escrito en un lenguaje sencillo y propone formas de trabajo que favorecen la creación de rúbricas de buena calidad. Creo que leerlo es un gran aporte sobretodo para la formación inicial.

[Sergio Sepulveda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting and insightful resource about rubrics

The author takes you through a journey on how to design and identify meaningful rubrics and provides examples of well-designed rubrics.

[Suzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great ideas- really good description of checklists vs. rubrics, great 6 trait rubrics in appendix

[Andrea Lakly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought-provoking definitions of the different kinds of rubrics we use in the classroom.

[Mills College Library]

371.26 B8726 2013

[Kim Bondy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a slow read for me. Much of it seemed very obvious. It could be a benefit to a teacher wanting to know how to use rubrics with writing.

[Chris Hays · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm. If you are in the US with standardized everything, this would be a good read. There is a lot of questions providing thoughtful ideas, but the reading was less than satisfying for me.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

While a lot of the information was repetitive I did get some good ideas as far as student feedback goes.

[Kirsten Foti · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't get all that I wanted from this, but I do know more now than I did before. I need to pick a place for me to start and get comfortable with before trying too much.