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COLEGIO DE STA. ANA DE VICTORIAS, INC.

Osmeña Avenue, Victorias City, Negros Occidental, 6119

ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING 2

Module 6: DEVELOPING SCORING RUBRICS

“Teach to the individual, not to the curriculum”

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the module the student should be able to:

● explain what a scoring rubric is.

● cite the parts of a scoring rubric;

● distinguish between holistic and analytic rubrics and between general and task-specific
rubric;
● cite the importance of a scoring rubric;

● construct a holistic and an analytic rubric based on a given learning

outcome/competency and
● distinguish among scoring rubric; checklist and rating scale

INTRODUCTION
After learning that performance-based/authentic assessment consists of product-based
and process-based assessment, we will now learn how to score a product produced or a
process performed by the learners by means of scoring rubric.
The alternate response, multiple choice and completion type of traditional assessment
do not require scoring rubric because they have definite correct answers and all you have to do
is check if the given answer is correct and mark wrong if the answer is wrong.
The essay type of test which form of product-based assessment calls for a scoring rubric
and also with other product-based assessment and process-based authentic/performance-
based because the answers are far beyond yes or no, true or false. They have no single correct
answers

LEARNING INPUTS

Meaning of Scoring Rubrics

● Brookhart ( 2013) A scoring rubric is “a coherent set of criteria for students’ work that
includes descriptions of levels of performance quality on the criteria”
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● MacMillan (2007) defines scoring rubric as a “scoring guide that uses criteria to
differentiate between levels of student proficiency.”
● Popham (2011) describes scoring as the “scoring procedures for judging students’
responses to performance tests.”
● In short, a scoring rubric is a scoring guide used to assess performance (process of
product) against a set of criteria. (see examples in Module 5.2)
● Scoring rubrics are typically employed when a judgment of quality is required and may
be used to evaluate a broad range of subjects and activities.
● Scoring rubrics can be most useful in grading essays or in evaluating projects such as
scrapbooks.
● Judgments concerning the quality of a given writing sample may vary depending upon
the criteria established by the individual evaluator. One evaluator may heavily weigh the
evaluation process upon the linguistic structure, while another evaluator may be more
interested in the persuasiveness of the argument.

Parts of a Scoring Rubric

A. Coherent sets of criteria
B. Descriptions of levels of performance for these criteria

A Recitation Rubric
Criteria Weight 1 2 3
Number of appropriate X1 1-4 5-9 10-12
hand gestures

Appropriate facial X1 Lots of Few No apparent

expression inappropriate inappropriate inappropriate
facial expression facial expression facial expression

Voice inflection X2 Monotone voice Can vary voice Can easily vary
inflection with voice inflection
difficulty

Incorporate proper X3 Recitation Recitation has Recitation fully

ambiance through contains very little some feelings captures
feelings in the voice feelings ambiance through
feelings in the
voice

Why Include Levels of Performance?

1. Clearer expectations
It is very useful for the students and the teacher if the criteria are identified and
communicated prior to completion of the tasks. Students know what is expected of them
and teachers know what to look for in student performance. Similarly, students better
understand what good (or bad) performance on a task looks like if levels of performance
are identified, particularly if descriptors for each level are included

2. More consistent and objective assessment

In addition to better communicating teacher expectations, levels of performance permit
the teacher to more consistently and objectively distinguish between good and bad
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performance, or between superior, mediocre and poor performance, when evaluating

student work.

3. Better feedback
Identifying specific levels of student performance allows the teacher to provide more
detailed feedback to students. The teachers and the students can more clearly
recognize areas that need improvement.

TYPES OF RUBRIC
Type of Rubric Description
General/Generic
● It contains criteria that are general and can be applied across tasks.
Rubric
This is most convenient for teachers who do not have the time and
skills in developing different types of rubric as they can reuse the
same rubrics for several tasks or assignments.

● However, the teacher may not be able to assess accurately the

student’s performance for a particular task.

● For example, the same rubric that can be used to evaluate both oral
presentation and research output.

Task-Specific Rubric
● It contains criteria that are unique to a specific performance task to be
assessed.

● This kind of rubric is best for instruction and formative assessment

since it will provide the students feedback on what aspects of their
performance or work need to be improved.

● However, developing analytic rubrics is time-consuming for teachers.

● For example, a rubric can only be used for oral presentation and
another rubric is applicable for research output.

Analytic Rubric
● It requires the teacher to list and identify the major knowledge and
skills which are critical in the development of process or product tasks.
It identifies specific and detailed criteria prior to assessment.

● Teachers can assess easily the specific concept, understanding skills

or product with a separate component. Each criterion for this kind of
rubric receives a separate score, thus providing better diagnostic
information and feedback for the students as a form of formative
assessment.

● One advantage is it identifies the student’s strengths and areas for

improvement based on the criteria identified. Scoring with an analytical
rubric however, would entail more time than with a holistic rubric.
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Holistic Rubric
● A student’s performance or output is evaluated by applying all criteria
simultaneously, thus providing a single score based on an overall
judgment about the quality of student’s work. It does not provide a
score on each individual criterion.

● It requires the teacher to make a judgment about the overall quality of

each student response. Each category of the scale contains several
criteria which shall be given a single score that gives an overall rating.

● This provides a summary of reasonable summary of rating in which

traits are efficiently combined, scored quickly and with only one score,
thus, limiting the precision of assessment of the results and providing
little specific information about the performance of the students and
what needs for further improvement.

EXAMPLES OF RUBRICS
1. General/Generic Rubrics
The following is an example of a General/Generic Rubric that can be used to assess how a
student, peer, classmate, or groupmate make a review or critique of one’s work or performance.
This is a generic rubric as this can be applied to any type of performance tasks or outputs (e.g.
research report, dance performance, oral presentation, etc.)
Sample Generic Rubric for Reviewer/Critic of Performance Tasks/Output

Criterion Not Evident Insufficient Sufficient Excellent

1 2 3 4

Provided No/few Comments Comment are Comments

meaningful/relevant comments relevant include
feedback on peer’s suggestions and
work, output, are superficial, additional
performance or suggestions And resources
to improve the appropriate
Comments praise
work, not relevant, comments
specific strengths
performance or include
of the
output, positive
work/performance
comments neutral or non- feedback and
as well as
might be encouraging suggestions
constructively
interpreted as
address
insulting, with
weaknesses with
little
alternatives that
understanding
might be
of the assigned
considered
task

2. Task-Specific Rubric
● A task-specific rubric is unique to a specific task.

● It can be used as a reliable assessment of performance on a specific task such

as “gives an answer” or “specifies a conclusion”.
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● However, a task-specific rubric is time consuming and difficult to create for all the
different tasks but it makes scoring easier.
● To differentiate the above with a task-specific rubric, the following example is
given below. In this rubric, the different criteria that are specific to the
performance task to be assessed are indicated.

Sample Task-/specific Rubric for Reviewer/Critic

of Performance Tasks/Output
Criteria Not Evident Insufficient Sufficient Excellent

1 2 3 4

Provided 7 / 12 =
meaningful/relevant
feedback on:

- Significance of No/few Comments are Comments are Comments

the study comments superficial and relevant include
not relevant suggestions and
Or additional
Suggestions; And appropriate resources
with little Regarding the
understanding construct/problem

- Theoretical No/few Comments Comments are Comments

basis/conceptua relevant and include
l framework of Or suggestions; Are superficial appropriate suggestions and
the study with little and do not additional
understanding provide resources
appropriate
suggestions on Regarding the
how research construct/problem
should be
conducted

- Comments in a No/ few Comments Comments Comments

positive, comments include praise specific
encouraging Are neutral or positive strengths
and constructive non- feedback
manner encouraging Of the
Suggestions comments are work/performance
given to improve not relevant to as well as
the paper; the study And constructively
comments might suggestions address
be interpreted as weaknesses with
insulting alternatives that
might be
considered

- Grade

3. Analytic Rubric
Sample Analytic Rubric for Oral Presentation
Standards 4 3 2 1
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Exemplary Satisfactory Emerging Unacceptable

Organization Has a clear opening Has opening Has opening Has no opening
statement that catches statement that is statement relevant statement or has an
audience’s interest, relevant to topic and to topic but does not irrelevant statement,
maintains focus gives outline of give outline of gives listener no focus
throughout, speech, is mostly speech, is or outline of the
summarizes main organized provides somewhat presentation
points adequate “road map” disorganized
for the listener.

Content Demonstrates Covers topic, uses Lacks content and Does not give
substance and depth, appropriate sources depth in the adequate coverage of
is comprehensive, is objective discussion of the topic, lacks sources
shows mastery of topic, lacks
material resources

Delivery Has natural delivery, Has appropriate Delivery is fast, Is often hard to
projects enthusiasm, pace, has no some items not understand, has voice
interest and distracting covered well, not that is too soft or too
confidence, report can mannerisms, is easily understandable loud, has a pace that
be understood well understood is too quick or too
slow, demonstrates
one or more distracting
mannerisms

Use of media Uses slides effortlessly Looks at slides to Relies heavily on Just reads slides,
to enhance keep on track, uses slides and notes, slides too much text
presentation, has an an appropriate makes little eye
effective presentation number of slides contact, uses slides
without media with many texts

Response to Demonstrates full Shows ease in Answers questions Cannot answer most
questions knowledge of topic, answering questions but not questions.
explains and but does not convincingly/vague Demonstrates little
elaborates on all elaborate or unclear grasp of information,
questions has undeveloped or
unclear answers to
questions

Grade

4. Holistic Rubric

Sample Holistic Rubric for Oral Presentation

Rating/Grade Characteristics

A is very organized. Has a clear opening statement that catches audience’s

interest. Content of report is comprehensive and demonstrates substance
(Exemplary) and depth. Delivery is very clear and understandable, uses slides/
100-90% multimedia equipment effortlessly to enhance presentation.

B is mostly organized. Has opening statement relevant to topic. Covers

important topics. Has appropriate pace and without distracting
(Satisfactory) mannerisms. Looks at slides to jeep on track

85-89%

C Has an opening statement relevant to topic but does not give outline of
speech; is somewhat disorganized. Lacks content and depth in the
(Emerging) discussion of the topic. Delivery is fast and not clear; some items not
covered well, relies heavily on slides and notes and makes little eye
contact.
70 – 84%

D Has no opening statement regarding the focus of the presentation. Does

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not give adequate coverage of topic. Is often hard to understand, with

voice that is too soft or too loud and pace that is too quick or too slow,.
(unacceptable) Just reads slides, slides too much text

When to choose an analytic rubric:

● Analytic rubrics are more common because teachers typically want to assess each
criterion separately, particularly for assignments that involve a larger number of criteria.
● It becomes more and more difficult to assign a level of performance in a holistic rubric as
the number of criteria increases.
● As student performance increasingly varies across criteria it becomes more difficult to
assign an appropriate holistic category to the performance. Additionally, an analytic
rubric better handles weighting of criteria.
When to choose a holistic rubric:

● Holistic rubric tends to be used when a quick or gross judgement needs to be made.

● If the assessment is a minor one, such as a brief homework assignment, it may be

sufficient to apply a holistic judgment (check, check-plus, or no check) to quickly review
student work.
● Some educators believe a holistic or global assessment of student performance better
captures student ability on certain task.

How Many Levels of Performance Should I Include in my Rubric?

● There is no specific number of levels a rubric should or should not possess.

● It will vary depending on the task and your needs.

● A rubric can have as few as two levels of performance (checklist) or as many as you
decide as appropriate.
● It is not true that there must be an even number or an odd number of levels. That will
depend on the situation.
● Generally, it is better to start with a smaller number of levels of performance for a
criterion and then expand if necessary.
● As the number of levels increases and those judgments become finer and finer, the
likelihood of error increases.
● Thus, start small. For example, in an oral presentation rubric, the amount of eye contact
might be an important criterion. Performance on that criterion could be judged among
three levels of performance:

Makes eye contact with audience Never Sometimes Always

● Although these 3 levels may not capture all the variations in student performance on the
criterion, it may be sufficient discrimination for your purpose or at least it is a place to
start.
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● Upon applying the three levels of performance you might discover that you can
effectively group your students’ performance in these three categories or you might
discover that the labels of “never”, “sometimes” and “always” sufficiently communicate to
your students the degree to which they can improve on making eye contact.
● You might also discover that the many students fall in between never and sometimes, or
between sometimes and always, and neither label accurately captures their
performance. At this point, you may decide to expand the number of levels of
performance to include: never, rarely, sometimes, usually, always.

Makes eye contact Never Rarely Sometime Usually Always

s

● There is no “right” answer as to how many levels of performance there should be for a
criterion in an analytic rubric; that will depend on the nature of the task assigned, the
criteria being evaluated, the students involved and your purposes and preferences.
● It is recommended that fewer levels of performance be included because:

⮚ Easier and quicker to administer

⮚ Easier to explain to students

⮚ Easier to expand than larger rubrics to shrink

How to Decide on Appropriate Criteria

● The criteria should be the most appropriate and most important aspects of quality work
(performance or product) as described in the learning outcome and not the
characteristics of the performance or product task itself.
● Examples of aspects of quality performance or product

⮚ Selection of Subject

⮚ Analysis of a famous Person’s contribution to history,

⮚ Support with historical facts and reasoning

● Examples of characteristics of the student’s work (performance and product)

⮚ Cover of the Report

⮚ Report on Famous Person, Visuals, References

Desired Characteristics of Criteria for Classroom Rubrics

Characteristics Explanation
Appropriate Each criterion represents an aspect of a standard, curricular goal or
instructional goal or objective that students are intended to learn.

Definable Each criterion has a clear, agreed-upon meaning that both students
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and teachers understand.

Observable Each criterion describes quality in the performance that can be

perceived (seen or heard usually) by someone other than the person
performing.

Distinct from one another Each criterion identifies a separate aspect of the learning outcomes
the performance is intended to assess.

Complete All the criteria together describe the whole of the learning outcomes
the performance is intended to assess.

Able to support Each criterion can be described over a range of performance levels
descriptions along a
continuum of quality

Process of Developing Rubrics

Step 1

● This step entails the identification of the qualities and attributes that the teacher wishes
to observe in the students’ outputs that would demonstrate their level of proficiency.
(Brookhart, 1999)
● These qualities and attributes form the top level of the scoring criteria for the rubrics.

● Once done, a decision has to be made whether a holistic or an analytical rubric would be
more appropriate.
● In an analytic rubric, each criterion is considered one by one and the descriptions of the
scoring levels are made separately. This will then result in separate descriptive scoring
scheme for each of the criterion or scoring factor.
● For the holistic scoring rubrics, the collection of criteria is considered throughout the
construction of each level of the scoring rubric and the result is a single descriptive
scoring scheme.

Step 2

● Identification of the criteria for the lowest level of performance. The teacher is asked to
determine the type of performance that would constitute the worst performance or a
performance which would indicate lack of understanding of the concepts being
measured.
● For this reason, the teacher will capture the criteria that would suit a middle level
performance for the concept being measured.
● This approach will result in at least three levels of performance

Note of caution:

⮚ each score category should be defined using descriptors of the work rather than
value-judgment.
⮚ For example: “Student’s sentences contain no errors in subject-verb agreement”
rather than, “Student’s sentences are good”. The phrase “are good” requires the
evaluator to make judgment whereas the phrase “no errors” is quantifiable.
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⮚ We can test whether our scoring rubrics is “reliable” by asking two or more teachers
to score the same set of projects or outputs and correlate their individual
assessments.

Summary:
Step 1: Identify the appropriate criteria to assess. Refer to the Recitation Rubric given above
Step 2: For each criterion formulate the description of performance along a continuum of
quality. In the Recitation Rubric there is a description of performance criterion along a
continuum (1, 2, and 3).

Here are other descriptors used in scoring rubrics:

- Not meeting (standard), Approaching (standard), Meeting (standard), Exceeding
(Standard)
- Exemplary, Proficient, Marginal, Unacceptable
- Exceed expectation, Meets expectation, Doesn’t meet expectations
-

The Importance of Rubrics

● With scoring rubrics, students and teachers are clarified because they clarify for students
the qualities their work should have. This point is often expressed in terms of students
understanding the learning target and criteria for success.
● Rubrics can help teachers teach, they help coordinate instruction and assessment, and
they help students learn.
● Brookhart (2013) explains how rubrics can ensure learning:

1) Rubrics help teachers teach. When teachers develop the rubrics they get very
much clarified with the criteria by which learning will be assessed and so will
become more focused on what to teacher and against what criteria student
success will be measured.

2) Rubrics help students learn. The Criteria and performance-level descriptions in

rubrics help students understand what performance and criterion of performance
are expected of them.

3) Rubrics help coordinate instruction and assessment.

Brookhart (2013) explains:
Most rubrics should be designed for repeated use, over time, on several tasks.
Students are given a rubric at the beginning of a unit of instruction or an episode of work.
They tackle the work, receive feedback, practice, revise or do another task, continue to
practice and ultimately receive a grade – all using the same rubric as their description of
the criteria and the quality levels that will demonstrate learning. This path to learning is
much more cohesive than a string of assignments with related but different criteria.

Furthermore, rubrics enhance student or learner agency. Agency is characterized by the

student’s ability to set and pursue his/her own learning goals, an important ingredient for a
student’s success through college and careers and most especially at the height of a pandemic
when remote learning is the way to go.
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Checklist and Rating Scales

● Checklist and rating scales are often confused with rubrics.

● Checklist and rating scales differ from scoring rubrics in the sense that they lack
descriptions of performance and quality which is one of the two main characteristics of
scoring rubrics.
● Like rubrics, checklist and rating scales are the list of things that you check or rate. If
something has been done, just check (checklist) or how often it has been done (rating
scale).

Checklist

● A checklist is a “list of specific characteristics with a place for marking whether that
characteristic is present or absent. (Brookhart 2013)
● Checklist are used when learning outcomes are defined by the existence of an attribute

My sentence

_________ begins with a capital letter

_________ ends with a period(.) or a question mark (?) or an explanation point (!)
_________ is a complete thought
_________ has a naming part (subject) and a telling part (predicate)

● A checklist is also used to make sure students have “followed directions for an
assignment, that they have all the required parts of some project or that they have
followed format requirements for a report.
● The checklist does not evaluate the quality of the project. It makes sure that directions
have been followed and all required elements are present.

The research report

__________ has an introduction

__________ has a thesis sentence or research question
__________ has at least 3 sources
__________ includes a chart or a diagram

Rating Scale

● A rating scale is a list of specific characteristics with a place for marking the degree to
which each characteristic is displayed (Brookhart 2013)
● An example is a frequency rating scale that lists the frequency with which some
characteristics are observed.
● For example, in public speaking, the characteristics “makes eye contact” - is it done
frequently, occasionally, seldom or never”?
A list of examples of frequency scales

Scale Typical Uses

⮚ Always, Frequently, Sometimes,

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Never To rate how often students exhibit behaviors or

learning skills (e.g. works independently, follows
⮚ Consistently, Often, Sometimes, directions; completes home works)
Rarely

⮚ Almost always, Usually, Often, To rate how often students have certain feelings
or attitudes about their work (e.g. I am confident
Occasionally, Rarely, Very rarely,
in my work)
Never

⮚ [Four choices are usually sufficient.

As illustrated, other number of
options can be used.]

All, most, some, none

To rate how often problems or exercises exhibit

certain characteristics (e.g. labeled the answer;
[ Sometimes used with a noun-for example, all showed all work)
problems, none of the problems; all sentences,
most sentences, some sentences, none of the
sentence]
To rate how often a certain kind of work exhibits
desired characteristics (e.g. instead of a checklist
for each sentence, students might make an
overall rating: My sentences…. begin with capital
letters, have proper punctuation, and so on)

A Rating Scale Used for Student Self-Assessment

On this assignment, I successfully used the skill on

Skill All problems Most problems Some problems None of the

problems

Wrote the information into a correct √

equation

Identify the unknown in the √

problem

Converted Celsius temperature to √

Kelvin

Wrote the Charle’s Law equation √

Solve the equation for the unknown √
Wrote all the numbers with correct √
unit labels

SCQ
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1. In your own words, explain what a scoring rubric is.

2. Cite the basic parts of a scoring rubric.
3. Distinguish between holistic rubric and analytic rubrics; general and task-specific rubric.
4. When do you use a holistic rubric? Analytic rubric? General rubric? Task-specific rubric?
5. Why are rubrics important?
6. Other than rubrics, what other tools can be used to assess performance?

COLEGIO DE STA. ANA DE VICTORIAS, INC.

Osmeña Ave., Victorias City, Negros Occidental
Email: colegiodestaanadevictorias@[Link]

STUDENT OUTPUT
Module 6: Developing Scoring Rubrics

NAME of GROUP MEMBERS

_______________________________ ____________________________
_______________________________ ____________________________
_______________________________ ____________________________
_______________________________ ____________________________

1. Construct a holistic and an analytic rubric based on any of the competencies from the K
to 12 Curriculum Guide.
2. Construct a checklist and a rating scale based on any of the competencies from the K to
12 Curriculum Guide.
3. Indicate the subject and grade level of the competencies you have chosen from the K to
12 Curriculum Guide.