6. Step 6 - Scoring
If you're using the rubric to score student work or performance, it's important to consider a few things as you assign the numerical labels:
- Consider the ceiling. Does your rubric need to numerically distinguish between meeting the outcomes, meeting them with excellence, and exceeding them? What are the scoring implications? A student who has met the outcomes should surely get full marks, but what about one who performs over and above? Here is an example of a rubric that takes this into consideration. It was created for an essay assigned to upper level students doing an undergraduate degree in elementary education. You can see how it shows students that even though their level of work might be sufficient for full marks in this context, there is still room to improve. To boost the effectiveness of this rubric as a tool for learning and improvement, one would add a feedback or comment line that lists a few examples of what, specifically, would take it to the next level.
- How many degrees of failure do you need to indicate? It's okay to have the minimum score for passing the course be the lowest score possible on the rubric. In the example above, 3/5 is the lowest score you can receive for quality of writing. There is no need to distinguish between a 60% level of writing, which in this program was considered not-good-enough, and a 40% (even more not-good-enough?).
- Check to see if your "rubric algorithm" will garner an overall score that aligns with the descriptions. For example, if you have a column labeled with some version of "Very Good" and the students receive checkmarks all the way down that column, then their overall score should reflect "Very Good". If the rubric "machine" spits out a 65% at the end, then you're scoring will need to be adjusted.