Tips for creating a good scoring rubric

Here are some general guidelines for creating a good scoring rubric.

To create a good scoring rubric, here are some tips:

• Define Clear Objectives: Before creating your rubric, clearly define what you want to assess. What are the learning objectives or skills you want to measure? Ensure these objectives are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).
• Identify Criteria: Break down the objectives into specific criteria or dimensions that contribute to achieving those objectives. For example, if you're assessing a writing assignment, criteria might include organization, clarity, grammar, word count and creativity.
• Use Clear Language: Write clear descriptors for each level of performance that are easy to understand. Avoid jargon or ambiguous terms. Use concrete examples whenever possible to illustrate each level.
• Balance Criteria: Ensure that the criteria you choose are balanced and cover all aspects of the task or skill you're assessing. Avoid overly focusing on one aspect at the expense of others.
• Consider Weighting: Decide if certain criteria are more important than others and assign appropriate weights to them. This helps ensure that the rubric accurately reflects the relative importance of different aspects of performance.
• Determine Levels of Performance: Establish different levels of performance for each criterion. Typically, these range from "Excellent" to "Poor" or "Exceeds Expectations" to "Does Not Meet Expectations." Clearly define what each level entails in terms of performance.
• Test Your Rubric: Before using the rubric for assessment, test it with sample work to ensure that it effectively differentiates between levels of performance and aligns with your expectations.

Remember: the AI depends on you to provide specific instructions. You can imagine you are giving instructions to a colleague on how to assist you with grading papers and feedback. That would be the level of detail you need to provide the AI in the scoring rubric. If there are references your students need to quote, you need to be very specific what they are as the AI does not look for answers outside of the rubric provided.