Rubric Best Practices, Examples, and Templates

A rubric is an evaluation tool that outlines the key criteria for an assignment, assessment, or learning outcome. It defines specific levels of achievement in a clear, objective and measurable way. Instructors can use rubrics to evaluate project-based student work including essays, group projects, creative endeavors, and oral presentations.

Rubrics help instructors communicate expectations and ensures that student work is assessed fairly, consistently and efficiently. They also provide students with meaningful feedback, highlighting strengths and areas for improvement. They encourage reflection and support students in refining their work.

How to create and use rubrics

Step 1: Analyze the assignment and determine your purpose

When creating a rubric, start by analyzing the assignment with the following questions:

  • What is the purpose of the assignment and your feedback? Are you evaluating mastery, encouraging revision, or both?
  • What should students demonstrate through this assignment? What learning objectives or skills does it measure?
  • Is this a summative or formative assessment? Will students use your feedback to revise and improve their work, or is this a final evaluation?
  • Does the assignment include multiple components or steps? Do you intend to assess parts separately or the assignment as a whole?
  • Should one task or aspect carry more weight in the rubric?
  • What does an “excellent” assignment look like? What distinguishes it from an “acceptable” assignment or one that needs significant improvement?
  • Where do students commonly struggle on this assignment, and how can your rubric help proactively address this
  • How detailed do you want your rubric to be? Will you provide a score or written comments for each criterion
  • Will students receive a grade? How will it be calculated
  • Will students have access to the rubric before they begin (highly recommended)?

Step 2: Decide what kind of rubric you will use

Holistic Rubrics

GradeDescription
AWhat an “A” product looks like…
BWhat a “B” product looks like…
CWhat a “C” product looks like…
Holistic Rubric Template

A holistic rubric assesses student work as a whole rather than listing separate criteria. Each level of performance is generally described, and the rater or grader assigns a single score based on an overall judgment of the student’s work.

By using a holistic rubrics you can:

  • Emphasize demonstrated skill, promoting a strengths-based approach to assessing work.
  • Grade quickly, as it minimizes the number of evaluations to be made for each student
  • Support consistent grading across raters, provided they have all been trained.

Holistic rubrics have some limitations:

  • They don’t provide detailed feedback, which means it’s less clear what might be improved
  • It can be difficult to assign a grade when a student’s work is inconsistent across criteria
  • It’s not possible to weight some criteria over others

Holistic rubrics are a good choice for:

  • Quick assessments
  • Creative or subjective work
  • Final evaluations where broad distinctions are sufficient (especially if more detailed feedback has been provided along the way)

Analytic/Descriptive Rubrics

CriterionHighest levelNext highest level3rd highest level
1descriptiondescriptiondescription
2descriptiondescriptiondescription
2descriptiondescriptiondescription
Analytic Rubric Template

An analytic or descriptive rubric breaks an assignment into multiple criteria and provides descriptions for different levels of performance within for each. Instructors assign separate scores for each criterion, leading to a total score.

By using an analytic rubrics you can:

  • Easily grade work that is inconsistent across criteria
  • Provide specific feedback to help students see where they excel and where they can improve
  • Weight each criteria reflect its relative importance
  • Encourage consistent grading for teams

Analytic rubrics have some limitations:

  • They are time consuming to create and apply
  • They can feel overwhelming to students
  • They may focus too much attention individual criterion scores rather than overall quality

Analytic rubrics are a good choice for:

  • Essays, research projects and presentations
  • Assignments where multiple skills or components need assessment
  • Formative assessments where detailed feedback will create a better final product

Single-Point Rubrics

Not yet metDescription of proficientMeets or exceeds
Criterion 1 at B level
Criterion 2 at B level
Criterion 3 at B level
Single Point Rubric Template

A single-point rubric describes only the proficient level of performance for each criterion, leaving space for individualized feedback on areas that exceed or fall short of expectations. Instead of fixed descriptions for every level, instructors provide targeted comments.

By using a single point rubrics you can:

  • Encourage growth-oriented feedback, removing focus from grades and points
  • Find flexibility in grading with personalized feedback possible
  • Make it more likely for students to read the descriptions as they are less overwhelming
  • Perhaps increase student creativity in project-based assignments as they are less well-defined.

Single point rubrics have some limitations:

  • More subjectivity in grading
  • Possible time-consuming to write comments
  • Not always as consistent in application

Single point rubrics are a good choice for:

  • Formative assessments
  • Writing assignments
  • Creative projects
  • Situations where individualized feedback is a priority

Step 3: Choose your starting point

There are several starting points for rubric creation. Regardless of your approach, it’s a good idea to create your rubric in a table or spreadsheet in Word, Google Docs, Sheets, etc., and then transfer it by typing it into Moodle. You can also use online tools to create the rubric, but you will still have to type the criteria, indicators, levels, etc., into Moodle. Rubric creators: Rubistar, iRubric

Start with an example or template

Google, for example, “Rubric for persuasive essay at the college level” and see if there are any publicly available examples to start from. Or, ask your colleagues if they have used a rubric for a similar assignment. This article also have some examples at the end. Be sure to edit any rubric you find to ensure that it reflects your assignment description, learning objectives and expectations. Steps 4-6, which detail building a rubric from scratch, can also help you revise and refine an example rubric.

Let AI create a draft for you

Artificial Intelligence tools like Chat GPT have proven to be useful tools for creating a rubric. Engineer your prompt thoughtfully and thoroughly. For example, provide the type of rubric you want, the assignment description, the criteria you feel are important, and the number of levels of performance you want in your prompt. Use the results as a starting point, and adjust the descriptions as needed. Steps 4-6, which detail building a rubric from scratch, can also help you revise and refine an AI-generated rubric.

Build your rubric from scratch

Steps 4 – 6 detail how to build a rubric from scratch.

Step 4: Define the grading criteria

Regardless of the type of rubric you use, you will need to define criteria by which it will be evaluated. List of the knowledge and skills are you measuring with the assignment/assessment. Refer to your stated learning objectives, the assignment instructions, past examples of student work, etc. for help. You might collaborate with co-instructors, teaching assistants, colleagues or the students in your course to create this list. It’s recommended that the list of criteria not be overly long.

 Your grading criteria should:

  • Align with learning objectives and not include irrelevant aspects
  • Reflect observable and measurable aspects of the work
  • Use clear, specific and student-friendly language
  • Focus on what matters most.
  • Balance flexibility and specificity

Step 5: Define levels of performance

Your approach to defining levels of performance will vary depending on the type of rubric you choose to make:

For a holistic rubric, you will write a single descriptive statement for each performance level (usually 3-5). Students should be able to read the descriptions and understand what is expected.

  • Define your levels with descriptive labels like “Exemplary,” Proficient,” “Developing” and “Needs improvement.”
  • Focus on broad characteristics and distinguish strong work from work that needs more improvement in your descriptions.
  • Keep the focus on overall quality rather than isolated elements.
  • Example for an argumentative essay:
    • “The argument is clear, well-supported with strong evidence, and logically structured.” (Excellent);
    • “Your position is clear, but stronger evidence and clearer organization would improve the essay.” (Developing)

For an analytic rubric, you will describe achievement of each criteria at each performance level (usually 3-5).

  • Define your levels with descriptive labels like “Exemplary,” Proficient,” “Developing” and “Needs improvement.” These will be listed across the top of your table in a header row, starting with the highest level.
  • List your criteria on the left-most column as a header column, grouping similar skills.
  • In each table cell, write a description of the corresponding criterion at the corresponding level. Use parallel structure for these descriptions to improve clarity.
  • Ensure each level is distinct and avoid simply using minor word changes that might make differentiation difficult.

For a single point rubric, list the grading criteria and a description of a proficient level of achievement for each criterion in the middle column of a three-column table, one per row. Leave the leftmost column blank to give feedback on areas for improvement, and the rightmost column blank to give feedback on areas of excellence. An example description of proficient (level) organization (criterion) for an essay might be, “The essay is logically structured, with clear transitions that enhance readability.”

Step 6: Test and get feedback on your rubric

Prior to implementing your rubric on a live course, obtain feedback from colleagues, teaching assistants and students. You might also try out your new rubric on a sample of students work and analyze the results to consider its effectiveness. Revise accordingly.

Reminders: Best Practices

  • Limit the rubric to a single page for reading and grading ease
  • Use parallel language. Use similar language and syntax/wording from column to column. Make sure that the rubric can be easily read from left to right or vice versa.
  • Use student-friendly language. Make sure the language is learning-level appropriate. If you use academic language or concepts, you will need to teach those concepts.
  • Share and discuss the rubric with your students. Students should understand that the rubric is there to help them learn, reflect, and self-assess. If students use a rubric, they will understand the expectations and their relevance to learning.
  • Consider scalability and reusability of rubrics. Create rubric templates that you can alter as needed for multiple assignments.
  • Maximize the descriptiveness of your language. Avoid words like “good” and “excellent.” For example, instead of saying, “uses excellent sources,” you might describe what makes a resource excellent so that students will know. You might also consider reducing the reliance on quantity, such as a number of allowable misspelled words. Focus instead, for example, on how distracting any spelling errors are.

Examples

Example of an analytic rubric for a final paper

Above Average (4)Sufficient (3)Developing (2)Needs improvement (1)
Clarity – 60% (Thesis supported by relevant information and ideas)The central purpose of the student work is clear and supporting ideas always are always well-focused. Details are relevant, enrich the work.The central purpose of the student work is clear and ideas are almost always focused in a way that supports the thesis. Relevant details illustrate the author’s ideas.The central purpose of the student work is identified. Ideas are mostly focused in a way that supports the thesis.The purpose of the student work is not well-defined. A number of central ideas do not support the thesis. Thoughts appear disconnected.
Organization – 20% (Sequencing of elements/ ideas)Information and ideas are presented in a logical sequence which flows naturally and is engaging to the audience.Information and ideas are presented in a logical sequence which is followed by the reader with little or no difficulty.Information and ideas are presented in an order that the audience can mostly follow.Information and ideas are poorly sequenced. The audience has difficulty following the thread of thought.
Mechanics – 20% (Correctness of grammar and spelling)Minimal to no distracting errors in grammar and spelling.The readability of the work is only slightly interrupted by spelling and/or grammatical errors.Grammatical and/or spelling errors distract from the work.The readability of the work is seriously hampered by spelling and/or grammatical errors.
Example analytic rubric for a final paper

Example of a holistic rubric for a final paper

Articulating thoughts through written communication— final paper.

  1. Above Average: The audience is able to easily identify the central message of the work and is engaged by the paper’s clear focus and relevant details. Information is presented logically and naturally. There are minimal to no distracting errors in grammar and spelling.
  2. Sufficient: The audience is easily able to identify the focus of the student work which is supported by relevant ideas and supporting details. Information is presented in a logical manner that is easily followed. The readability of the work is only slightly interrupted by errors.
  3. Developing: The audience can identify the central purpose of the student work without little difficulty and supporting ideas are present and clear. The information is presented in an orderly fashion that can be followed with little difficulty. Grammatical and spelling errors distract from the work.
  4. Needs Improvement: The audience cannot clearly or easily identify the central ideas or purpose of the student work. Information is presented in a disorganized fashion causing the audience to have difficulty following the author’s ideas. The readability of the work is seriously hampered by errors.

Single-Point Rubric

More examples:

Moodle How-To Guides

Technology Tools: Rubrics in Moodle

Workshop Information

Rubrics & Grading Guides: Consistent, Effective, & Efficient Assessment in Moodle

Resources

Tools with rubrics (other than Moodle)

Other resources

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