Your Rubric Is a Hot Mess; Here’s How to Fix It.
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See Mrs. Jones. She has a fantastic idea for a new assignment. It’s going to be challenging and engaging and fun. Before she can give this assignment to her students, Mrs. Jones needs to get a few things on paper. She starts by writing up a prompt. See Mrs. Jones smile as her fingers fly across the keyboard, crafting the language that describes what students will do.
Then it’s time to build a rubric. Watch as Mrs. Jones creates an empty table with four columns – one for each level of proficiency – and five rows that break down the areas that will be assessed. Four rows, five columns. Mrs. Jones prepares to fill all twenty cells.
See Mrs. Jones slump down in her chair.
If you’re like Mrs. Jones, you rely on densely packed analytic rubrics to assess student work. But creating these rubrics – trying to imagine every possible scenario that will result in an assignment being labeled as a 1, 2, 3 or 4, or whatever terminology might stand for those numbers – can be both soul-crushing and time-consuming.
Then, when it comes time to assess student work, you’re likely to find many assignments that don’t fit neatly into any one column. What’s worse, others demonstrate qualities you didn’t even anticipate, like the student who spelled everything perfectly but was lax on punctuation. Your “mechanics” section doesn’t have a place for that.
And do students even read these rubrics? Having been on the receiving end of multi-page, multi-cell rubrics stuffed to the gills with 9-point font, I would say no. I did not read all of those cells. I looked at the third and fourth columns, where expectations met and exceeded expectations were described, and I did everything I could to make my work satisfy those criteria. The other two columns got little more than a glance.
Might there be a better way? The answer is yes, and its name is the single-point rubric.
Instead of detailing all the different ways an assignment deviates from the target, the single-point rubric simply describes the target, using a single column of traits. It’s what you’d find at level 3 on a 4-point scale, the “proficient” column, except now it’s all by itself. On either side of that column, there’s space for the teacher to write feedback about the specific things this student did that either fell short of the target (the left side) or surpassed it (the right).
For some, this alternative might cause apprehension: does this mean more writing for the teacher? Possibly. If you’ve only ever used rubrics to highlight key features of a student’s work to justify their score, or worse, simply given the score without pointing to the language that made the difference, then the single-point rubric will require more from you. But when I used analytic rubrics, I ended up having to do a bunch of writing anyway, squeezing my comments into the cells to provide more specific feedback, or adding a long note at the end summarizing the factors that influenced the score.
With a single-point rubric, the farce of searching for the right pre-scripted language is over, leaving you free to describe exactly what this student needs to work on.
If you’re moving away from traditional grades, the single-point rubric is a perfect instrument for delivering specific feedback: The open columns on either side leave plenty of room to comment on exactly what this student needs to do to improve their work, or to pinpoint the ways they have gone above and beyond. And if you’d like to get more student input when creating rubrics, it’s even easier when you only have to craft language for the desired outcome, rather than the missteps.
Is there ever a need for a fully loaded, “hot mess” rubric? Only in cases where feedback is never part of the plan: when a piece of writing is going to be scored on a state assessment, for example, there may be a need to identify every level of performance. But again, the people using these rubrics aren’t interested in helping students learn and grow; their only goal is to score.
But a teacher aspires to more than that. And different aspirations require different tools. Let’s leave the hot mess rubric to the testing companies.
You and me and Mrs. Jones? We can do better.
Jennifer Gonzalez
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- Your Rubric Is a Hot Mess; Here’s How to Fix It. - October 9, 2014
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About The Author
Jennifer Gonzalez
A National Board Certified Teacher in Early Adolescence/English Language Arts, Jennifer Gonzalez has been a middle school teacher and a college-level teacher of teachers. She now devotes herself full-time to curating and creating resources to help teachers make their work more effective and satisfying.
I use both kinds – depending on my goals for students. A four-column rubric is a great tool when students are doing multiple iterations, so they can see the areas where their work is the weakest – where’s the area to emphasize in revision. I do the final grading atop the draft rubric to point out how much/if students responded to feedback. But then I also have no problem marking between categories and writing in a few little notes if a student’s work has problems not listed on the rubric – I sometimes even leave some short blanks inside the rubric boxes to fill in (“grammar/mechanics weak particularly in __________). But I do like single-column rubrics for one-draft work (like presentations). I actually prefer a checklist, with lots of space for comments to explain where the student did or didn’t meet (or exceeded) expectations. I tried this rubric style offered above, and felt like I was running out of space in the left-hand column, and trying to invent things to say for most students in the right hand. But that may be because the middle column was designed as if it were the “exemplary” column – I will have to see how it would feel to have that column as just “proficient”.
The single point rubric will work as long as we give parents and students enough feedback over their progress. Otherwise, we need to use the 4 point rubric which is more exact in its expectations according to the standardards.
How about doing away with rubrics altogether? Reallocate the time it takes a teacher to develop a rubric and use it for a student/teacher conference during which the teacher can answer questions, explain any problems or feedback, and encourage the student – an actual personal, human contact scenario.
These suggestions are alright. The article definitely made me more reflective of my rubrics. But there needs to be SOME sort of criteria and framework for each level/section. If not, it makes it very hard to grade each paper under the same objective guidelines. I’m all about simplifying the rubrics and adding my own comments, but leaving the columns blank? No thanks. Can’t say I will be doing that.
Twitter: MonsonLilly
This is so brilliant it is scary. Or maybe I’m scared to move away from the numeric grade? I love the idea of a single column rubric but what to assess? What if something like the quality of writing is just too subjective? Two students can meet the standard for punctuation but one has simply written a better more concise paper. There is a movement in my district among science and math teachers to Standards based grading . I am ELA so I am interested in this concept (oh the rubrics I have created and wanted to burn are too numerous). I also love the idea of feedback but at times feedback on 135 papers is daunting. Suggestions or examples for writing would be so awesome. Love this site.
Twitter: markbarnes19
Hi Lilly, you make valid points. Let me recommend the book, Hacking Assessment, by Starr Sackstein. You can download it in any format here: http://payhip.com/hacklearning or find it on Amazon. It’s a quick read that answers all of your questions.
Mark Barnes recently posted…6 Bad Reasons Teachers Assign Homework and Why Each One Sucks
Twitter: IdeaShopPD
I have been using single point rubrics for a few months now. I’ve used them in place of the traditional score on a math test. Parents love them. I’ve also used introduced them and used them to score assignments for my BEd students. Having shown them to a number of colleagues, many of us are fully embracing the freedoms these rubrics offer.
I love this idea and am looking forward to finding a way I can efficiently use such a rubric in an online format. However, I take issue with two points: one, that students never (or rarely) read rubrics; and two, that analytical rubrics are used “[only] in cases where feedback is never part of the plan…the people using these rubrics aren’t interested in helping students learn and grow; their only goal is to score.” I’ve used online rubrics connected to my online gradebook (JupiterEd) for the last 3-4 years. My students like to see how they performed on each of the elements of an assignment, especially since we always preview/review these elements before the assignments are due. I have them then review their rubric scores from the last similar assignment before they begin on the next. In this way, they can clearly see which areas they are strong in and which areas they need to pay closer attention to/seek help with.
Really, the greatest rubric in the world is worth little if there isn’t a conscientious teacher consistently drawing the students’ attention to it and making achievement of the goals attainable for the students who are willing to work at it. I would say this is also the case for handwritten feedback such as you laud: if reviewing it is not part of the required practice for students (and if it’s not being deliberately used as a formative assessment where students will have to make revisions based upon that feedback) then it will go unread. I’ve seen this happen often in my 21 years of high school teaching when I forget to focus my students’ attention on the feedback and the goals. The simple presence of written comments is not a magic attention-getter for students. That said, I’m looking forward to incorporating the single point rubric into my feedback, and I appreciate finding this page about it!
Twitter: cultofpedagogy
Hi Paul,
You make such an important point here: “Really, the greatest rubric in the world is worth little if there isn’t a conscientious teacher consistently drawing the students’ attention to it and making achievement of the goals attainable for the students who are willing to work at it.” You hit the nail on the head. I was definitely guilty of rushing through the post-mortem stage of many assignments. We all need to recognize that just because an assignment is “finished,” it doesn’t mean the learning has to stop. In fact, that may be the most important time for reflection and growth. I hope to hear back from you about your progress with this different format.
Jennifer Gonzalez recently posted…Classroom Eye Candy: A Flexible-Seating Paradise
Twitter: markbarnes19
The best feedback is worthless if students are not coached to be evaluators. They must learn how to evaluate the feedback that the teacher provides, while also self-assessing. Traditional rubrics typically use subjective words and phrases, where Jenn’s single point rubric leaves room for observation and immediate meaningful feedback, rather than prefabricated commentary, which few students understand. Hope the single point rubric becomes a great tool for you and your students, Paul. Thanks for chiming in here, and keep us posted on your progress.
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My question is, on the rubric, if they meet the standard in the middle what score do you give them? Ex – say this is for the “Introduction” section of a paper. This would replace column 3 on a traditional rubric, so would they get an 8/10 if they meet the rubric? Or a 7.5?
Twitter: markbarnes19
Hey Bryan, maybe Jenn will weigh in on this. My answer would be to never give a number or letter grade. The idea behind the Single Point Rubric is to encourage independent, self-evaluative learning and the kind of iteration that leads to mastery. Traditional grades don’t do this. Thanks for reading and contributing.
Mark Barnes recently posted…How One Simple Tool Makes Teachers Crave More Student Data
Twitter: cultofpedagogy
Hey Bryan!
Mark beat me to it–I was going to say that this type of rubric lends itself beautifully to a no-grades system.
However, many teachers are not working in schools without grades (yet!), and you have to assign letter or number grades.
On a 10-point assignment, I would consider accomplishing everything in the center column equivalent to a 10 out of 10; the standards have all been met. For teachers working within a standards-based grading system, this would work well.
If you are used to traditional grades, it might seem as though an “A” should only be given to a student who exceeds expectations, but that either means the standards aren’t challenging enough or the assignment is being given as a one-shot deal, which means only students who can exceed the standards are rewarded with the A. Consider this: If meeting the standards earns a student an A, then every student should have the opportunity to earn it, even if it requires several attempts. This rubric offers specific feedback on how they can do that. Make the goals in the center column challenging enough and your typical “A” student will have to push to achieve them…everyone else, knowing they can work until they get there, will likely be motivated to try.
Hope this helps!
Jennifer Gonzalez recently posted…Know Your Terms: Memory Palace
Twitter: JackieBatkins
Thanks for this discussion about grading. I had the same question as Brian. Your explanations really makes sense and challenge me to a fresh approach.
Hi,
Sorry to come late to this but I was on vacation. We already use a system like this in many UK Universities, and we regard the “standard” to be a pass at threshold level. This means the underachievers fail – that is easy, and the over achievers get a pass + whatever extra they have brought to it. We work with learning outcomes which equate to your 4 rubric aspects and in order pass a module a student is expected to pass all learning outcomes at threshold level.
We do tend to describe how an A, B or C would be achieved (for us the D is the threshold pass), so we would say something like the following:-
C = pass + evidence of understanding and some ability to describe
B = C + evidence of research and able to discuss
A = B + adds own value through discussion and critique
Twitter: middlesoup
We at middlesoup.com have been doing something similar to this for a long time. Only we take it a step further by asking the students to give us the criteria for a proficient assignment. In a whole class discussion we post a blank rubric and the students offer suggestions for what a proficient assignment will look like. They often get exactly the things we are looking, and with a little coaching can get even the most specific criteria. I also ask them to offer at least one example of how they might exceed expectations. See middlesoup.com to find out how to access our template for this process. You are right – it’s SOOO much easier than coming up with the vast amount of scenarios that might cause an area of concern. We simply make a column called “1 area of concern (almost proficient)” “2 areas of concern (developing)” or “3 or more areas of concern” (beginning) and we write exactly what they are. The students find this so much easier and it is so empowering to involve them in the rubric-generating process!
Twitter: cultofpedagogy
Kim,
Having students contribute to rubric building is a wonderful way to boost the instructional power of any rubric. It also sounds like your additional columns offer an opportunity for fleshing out feedback for students who need lots of improvement. I went over to middlesoup to find the template, but I didn’t see an obvious link to it. Can you add one here? Thanks.
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Twitter: middlesoup
If you go to the middlesoup website (middlesoup.com) you can click on the button on the first page labelled “Click here for today’s free download” – I put it there.
Twitter: bailey4learning
Kudos! I believe single point rubrics are vastly under-used and have such potential for both teachers and students. They are efficient and empowering…
This is brilliant! Thank you.
Twitter: jcordery
I really like this idea. It keeps the students focused on what is expected to meet the standard. Why list the first two columns that do not meet the standard anyway? That does seem to be a waste of time. I wish I had read this years ago. I would have save so much time leaving out the unnecessary columns. I also love how the exceeding expectation column is blank. This forces the student to think critically on how they may go beyond what is expected. Without being told how to do that. Thanks for sharing.
Twitter: markbarnes19
I feel the same way, Jim. I find that most good teachers wish they knew something years ago that they just learned yesterday or today. Awareness of the need to improve is powerful. Thanks for weighing in here.
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Twitter: bioamyb
I was looking for a button to like your post, Jim! I felt exactly the same way!
Twitter: CriticalSkills1
This is awesome! We actually ended up using this as part of our Level 1 Critical Skills Institute today! (We credited it, of course) You can see the video of it at https://youtu.be/2R3iJK27iWg
Twitter: markbarnes19
Hey Laura, this is exciting. Thanks so much for creating the video and crediting us. Jenn is very happy you were able to find value in her single point rubric, and I’m thrilled that you found it here at Brilliant or Insane. Please keep us posted on your progress.
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Twitter: cultofpedagogy
Laura, thanks so much for posting this. It was pretty amazing watching you guys introduce this idea to a whole group of people. I would love to hear back from teachers who try this with their students to learn more about how it went for them. Thank you again!
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Twitter: grammasheri
Love this idea!
I have been writing feedback on student work using the \”I see / I suggest\” format. This is simple and quick and allows the student to revise. I like the idea of having the standard to be more specific for both student and myself. This makes so much sense, doesn\’t it? Often the student does excel in some places, meets the standard in others, and could use improvement in other areas of their work. This allows for clear feedback on student work so students can begin self-evaluating their own work as well. It is a model as well as a focus for learning.Thanks for sharing.P.S. This comment is a part of the #C4C15 project.
Sheri Edwards recently posted…Idea for Rubrics: Feedback #140WC #C4C15
Twitter: cultofpedagogy
Hi Sheri! I would love to see an example of the “I see/I suggest” model. From your comment, I’m not entirely sure whether you’re advocating for a fuller, more detailed rubric, or if you see value in the single-point format. Can you provide a link? Thanks!
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Twitter: grammasheri
Hi Jennifer, I like your idea — it provides more specific feedback for students than the lists within most rubrics.
I should have said:
I have been writing feedback on student work using the “I see / I suggest” format. This is simple and quick and allows the student to revise.
However, I like the idea of having the standard in the middle to be more specific for both student and myself, with the comments about “I see/ I suggest” on the sides. This makes so much sense, doesn’t it? Often the student does excel in some places, meets the standard in others, and could use improvement in other areas of their work.This open rubric allows for precise and clear feedback on successes and concerns in student work. With these as a model, students can begin self-evaluating their own work as well.
Your rubric is a model for metacognitive reflection that students can learn from the feedback that is modeled, and it is a focus for learning from the feedback provided.
http://goo.gl/RyUxZR
Thank you.
Sheri Edwards recently posted…Idea for Rubrics: Feedback #140WC #C4C15
Twitter: cultofpedagogy
Got it! Thanks for clarifying. I like that terminology — I see/I suggest is a wonderful way of putting it. And the criteria down that center column can be as specific as a teacher wants it to be. I would probably add quite a bit of description myself in that center column, so students have a clear understanding of the expectations. Good talking to you!
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Twitter: kristinefull
The original rubric was posted here: https://www2.uwstout.edu/content/profdev/rubrics/videorubric.html. I re-worked it in a Google table for my class.
Twitter: cultofpedagogy
I see the original, but not the revision — did you post that yet?
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Twitter: kristinefull
Here is the revised one: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zsqTeL2BrxB9mREv-nyn5D51-Bu4d5l0bcsAXJSBfXQ/edit?usp=sharing. I hope you can view this one.
Twitter: kristinefull
Great article – I only wish I had seen it BEFORE I had spent time re-creating a video project rubric! This makes so much more sense. I think I will do a “before” and “after” version!
Twitter: cultofpedagogy
Kris, I would love to see both versions!
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Twitter: kristinefull
The form I created after reading your article is here: http://goo.gl/LM5bD5. I would welcome input.
Thanks for sharing this great design! I am already adding/editing rubrics to use. I’m excited about this!
Twitter: cultofpedagogy
That’s so great to hear, Sonya. Come back and tell us how it goes, and how the students respond to it.
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Twitter: kellianglley
Yes! Thank you for your quick response. I appreciate you!
Twitter: kellianglley
I absolutely love this idea. Feedback is what the students want/need, not a number on a rubric. Unfortunately, I still need to give a letter grade for an assignment. How do you determine what the percentage score will be for the single point rubric?
Twitter: cultofpedagogy
Hi Kelli. That’s a great question. I think what I would do is add a new column to the right side of the rubric. Then I’d assign each row its own total point value. So for a 100-point project, maybe the “Introduction” row is worth 10 total points, the “Body” is worth 30, and so on. I would put a half-completed fraction in each cell of that last column; so for that “Introduction” row, put ____/10. Then when you have finished giving the written feedback, you assign a number of points to that section. Then at the bottom, just total the points up — their score is the total points out of the total points possible. Does that make sense?
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Twitter: teacherdman
Great post,
Myself and my PYP coordinator actually just had a chat about this. I wanted to just include the level 4 objectives in my rubric and she said why not have the just level 3 objectives and let the students show you what they think a level 4 looks like. Either way we were moving towards a one column rubric. That very day I saw your post. I love this layout and will see how it works .
tks
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Twitter: cultofpedagogy
Hi Dwayne,
I’m glad you brought this up — I do think it’s a natural instinct to want to go with the level four. When working with the “full” rubric style with student teachers, many considered the 4 level to be the “goal,” and it took me a while to convince them that 3 was the real target, while 4 was beyond. I don’t think there’s a firm consensus out there about this. I believe that in the spirit of differentiation, there should always be room on a rubric — the full analytic rubric or the pared-down single-point — for “beyond expectations.” Students who are capable of going above and beyond should feel encouraged to do that, and those who are capable of meeting expectations shouldn’t be made to feel that they are constantly falling short.
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
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Twitter: dassel
the thing that grabbed me was the comment “using it for feedback”
that is the real deal….feedback! #boom
Twitter: markbarnes19
You’re absolutely right, Mark. Plenty more on feedback here at B or I. Enjoy and please comment more in the future.
Mark Barnes recently posted…Color-Coded Feedback: It’s Efficient and Effective
Twitter: niccarter
I’m curious about this idea – enough that I’m going to give it a try in the next couple of weeks! Yes, if you come up with an example, I’d love to take a look. 🙂
Twitter: markbarnes19
Nic, I’m hoping Jennifer will write a follow up to this very popular post.
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I had the same experience with students no reading my rubrics if they were too full of information. “And do students even read these rubrics? Having been on the receiving end of multi-page, multi-cell rubrics stuffed to the gills with 9-point font, I would say no.” I think that the clearer we make our rubrics and the less wiggle-room we have on them for sliding grades, the better for our students and for us.
Kevin Jacob Kelley recently posted…Rubric Talk: Specific Versus Open Critera
Twitter: cultofpedagogy
Hi Kevin. Thanks for taking the time to comment — it’s good to hear that others had similar experiences. Funny you should mention “wiggle room,” because I think that might be what teachers are trying to AVOID when they cram their rubrics with language — covering every possible base, or so the thinking goes. Because each individual student’s work will have its own unique set of strengths and weaknesses, the single-point rubric actually allows for a little MORE wiggle room on our part — to describe student work accurately, without having to rely on earlier predictions of successes or failures. By only describing the target we can be very clear on that, but have more room for interpretation of ways students either fall short of or surpass that target.
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After suffering through a particularly boring faculty meeting on rubric construction, during the break, I took six sheets of the old rubric and stapled them together into a “Rubric’s Cube”! 🙂
Brilliant suggestion. I will try this for my next rubric.
Twitter: cultofpedagogy
Thank you, Annice! I would love to see it — if you’re comfortable sending a link to something on a Google Doc, I’m sure we could all learn from it.
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Twitter: whiteley
Me and . . . Mrs. Jones. We got a thing . . . . going on. Good advice. May try this for next lab report. Could be done as an electronic version as well – Google Doc or the like.
Twitter: cultofpedagogy
Good to hear, Steve. I would love to see it and hear about the kind of results you get.
Twitter: frankiepoplau
The perfect rubric is designed for student use. It is enough information for the student to evaluate their own work. Self-evaluation is the most immediate of the feedback loop. Teacher role is to teach the evaluation process and check for understanding of the rubric.
Twitter: cultofpedagogy
Hi Frankie. You make a good point — when creating rubrics, teachers should always be asking themselves whether the language will be clear to students. That’s why it baffles me when I occasionally hear that students don’t even see rubrics for assignments until AFTER their work has been scored. I think for some, the idea that it’s for the students is still hard to grasp.
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Brilliant or Insane? – Brilliant for sure. Can you share some that you have created?
Twitter: cultofpedagogy
Cynthia, thank you! I’ll have to get back to you on that one — will hang onto your email and see what I can pull together!
Jennifer Gonzalez recently posted…Your Rubric Is a Hot Mess; Here’s How to Fix It.