What is a rubric?

What is a rubric?

A rubric is an assessment tool that clearly indicates achievement criteria across all the components of any kind of student work, from written to oral to visual. It can be used for marking assignments, class participation, or overall grades. There are two types of rubrics: holistic and analytical.

Holistic rubrics

Holistic rubrics group several different assessment criteria and classify them together under grade headings or achievement levels.

For a sample participation rubric, see the Appendix of this teaching tip. Our Responding to Writing Assignments teaching tip includes holistic rubrics specifically designed for writing assignments. See also Facione and Facione’s (1994) “Holistic Critical Thinking Rubric [PDF],” useful in many disciplines. 

Analytic rubrics 

Analytic rubrics separate different assessment criteria and address them comprehensively. In a horizontal assessment rubric, the top axis includes values that can be expressed either numerically or by letter grade, or a scale from Exceptional to Poor (or Professional to Amateur, and so on). The side axis includes the assessment criteria for each component. Analytic rubrics can also permit different weightings for different components.

See the Teamwork VALUE Rubric [PDF], one of many rubrics developed by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, or (AAC&U).