Rubric Best Practices, Examples, and Templates

A rubric is a scoring tool that identifies the different criteria relevant to an assignment, assessment, or learning outcome and states the possible levels of achievement in a specific, clear, and objective way. Use rubrics to assess project-based student work including essays, group projects, creative endeavors, and oral presentations.

Rubrics can help instructors communicate expectations to students and assess student work fairly, consistently and efficiently. Rubrics can provide students with informative feedback on their strengths and weaknesses so that they can reflect on their performance and work on areas that need improvement.

How to Get Started

Best practices, moodle how-to guides.

  • Workshop Recording (Fall 2022)
  • Workshop Registration

Step 1: Analyze the assignment

The first step in the rubric creation process is to analyze the assignment or assessment for which you are creating a rubric. To do this, consider the following questions:

  • What is the purpose of the assignment and your feedback? What do you want students to demonstrate through the completion of this assignment (i.e. what are the learning objectives measured by it)? Is it a summative assessment, or will students use the feedback to create an improved product?
  • Does the assignment break down into different or smaller tasks? Are these tasks equally important as the main assignment?
  • What would an “excellent” assignment look like? An “acceptable” assignment? One that still needs major work?
  • How detailed do you want the feedback you give students to be? Do you want/need to give them a grade?

Step 2: Decide what kind of rubric you will use

Types of rubrics: holistic, analytic/descriptive, single-point

Holistic Rubric. A holistic rubric includes all the criteria (such as clarity, organization, mechanics, etc.) to be considered together and included in a single evaluation. With a holistic rubric, the rater or grader assigns a single score based on an overall judgment of the student’s work, using descriptions of each performance level to assign the score.

Advantages of holistic rubrics:

  • Can p lace an emphasis on what learners can demonstrate rather than what they cannot
  • Save grader time by minimizing the number of evaluations to be made for each student
  • Can be used consistently across raters, provided they have all been trained

Disadvantages of holistic rubrics:

  • Provide less specific feedback than analytic/descriptive rubrics
  • Can be difficult to choose a score when a student’s work is at varying levels across the criteria
  • Any weighting of c riteria cannot be indicated in the rubric

Analytic/Descriptive Rubric . An analytic or descriptive rubric often takes the form of a table with the criteria listed in the left column and with levels of performance listed across the top row. Each cell contains a description of what the specified criterion looks like at a given level of performance. Each of the criteria is scored individually.

Advantages of analytic rubrics:

  • Provide detailed feedback on areas of strength or weakness
  • Each criterion can be weighted to reflect its relative importance

Disadvantages of analytic rubrics:

  • More time-consuming to create and use than a holistic rubric
  • May not be used consistently across raters unless the cells are well defined
  • May result in giving less personalized feedback

Single-Point Rubric . A single-point rubric is breaks down the components of an assignment into different criteria, but instead of describing different levels of performance, only the “proficient” level is described. Feedback space is provided for instructors to give individualized comments to help students improve and/or show where they excelled beyond the proficiency descriptors.

Advantages of single-point rubrics:

  • Easier to create than an analytic/descriptive rubric
  • Perhaps more likely that students will read the descriptors
  • Areas of concern and excellence are open-ended
  • May removes a focus on the grade/points
  • May increase student creativity in project-based assignments

Disadvantage of analytic rubrics: Requires more work for instructors writing feedback

Step 3 (Optional): Look for templates and examples.

You might Google, “Rubric for persuasive essay at the college level” and see if there are any publicly available examples to start from. Ask your colleagues if they have used a rubric for a similar assignment. Some examples are also available at the end of this article. These rubrics can be a great starting point for you, but consider steps 3, 4, and 5 below to ensure that the rubric matches your assignment description, learning objectives and expectations.

Step 4: Define the assignment criteria

Make a 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.

  Helpful strategies for defining grading criteria:

  • Collaborate with co-instructors, teaching assistants, and other colleagues
  • Brainstorm and discuss with students
  • Can they be observed and measured?
  • Are they important and essential?
  • Are they distinct from other criteria?
  • Are they phrased in precise, unambiguous language?
  • Revise the criteria as needed
  • Consider whether some are more important than others, and how you will weight them.

Step 5: Design the rating scale

Most ratings scales include between 3 and 5 levels. Consider the following questions when designing your rating scale:

  • Given what students are able to demonstrate in this assignment/assessment, what are the possible levels of achievement?
  • How many levels would you like to include (more levels means more detailed descriptions)
  • Will you use numbers and/or descriptive labels for each level of performance? (for example 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and/or Exceeds expectations, Accomplished, Proficient, Developing, Beginning, etc.)
  • Don’t use too many columns, and recognize that some criteria can have more columns that others . The rubric needs to be comprehensible and organized. Pick the right amount of columns so that the criteria flow logically and naturally across levels.

Step 6: Write descriptions for each level of the rating scale

Artificial Intelligence tools like Chat GPT have proven to be useful tools for creating a rubric. You will want to engineer your prompt that you provide the AI assistant to ensure you get what you want. For example, you might provide 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.

Building a rubric from scratch

For a single-point rubric , describe what would be considered “proficient,” i.e. B-level work, and provide that description. You might also include suggestions for students outside of the actual rubric about how they might surpass proficient-level work.

For analytic and holistic rubrics , c reate statements of expected performance at each level of the rubric.

  • Consider what descriptor is appropriate for each criteria, e.g., presence vs absence, complete vs incomplete, many vs none, major vs minor, consistent vs inconsistent, always vs never. If you have an indicator described in one level, it will need to be described in each level.
  • You might start with the top/exemplary level. What does it look like when a student has achieved excellence for each/every criterion? Then, look at the “bottom” level. What does it look like when a student has not achieved the learning goals in any way? Then, complete the in-between levels.
  • For an analytic rubric , do this for each particular criterion of the rubric so that every cell in the table is filled. These descriptions help students understand your expectations and their performance in regard to those expectations.

Well-written descriptions:

  • Describe observable and measurable behavior
  • Use parallel language across the scale
  • Indicate the degree to which the standards are met

Step 7: Create your rubric

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

Step 8: Pilot-test your rubric

Prior to implementing your rubric on a live course, obtain feedback from:

  • Teacher assistants

Try out your new rubric on a sample of student work. After you pilot-test your rubric, analyze the results to consider its effectiveness and revise accordingly.

  • 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.

Example of an analytic rubric for a final paper

Example of a holistic rubric for a final paper, single-point rubric, more examples:.

  • Single Point Rubric Template ( variation )
  • Analytic Rubric Template make a copy to edit
  • A Rubric for Rubrics
  • Bank of Online Discussion Rubrics in different formats
  • Mathematical Presentations Descriptive Rubric
  • Math Proof Assessment Rubric
  • Kansas State Sample Rubrics
  • Design Single Point Rubric

Technology Tools: Rubrics in Moodle

  • Moodle Docs: Rubrics
  • Moodle Docs: Grading Guide (use for single-point rubrics)

Tools with rubrics (other than Moodle)

  • Google Assignments
  • Turnitin Assignments: Rubric or Grading Form

Other resources

  • DePaul University (n.d.). Rubrics .
  • Gonzalez, J. (2014). Know your terms: Holistic, Analytic, and Single-Point Rubrics . Cult of Pedagogy.
  • Goodrich, H. (1996). Understanding rubrics . Teaching for Authentic Student Performance, 54 (4), 14-17. Retrieved from   
  • Miller, A. (2012). Tame the beast: tips for designing and using rubrics.
  • Ragupathi, K., Lee, A. (2020). Beyond Fairness and Consistency in Grading: The Role of Rubrics in Higher Education. In: Sanger, C., Gleason, N. (eds) Diversity and Inclusion in Global Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore.

writing rubric high school doc

11th-12th Grade Informative Writing Rubric

Offer 11th-12th Grade students a structure for informative writing with this standards-aligned rubric developed by educators for Feedback Studio.

Turnitin Teaching and Learning Innovations Team

Offer 11th-12th grade students a standards-aligned structure for argumentative writing with this educator-developed rubric.

Rubric suitable for formative and summative assignments with tasks involving the explanation of a topic. Use this rubric when asking students to explain information about a topic, to compare and contrast features, to discuss the benefits and limitations of something, etc. Consider using the 9th-12th Grade Informative QuickMark set with this rubric. These drag-and-drop comments were tailor-made by veteran educators to give actionable, formative feedback directly to students. While they were explicitly aligned to this particular rubric, you can edit or add your own content to any QuickMark. This rubric is available and ready to use in your Feedback Studio account. However, if you would like to customize its criteria, you can "Duplicate this rubric" in your Feedback Studio account and then edit the rubric as needed. Or, you can download this .rbc file and then import to your account to begin editing the content.

writing rubric high school doc

  • All Resources
  • Growing up & Staying Safe
  • Physical Education
  • Social and Emotional Learning
  • Asian American History
  • Black History
  • Hispanic Heritage
  • Anti-racism
  • Hidden Voices
  • Civic Education
  • Four Pillars for Building Trust in New York City Public Schools
  • Citywide Instructional Priority
  • Career Connected Learning
  • Our Instructional Principles Learn about how we will transform our system through the integration of academic and social-emotional learning, and establish a new path to academic recovery and reimagining.
  • Instructional Practices Learn about instructional practices that support student achievement.
  • Instructional Leadership Framework Learn about implementing the Instructional Leadership Framework in schools.
  • Supporting New Teachers Learn about the key beliefs, knowledge, and skills for first year teachers.
  • Professional Learning Learn about different ways to support professional learning in schools.
  • Civics for All
  • Vision for School Improvement Learn about how to embed the Framework for Great Schools into ongoing cycles of learning.

Speaking and listening and writing rubrics

These Common Core aligned rubric can be used to provide students feedback on their speaking and listening, and writing skills, as well as to help build persistence.

Included Resources

Speaking and listening skills rubric, speaking and listening skills ....

This Common Core aligned rubric can be used to provide students feedback on their speaking and listening skills, as well as to help build persistence.

Writing rubric aligned to Common Core Standar...

Writing rubric aligned to comm..., writing rubric aligned to common core standard 1.

This Common Core aligned rubric can be used to provide students feedback on their writing skills, as well as to help build persistence.

This collection is also included in these collections:

ratselmeister

ratselmeister

  • My Products (1)
  • Ratings & Reviews
  • Ask a Question

clear search

Not Grade Specific

  • Independent Work Packet

FREE Coloring Page with Decorated Ornament, Non-CU

Yet to be added

I have retired in 2007. In 1998 I’ve started my second career of puzzles and games designer/author/artist. Since that many of my works were published. This my second career is not highly profitable, yet very interesting and engaging. I also love to do various graphic design elements and, of course, educational materials.

Holidays/Seasonal , Christmas-Chanukah-Kwanzaa , Winter , The New Year

  • We're hiring
  • Help & FAQ
  • Privacy policy
  • Student privacy
  • Terms of service
  • Tell us what you think

Persuasion Rubric

Persuasion Rubric

About this printout

Use this rubric to assess the effectiveness of a student's essay, speech, poster, or any type of assignment that incorporates persuasion.

Teaching with this printout

More ideas to try, related resources.

Grading rubrics can be of great benefit to both you and your students. For you, a rubric saves time and decreases subjectivity. Specific criteria are explicitly stated, facilitating the grading process and increasing your objectivity. For students, the use of grading rubrics helps them meet or exceed expectations, to view the grading process as being “fair,” and helps them set goals for future learning. In order to help your students meet or exceed expectations of the assignment, be sure to discuss the rubric with your students when you assign a persuasion project. It is helpful to show them examples of pieces that meet and do not meet the expectations. As an added benefit, because the criteria are explicitly stated in the rubric, the use of it decreases the likelihood that students will be confused about the grade they receive. The explicitness of the expectations helps students know exactly why they lost points on the assignment and aids them in setting goals for future improvement.  Use the Visuals/Delivery category to grade audio and visual elements in speeches, PowerPoint presentations, blogs, posters, skits, podcasts, or any other assignment where visuals and delivery play roles. If your assignment does not require speech or visuals, simply disregard this part of the rubric.

  • Routinely have students score peers’ work using the rubric as the assessment tool. This increases their level of awareness of the traits that distinguish successful persuasive projects from those that fail to meet the criteria.
  • Alter some expectations or add additional traits on the rubric as needed. For example, if the assignment is to create a persuasive podcast, criteria such as articulation, communication, sound effects, and audio clarity may be added. You may also adapt the criteria to make it more rigorous for advanced learners and less stringent for lower level learners. In addition, you may want to include content-specific criteria for your subject area.
  • After you and your students have used the rubric, have them work in groups to make suggested alterations to the rubric to more precisely match their needs or the parameters of a specific persuasive assignment. For example, if you wanted them to work in cooperative groups to write and present persuasive skits, possible criteria could include teamwork and the length of the skit.
  • Lesson Plans
  • Student Interactives
  • Strategy Guides

Through a classroom game and resource handouts, students learn about the techniques used in persuasive oral arguments and apply them to independent persuasive writing activities.

The Persuasion Map is an interactive graphic organizer that enables students to map out their arguments for a persuasive essay or debate.

  • Print this resource

Explore Resources by Grade

  • Kindergarten K

IMAGES

  1. 46 Editable Rubric Templates (Word Format) ᐅ TemplateLab

    writing rubric high school doc

  2. writing rubric

    writing rubric high school doc

  3. Writing Prompts With Rubrics And Sample Answers Pdf: A Comprehensive Guide

    writing rubric high school doc

  4. writing rubric

    writing rubric high school doc

  5. 6 High School Writing Rubrics by Lynn Miller

    writing rubric high school doc

  6. 004 Argumentative Essay Rubric High School Writing Rubrics For English

    writing rubric high school doc

COMMENTS

  1. PDF High School Writing Scoring Rubrics (2017)

    Effective Fall 2019 High School Writing Scoring Rubrics (2017) Composing/Written Expression Score Point 4 (2017): The writer demonstrates consistent, though not necessarily perfect, control* of the Composing/Written Expression domain's features. The writing at this score point level:

  2. PDF Writing Assessment and Evaluation Rubrics

    the writing mode-specific rubrics, or the analytic rubrics designed specifically for the assignment. In addition, annotated above-average, average, and below-average

  3. PDF Essay Rubric

    Essay Rubric Directions: Your essay will be graded based on this rubric. Consequently, use this rubric as a guide when writing your essay and check it again before you submit your essay.

  4. 46 Editable Rubric Templates (Word Format) ᐅ TemplateLab

    Education / Teaching / Rubric Templates 46 Editable Rubric Templates (Word Format) A grading rubric template is a type of tool used for assessment. You can use it to express your expectations regarding the work of your students. In it, you'll define what you will assess. You'll also describe the criteria for how you will evaluate their work.

  5. PDF Rubrics for Assessing Student Writing, Listening, and Speaking

    High School Rubrics for Assessing Student Writing, Listening, & Speaking 3 • Many teachers model good papers, but few students are exposed to papers that contain various flaws that reduce the grade. The Glencoe Literature rubrics can help. Each column of the rubrics is ideal for effective, varied modeling. For example, a lesson on

  6. Rubric Best Practices, Examples, and Templates

    Step 1: Analyze the assignment The first step in the rubric creation process is to analyze the assignment or assessment for which you are creating a rubric. To do this, consider the following questions: What is the purpose of the assignment and your feedback?

  7. PDF Writing Assessment and Evaluation Rubrics

    the writing mode-specific rubrics, or the analytic rubrics designed specifically for the assignment. In addition, annotated above-average, average, and below-average

  8. PDF Rubric for a Narrative Writing Piece

    Narrative structure is noticeable, but the reader may have to infer it-sequence of episodes moves logically through time with some gaps. Some appropriate paragraphing. Evidence of coherence may depend on sequence. If present, transitions may be simplistic or even redundant. Structure is attempted, but reader may still have to infer.

  9. Essay Rubric

    Essay Rubric Grades 6 - 12 Printout Type Assessment Tool View Printout About this printout This rubric delineates specific expectations about an essay assignment to students and provides a means of assessing completed student essays. Teaching with this printout More ideas to try Teaching with this printout

  10. 11th-12th Grade Informative Writing Rubric

    Use this rubric when asking students to explain information about a topic, to compare and contrast features, to discuss the benefits and limitations of something, etc. Consider using the 9th-12th Grade Informative QuickMark set with this rubric.

  11. 22 Free Rubric Templates (Word Format) ᐅ DocFormats

    Education 22 Free Rubric Templates (Word Format) Teaching, while very fulfilling, can also be a very trying profession. It often requires a lot of commitment, patience, time management, and organizational skills to help your students succeed in their academic and personal lives.

  12. DOC California State University Dominguez Hills

    ÐÏ à¡± á> þÿ 9 ...

  13. PDF Teaching Analytical Writing Through Rubrics

    Microsoft Word - Rublle 5 Ses. B Maria Rost Rublee, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Government & World Affairs University of Tampa Teaching Analytical Writing Through Rubrics The Impetus All political science professors want to see their students write better, and more importantly, write more analytically.

  14. Speaking and listening and writing rubrics

    This collection is also included in these collections: Tools for developing students' writing and speaking and listening. These Common Core aligned rubric can be used to provide students feedback on their speaking and listening, and writing skills, as well as to help build persistence.

  15. PDF Reflective Writing Rubric

    Reflective Writing Rubric. Demonstrate a conscious and thorough understanding of the writing prompt and the subject matter. This reflection can be used as an example for other students. Demonstrate a thoughtful understanding of the writing prompt and the subject matter. Demonstrate a basic understanding of the writing prompt and the subject matter.

  16. PDF Persuasive Rubric

    Persuasive Rubric. for WORKSHOP 5 CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION Transitional words and phrases, paral- 'el structure, and repetition create coherence. Conclusion restates opinion, summarizes rea- sons, and/or includes a call to action. continued SCORE POINT 4 Effective transitional words and phrases, parallel structure, and repetition create ...

  17. PDF Speech Rubric

    Clarity. Speaks clearly and distinctly all the time with no mispronounced words. Speaks clearly and distinctly nearly all the time with no more than one mispronounced word. Speaks clearly and distinctly most of the time with no more than two mispronounced words. Often mumbles or can not be understood with more than three mispronounced words.

  18. ratselmeister Teaching Resources

    FREE Coloring Page with Decorated Ornament, Non-CU. By ratselmeister. This is winter holidays themed coloring page with christmas tree decorated ornament and winter scene. ***** Commercial use is NOT allowed. ***** Coloring page comes as black and white printable fitting A4 or Letter sized paper, in PNG format, of. Subjects:

  19. Fast Facts: International comparisons of achievement (1)

    Average reading scale scores of fourth-grade students on PIRLS, by education system: 2016. 1 National Defined Population covers less than 90 percent of the National Target Population (but at least 77 percent).. 2 National Defined Population covers 90 to 95 percent of the National Target Population.. 3 Met guidelines for sample participation rates only after replacement schools were included.

  20. PDF Persuasion Rubric

    Persuasion Rubric Directions: Your assignment will be graded based on this rubric. Consequently, use this rubric as a guide when working on your assignment and check it again before you submit it.

  21. Calendar

    Interest-Based Bargaining (IBB) 2023-2024; Interest-Based Bargaining (IBB) 2022/23; Interest Based Bargaining (IBB) 2021/22

  22. Persuasion Rubric

    Routinely have students score peers' work using the rubric as the assessment tool. This increases their level of awareness of the traits that distinguish successful persuasive projects from those that fail to meet the criteria. Alter some expectations or add additional traits on the rubric as needed. For example, if the assignment is to ...

  23. Home

    Home - Moscow School District #281. Pause. WELCOME TO THE. MOSCOW SCHOOL DISTRICT! THE PRIDE OF THE NORTH! Forward February!!! Moscow School District Patrons, Parents, Staff Members, and Students, I want to thank all of you for sharing my optimism for the Moscow School District in January. I had so many people comment to me or visit with me ...