Rubrics

Rubrics help students recognize learning goals and guide them in reaching for those goals. Particularly useful in student-directed teaching approaches, like inquiry-based learning, rubrics can be used to assess content mastery, skill development, or even attitude toward a topic.

Developing a rubric involves clearly identifying and articulating specific outcomes of learning and structuring those criteria in an easy-to-use format that serves as a reference tool in guiding learning and an assessment tool for evaluating success. In inquiry-based instruction, faculty can work collaboratively with students to develop the rubric, or integrate the rubric by distributing it as part of the assignment description and/or for students to use in peer- or self-assessment.

For instructions on creating and implementing a rubric, see Idea 10: Inquiry-based Learning (IBL) Rubric Development Guide, CII Innovative Teaching Showcase, 2015-16.

• Rubrics — University of Delaware Office of Educational Assessment
• Authentic Assessment Toolbox — Jon Mueller, North Central College, Illinois
  • Create the Rubric
• Creating and Using Rubrics — University of Hawai'i at Mānoa
  • What, why, how, examples, calibration, and tips
• Rubric Best Practices, Examples, and Templates — Teaching Resources, NC State University
  • Types of rubrics, designing the criteria, and creating the value scale
  • Includes examples, best practices, and how-to guides
• Rubrics for Assessment — Northern Illinois University 
• Rubrics: Useful Assessment Tool — University of Waterloo
  • Why you should use rubrics 
• Using Rubrics — Center for Teaching Innovation, Cornell University
  • What rubrics do, considerations for using them, and how to use them - simple breakdown

• Comprehensive Lists of Rubrics:
  • Disciplinary Examples — Authentic Assessment Toolbox
  • Examples of Rubrics — Syracuse University 
  • Rubric Bank — University of Hawai'i at Mānoa
    • Organized by type of learning
  • Rubric Rubric — University of Colorado Denver
  • Rubrics — Seattle Colleges 
• Blog:
  • Student Blogging Assignments — North Carolina State University 
• Papers, Projects, Presentations, Class Participation:
  • Creating and Using Rubrics — Eberly Center, Carnegie Mellon
  • Articulating Grading Criteria — Florida International University 
  • Research Presentation Rubric — Harvard University
  • Understanding Rubrics — Heidi Goodrich Andrade
• Discussion Board:
  • Create Discussion Rubrics — University of Central Florida 
  • Blended Learning  — Simmons College
• Proposal and Teamwork
  • Evaluating Team Projects — Cornell University 
• Critical Thinking:
  • General Education Critical Thinking Rubric — Northeastern Illinois University
  • Critical Thinking Scoring Rubric — Washington State University 
  • VALUE Rubrics - Critical Thinking — AAC&U
  • Critical Thinking Rubric — Louisiana State University New Orleans 
  • Quantitative Reasoning Rubric — Louisiana State University New Orleans 

• iRubric — made by Rcampus
  • Create a free account to use the rubrics creation tool with other advanced features
• RubiStar 
  • Free tool to help create quality rubrics from various assignment-based or discipline-oriented templates

Note: These focus on online courses, but the qualities generally transcend course format.

• Online Course Development Guide and Rubric — University of Southern Mississippi Learning Enhancement Center’s online resource for rubrics
• Online Course Rubric — PBWorks
  • Evaluates the effectiveness of instruction of online courses
• Exemplary Online Instruction (EOI) — California State University Chico 
• Quality Matters Rubric — Quality Matters
  • Set of standards used to evaluate the design on online and blended courses

• Bresciani, M., Zelna, C.,& Anderson, J., Assessing Student Learning and Development: A Handbook for Practitioners, NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, 2004.
• Brookhart, S., How to Create and Use Rubrics for Formative Assessment and Grading, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2013.
• Goggins Selke, M., Rubric Assessment Goes to College: Objective, Comprehensive Evaluation of Student Work, R&L Education, 2013.
• Stevens, D. & Stevens, M. Introduction to Rubrics: An Assessment Tool to Save Grading Time, Convey Effective Feedback, and Promote Student Learning, Third Edition, Stylus Publishing, LLC, 2026. 

Mentioned relevant books may be available through the CII's Lending Library or Wilson Library.