Here is a holistic rubric I used for grading English Composition papers.
INTRODUCTION: Wrote an engaging opening sentence. (10 Points)
THESIS: Stated your thesis clearly and accurately. (10 Points)
ORGANIZATION: Organized paper into an introduction, body, and conclusion. (10 Points)
DEVELOPMENT: Explained your point using one or more of the development strategies appropriate to your purpose in essay of approximately 500-750 words. (20 points)
COHERENCE: Used clear transitions keyed to the development strategies you used. (10 points)
CONCLUSION: Wrapped up your explanation in a clear concluding sentence or two. (10 points)
RESEARCH: Used two research sources and acknowledged sources using MLA format for in-text citations and a list of works cited. (10 points)
CORRECTNESS: Writing contains no serious in grammar, punctuation, and spelling. (20 points)
Why use rubrics?
Conrad states, "Rubric score and tools that layout of the grading criteria explicitly, often in a matrix using three or four criteria is on a scale of 1 to 3 or four points. Rubrics describe expectations for a forum posting, learning assignment, project or team collaboration so that students understand the characteristics of their grade.". 70
I have always used rubrics for grading because rubrics gives a list of criteria of what students are to expect from their grade. When I use a rubric, I'm able to fill-in what criteria students are weak in and so if a student gets a low-grade all he has to do is look at his rubric and see what criteria he hasn't done very well in and then he or she would know exactly where he got his 85% or 95%. When I use a rubric in class, I avoid a lot of students asking why they got points taken off their grade. Another advantage of a rubric is that when you post the rubric in class students know what to expect and what aim for and what the focus for when they do an assignment and so students can use the rubric as a sort of checklist of what is required in that assignment to get a good grade for that assignment.
If you use an Irubric, then your school can also measure what percentage of students are getting A's what percentage of students are getting B's, and what percentage of students are getting C's and D's and whether or not the department as whole is fulfilling its mission of teaching students how to write a research paper. So for instance, if 95% of students get an A, then that means the department as a whole is fulfilling very well its mission of teaching students how to write a research paper; however, if only 5% of students are getting an A, then that means that the department is not fulfilling its mission very well of teaching students how to write a research paper. The Irubrics are not only useful for telling students what they did wrong on an assignment or what to expect from an assignment to get a good grade but it can also measure how well the department is fulfilling its mission by displaying in percentages and data analysis how well students are doing in the school at large and the department at large.
I believe there should be three different rubrics one for 100 level classes another rubric for 200 level classes and another rubric for 300 and 400 level classes And I believe that the school should use the same standard rubric across all departments and also give the teacher some wiggle room to personalize the rubric to fit her class or to give each department some wiggle room to personalize the rubric to fit that department needs.
I love using rubrics because they are fun and easy and make grading faster and result in fewer questions from students and fewer complaints from students when I gave a low-grade. So I highly recommend the use of rubrics and I also recommend that the LMS have rubrics built into the program so that faculty can just use the rubrics that's already in the LMS.
The Internet has many sample rubrics you can choose from so if you are a course designer and you blank out on how to create a rubric you can look up look up the Internet and see many different sample rubrics to choose from and the I rubric comes with a template you can use as well. Have fun using those rubrics.
Do you use rubrics to grade papers in your class? Are you for or against rubrics? And why?
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