www.education.vic.gov.au/studentlearning/assessment/preptoyear10/tools/
Department of Education
Rubrics
Description:
A rubric is a printed set of criteria for assessing
knowledge, performance or product and for giving
feedback.
How could I use it?
 To assess knowledge, performance or product.
 To make explicit for students what is being
assessed.
 To identify areas where improvements can be
made.
 To identify areas where extra support may be
needed.
Why should I use it?
Rubrics can be used to:
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focus teaching and learning
involve students more closely in their
assessment
set explicit standards that students can
understand
develop students’ competence at selfassessment.
When should I use it?  At the beginning of a learning activity.
 During a learning activity to guide their work.
 At the completion of a learning activity to assess
learning or performance.
Last updated: 16.02.07
www.education.vic.gov.au/studentlearning/assessment/preptoyear10/tools/
How do I use it?
Department of Education
 Discuss the criteria of the performance or product to
be assessed before students begin work. This discussion
can be undertaken with students and teachers.
 Look at some examples of student work to see if you
have omitted any important criteria.
 Refine and consolidate your list of criteria as needed.
 Write a definition of each of the criteria.
 Develop a scale or continuum for describing the range
of products or performances on each of the criteria. Take
care to ensure your continuum for each rubric is always
set out the same way for example, lowest performance
on the left and highest on the right.
 You could also develop a holistic scale or a checklist on
which you could record the presence or absence of the
attributes of a quality product or performance.
 You should test your rubric or checklist on samples of
student work.
 Make changes to your rubric if necessary and try it out
again.
 Give the rubric to your students when they begin their
learning activity. It could be used as part of a cover page
for submission.
 There are many sites on the internet that can assist in
the development of rubrics. Be wary of using rubrics
developed by other people for other assessment tasks.
They may not always be a ‘good fit’ to your assessment
task.
 A few good rubric sites are listed below, but there are
more being developed daily:
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Last updated: 16.02.07
http://rubistar.4teachers.org
http://www.ncsu.edu/midlink/ho.html