The Power of Rubrics—Students Take Control of Their Own Learning and Achievement
By Lynda Van Kuren
Summary: Patti West-Smith, an expert in pedagogy from Turnitin, explains that with a bit of up-front guidance, rubrics help students become self-directed learners who see exactly how to improve before turning in their paper or assignment.
Rachel was devastated when she received a so-so grade on the paper she’d worked so hard on for her freshman writing class. However, thanks to the rubric her professor used, Rachel knew the exact areas that caused her trouble. Armed with that information, Rachel sought help on those specific problems, and she received an A on her next paper.
As Rachel’s story illustrates, in addition to being outstanding assessment tools, rubrics perform another, equally important function. They are an excellent medium for teaching and learning, particularly in writing, STEM, and other subjects that require critical thinking and analysis.
Through well-constructed rubrics, students are given a path they can follow to improve their academic performance, according to Patti West-Smith, senior manager of teaching and learning innovations for Turnitin.
“Rubrics are a communication device that gives students performance expectations and helps them take charge of their own learning,” she says. “They take what is unclear to students and make it very concrete.”
Turning rubrics into a means of self-directed learning requires some preparatory work, but once that is done, they provide multiple ways in which students can use them to steer their academic performance.
Rubrics as Teaching Tools
For rubrics to serve as a teaching tool, as well as a valid assessment tool, they must meet certain criteria. In the most commonly used rubrics, educators state each element of the project, report, or paper to be scored and then determine their expectations for the assignment and what each level of mastery looks like.
While educators can develop their own rubrics, they can also use rubrics provided by Turnitin and other organizations and customize them for their classes and students’ needs.
Below is a well-constructed rubric that is used as a teaching tool.
As can be seen above, rubrics enable faculty to score assignments quickly and fairly as well as give students feedback about the specific areas in which they need to improve. Take Rachel, for example. Had Rachel received only a low grade on her paper, what she needed to do to improve would have been a mystery. Instead, the rubric showed not only that she had weaknesses in four areas, but also how her work didn’t meet the criteria in each of those areas.
Such explicit feedback can be especially helpful if a student is on the cusp between two scores. A professor can use the language in the rubric to explain the improvements needed and back that up with tangible examples, says West-Smith.
“The professor is literally using a rubric to help his or her students understand what they have to do to show mastery of a particular skill,” she says. “That is really the essence of what formative work should look like.”
Preparing Students to Use Rubrics
The first step in using rubrics as a teaching device is to teach students how to use them, says West-Smith. This is best done with a series of activities that involve students with the rubric. A writing professor could begin by asking her students to assess their own work on an assignment. Next, each student would discuss his or her scores with a classmate in a peer conference. If there is disagreement, the writer should determine why he disagrees with his peer’s assessment as well as the documentation he needs to support his opinion.
“We’re actually teaching students the thought process that goes into being a critical writer or critical mathematician,” says West-Smith. “We’re teaching them to engage with the rubric by building it into the process.”
Also, for rubrics to serve as learning tools, educators must give them to students before handing out assignments.
A GPS for Student Learning
In essence, rubrics serve as detailed road maps for students. When assigned a major project or paper, students–especially those with learning disabilities, executive processing issues, or other cognitive problems–can become overwhelmed by the tasks involved and unable to discern what is most important. Rubrics remove the confusion and let them know what to focus on and where to put their time and energy, according to West-Smith.
Next, with rubric in hand, students can not only decide what performance level they want to achieve on an assignment, they can also see exactly what to do to get it. A student can obtain the score he wants by ensuring his work meets the criteria for each level of the assignment. He can also double check that he meets the standards for each level by comparing his work to the examples provided.
However, if a student has a gap in his knowledge, the rubric shows him where he needs to improve. Before the student completes the assignment, he can remediate his weak skills by seeking assistance from the professor, Writing Center, or tutor, or by studying additional resources.
“When students work with a rubric, they have a document that’s almost a GPS for the assignment, says West-Smith. “They know what has to be done, what the level of skill is, and they can check themselves against the rubric. It’s empowering for students to know exactly what they have to do, what their priorities are, and what the levels of expectation are.”
Even when students don’t realize exactly where they have a problem until they get their assignments back, the rubric still shows them where to focus their learning. Furthermore, with the rubric, the student and professor or tutor have a common language with which to communicate. Again, Rachel is a good example: the rubric directed her follow-up with her tutor. After Rachel learned from the rubric that her writing needed to improve in four areas if she was to meet the criteria for advanced writing, she used the rubric language to explain to her tutor exactly where and how she fell short. Rachel’s tutor then lasered in on those areas, giving Rachel targeted exercises to address each weakness, which Rachel incorporated into her next assignment. In short, Rachel helped herself by using the critical information provided in the rubric, a process West-Smith calls a victory.
Finally, rubrics show students there are gradations between success and failure, and they can move between them depending on what they do.
“That’s a really important philosophical concept for students to understand,” she adds. “That they can actively do things to move themselves between performance levels.”
Addressing Long-Term Weaknesses
When rubrics, or elements of a rubric, are used consistently throughout the term, students can see patterns in their performance. They can identify the areas in which they always receive high scores, while areas in which their performance is subpar become glaringly obvious.
“When students use the professor’s feedback for reflection, they can see trends,” says West-Smith. “Rubrics become an information tool. We’re giving students feedback about their own performance.”
A good way to help students overcome persistent weaknesses is to ask them to review their rubrics after a period of time and develop a personal action plan to address problem areas.
“We need to teach students that they can pull their own data and make strategic decisions about what to focus on and what resources to seek out,” says West-Smith. “They can determine the specific steps they need to take to improve and implement them in the next assignment. It’s a process they can build off of, not just what they are learning in this specific activity but what they learned in every activity that led up to it.”
A Tool for Self-Advocacy
Rubrics give students control over their academic progress through self-advocacy. Too often when students assess their work, they have no objective basis for their decisions. Rubrics change that. They give students a rationale as well as examples for their opinions and a common language with which to express their ideas. “Rubrics change the nature of the conversation. It doesn’t become a wishy-washy, open-ended discussion.”
Internalizing Quality Performance
One of the most important ways in which rubrics help students progress is by giving them an understanding of quality work. They learn what is needed for a high-quality research paper, lab report, or other assignment from the examples and criteria provided on the rubric. As students compare the examples, they start to internalize performance levels.
“It becomes a part of the student’s entire mindset about quality work, and they understand there are different levels of quality,” says West-Smith. “They know they have to include certain component parts to get to that high quality of thinking, and it starts to change their whole understanding of the standards involved in an assignment. Those standards become a part of their mindset and their metacognition of what is involved in achieving high performance levels.”
Engaged, Motivated Learners
When students know they can take specific actions to earn the score or grade they want, they become engaged learners. Motivation spikes, they believe in themselves, and they set goals, first for specific assignments and then for long-term achievement. And when students set their own goals, they’ll move heaven and earth to meet them, says West-Smith.
“Students gain insight into what they can do to impact their progress and performance,” she adds. “Rubrics give them a sense of their own power in the learning process. They improve because they believe they can.”
About the Author:
Lynda Van Kuren is a freelance education writer based in North Carolina. She writes about K-12, higher education, and EdTech.
