Benefits of rubrics

Well-developed rubrics provide different benefits for those involved in learning and teaching, including:

Students - Rubrics induct students into academic standards and notions of quality.

Different educators and faculties may have varying standards and notions of quality, so rubrics provide students with a clear overview of what quality looks like for a specific assessment task. Additionally, rubrics help students understand the differing expectations at various levels, such as from first-year to third-year studies.

For students, a rubric:

  • serves as a guide to completing assessments and understanding criteria and standards
  • provides feedback on which criteria have been met or need improvement
  • develops students’ evaluative judgement
  • expresses skills, attributes and abilities that are valued within the unit
  • clarifies what is valued in the task

Educators - Rubrics articulate the difficult concepts of internally held standards.

Rubrics require educators to articulate standards and identify what makes quality work, quality. They should be explicitly unpacked with students when they are being introduced to the assessment, ideally with exemplars, which help to clarify what the language of the descriptors means. Rubrics allow educators to justify their judgements and can be used to calibrate varied concepts of quality.

For educators, a rubric:

  • is an instrument to guide and moderate the marking of assessments
  • provides consistency amongst markers
  • prompts conversations about quality
  • allows critical engagement with quality
  • makes implicit standards transparent

Institutions - Rubrics assure quality and justify standards and judgements in grading.

Quality assurance of grading, marking and conferring of awards is a key part of regulation. Transferability of understanding of quality and grading practices are important for sustainable operations.

For institutions, a rubric:

  • is an instrument to standardise notions of quality and academic standards
  • justifies and legitimises grades and conferring of awards
  • supports student grievance procedures
  • provides evidence for audits

Sometimes, the needs and priorities for students, educators and institutions might be in conflict or have competing interests. However, the overall aim is to work towards clarity, transparency and consistency. Rubrics can be a source of robust discussions, as they require us to articulate and interpret concepts that are difficult to quantify and communicate.