Ever wonder why you should use rubric grading in your high school classroom? The short answer is that it will make your teacher life so much easier! It will help save you so much time and a bit of your sanity. When I started teaching I only used rubrics for big projects but now I use them for virtually everything I grade and let me tell you, it had a positive impact on both me and my students. With these tips, I hope to help you start using more rubrics when grading to help your teacher life run more smoothly!
Before we jump in, if you are looking to get started with standards-based grading in your high school classroom, then I may have just the right thing for you! Get started on your standards-based grading journey with my free guidebook that outlines how to implement standards-based grading in your high school classroom. I will walk you step by step as you set up your grading system. Become a standards-based grading rockstar today!
What is rubric grading?
Rubric grading is exactly as it sounds, using a rubric to grade any sort of assessment. Most teachers think about using rubrics for grading when it comes to large projects, but I am here to tell you that rubrics can be used for ANY assessment!
A rubric is a tool that outlines the criteria that the teacher is assessing. Traditionally, a rubric is a large table with multiple rows and columns. Rows usually state the specific grading requirements. Columns state the requirements to achieve a certain score or mastery level.
Within the boxes are detailed descriptions of the specific requirements necessary to achieve each score. Reading through the rubric, a student would see what they would need to do to earn the highest amount of points for a criterion. For example, a common criterion in a rubric might include spelling and grammar. To achieve the highest score in this section, a student could not make more than two mistakes.
For teachers, as they are assessing, they look for the boxes that are met by the work presented in front of them. Once the teacher selects a box for each criterion, they tally the total amount of points earned. To determine the grade, teachers often take the points earned and divide that by the total possible points to get a percentage score.
Traditional rubric grading as described above is often reserved for projects. But teachers can use rubric grading beyond projects. Rubrics can be used to score exit tickets, quizzes, or tests.
In a standards-based grading system, rubrics can be used for all types of assessment. Because grades are tied to standards rather than assignments, the teacher grades each assessment using a rubric.
On one particular assessment, let’s say a test, a student might be assessed on three standards at once. Each individual standard would represent a row on the rubric. In the columns, there are descriptions of the different mastery levels for that particular standard.
Why I switched to grading with rubrics?
Before switching to rubric grading, I used to view the process of grading as such a chore. Like I really dreaded it but I knew it was something I had to do. It just wasn’t my favorite part of teaching. I enjoyed being in front of students and watching the learning process take place in front of my eyes.
Additionally, grading was always a struggle because I used a point system. For any assignment, I had to decide how many points to make the assignment. Was it 5 points, 10 points, 50, or even 100? Usually, the higher the point value assigned, the more important it was. Also, what was the value of each question? Sometimes it would be as simple as one point per question but other times, open-response questions would have a higher value.
But the problem with this was that I felt like I was arbitrarily deciding how to assign these points. All assignments are important for the process of learning but I am over here making some worth more than others. But why?
When grading these assignments, I also had to decide when to deduct points. On open-response questions, this task seemed so overwhelming to me. How do I fairly grade these open-ended questions? Yes, there is a target answer I am looking for, but some students give such a detailed, expert explanation while others just give the essentials. Do they get the same points?
There was just so much subjectivity grading this way. I would spend many hours going through assessments to ensure I was being as fair as possible. I did not want to take a point off on one person’s test but not on another’s when they said similar answers. Because we all know that students compare answers, I wanted to avoid the inevitable “Why did Rob not get a point off here when I did?”.
I brought up this struggle to a more veteran teacher and this began a conversation about what grades actually mean. He pointed me towards standards-based grading and using rubrics. By using rubrics, there is no longer the struggle of assigning and deducting points. It simplifies grading into 4 or 5 categories per standard so there is no gray area.
I have found so much success with rubric grading that I want to share with you how I use it in my class to hopefully help you, making your life a little bit easier.
Why I love a 4 point rubric grading scale
First things first, when it comes to rubric grading, you need a simplified grading scale. Gone are the days of these massive rubrics with columns for every possible point value from 0-10. Instead, make rubric grading easy by using a simple 4 point scale.
You can use numerical values or descriptor terms with this 4-point scale. For example, you can use level 4, level 3, level 2, and level 1 or you could use descriptors like mastery, meeting, approaching, and not there yet.
In the rubric, each row would represent each grading criteria. Then the columns would indicate the score earned on that standard.
Save time by creating a rubric grading template
The most important thing you can do with rubric grading to make your life easier is to have a template that you can use and apply to any assessment. You can create rubrics in programs like Google Sheets or Excel.
After reading a blog on Edutopia, I came across the concept of a single-point rubric, and instantly I was hooked. Oftentimes, making rubrics can be so daunting because ahead of time, you need to describe the requirements needed to meet each grading category at each level on the 4-point scale. But with the single-point rubric, things are so much easier!
You start with a simple table that is three columns wide. A column for the grading criteria, one for the score (from the 4-point scale), and one more for any feedback.
With this simple template, you can then add rows for all the different items you are assessing. But there is no need to write out a description for each level. Instead, when you look over the work, you determine what level of mastery the student has achieved. Is the work a level 4 (mastery of the standard) meaning the work demonstrates content/skills in complex ways? Is it just a level 3? Etc. As a teacher, it is easy for us to distinguish the work.
Because you did not provide descriptions of each level in the rubric, the last column is the most important. Here you would provide any feedback to help the student improve. If they did not achieve the highest level, you can explain why.
By having this template, you can easily just modify the grading criteria and it is ready to use.
Develop a comment bank that you can use time and time again
While having a rubric template can save you a lot of hassle, the last column where you provide mastery-oriented feedback can definitely seem daunting.
But just as we created a template that we can use time and time again, the same will go for the comments. To save time in providing feedback, it is essential to have a comment bank with saved comments that you can use over and over again.
It may take some time to build up a comment bank, but after grading one or two assessments in this manner, you will start to see patterns and themes emerge in the feedback you give consistently such that you save specific comments.
I like to keep a Google doc of my most used comments. Also, Google Classroom has a built-in feature to save comments. So if you provide feedback directly in Google Classroom, this can be a time saver.
And if this still seems like a lot of work, I have seen some teachers use verbal feedback. They take a quick voice recording and link it to the last column of the rubric. For many people, speaking is a lot quicker than typing. It would also allow you to easily personalize the feedback to individual students.
My personal drawback with voice-recorded feedback is that I tend to ramble on and on. I find it is quicker for me to use the written comment bank method. Ideally, you just need to find what works best for you.
This method works so well for me that I now actually enjoy grading. I feel like I am actually doing my job and helping students when I give such detailed feedback. My students also greatly appreciate the time and consideration I take in giving them feedback. They see my investment in their education and I believe it has helped them improve. They take my feedback seriously and work to fix any errors.
If I were to just circle a box with a generic description that says they got 8 points instead of the max 10, the student doesn’t see any real value in that feedback. It is not personal and they are probably not likely to make adjustments. I have seen so much success by giving detailed feedback.
Use a rubric grading calculator to covert into a percentage grade (if you must)
If you use a standards-based grading system, then you would just input each grade on each standard into your grade book. But for those, like me, who need one grade per assignment, then you need to convert these rubric grades into a percentage grade. For this, I use a rubric grading calculator.
Basically, my rubric grading calculator is a rubric for my rubrics. If a student earns a level 4 (mastery) on each standard assessed, that would represent a score of 100. If a student earns mostly level 4 scores with just one level 3, then that = 95%. All level 3s represent 85%. And this continues on.
Check out these other resources about grading
How does standards-based grading work in a successful high school classroom
5 effective tips for making your AP classes grading scale successful
Easy grading calculator for standards-based grading
I absolutely love sharing my ideas about my standards-based grading system and hope that you find my ideas helpful for your classroom! After reading this, if you feel you are ready to take the plunge into standards-based grading in your high school classroom, sign up for my free guidebook to become an expert at standards-based grading! And let me know how you do rubric grading by leaving a comment below!
