Rubrics in the SLO & Assessment Cycle

Summary by Krista Goguen, Senate Faculty Development Committee and Karen Carlisi, WAC Project Coordinator.

Rubrics can be used to assess student work in a course or in an assignment or project. 
The process of developing a rubric can help you identify and clarify the essential traits (performance objectives or learning outcomes) of the assignment/project/course.  Rubrics that use a descriptive rating scale help both the student and the instructor identify the student’s strengths and weaknesses related to the course outcome or assignment objectives.  See the example “Rubrics Worksheet” below.

 

The SLO Steering Committee and the SLO Division Council recommend these rating guidelines for developing descriptors to assess traits in your rubric.  These guidelines and suggested wording to define the rating categories relate to the current PCC Grading System in the PCC catalog.  Descriptors for each performance or objective must be determined for points 1, 3 and 5.  Including points 2 and 4 is optional. 

Suggested Rubric rating scale guidelines:      

5 Mastery         4 accomplished            3 Adequate          2 developing           1 Inadequate

 

RUBRICS WORKSHEET:  EXAMPLE

 

1.  Look at your course description or assignment.  List (4) traits that you consider most important.

 

Example traits for a writing assignment or project:

     Synthesis of ideas from reading into writing

     Analysis of key ideas and experience

     Written Expression

     Organization

     Completeness

 

2.  Choose one trait to work on:  synthesis of ideas from reading into writing

 

3.  Write the descriptors for the lowest and highest points on the scale.

 

Stated Objective or Performance: 

Inadequate Demonstration
1

Excellent/ Mastery
5

Synthesis of ideas from reading into writing

Makes significant errors in synthesizing the ideas and/or information, resulting in a failed response to the task.

Uses a creative and unique approach to accurately and effectively synthesize information and/or ideas for an in-depth response to the task.

 

4.  Write a descriptor for the intermediate point on the scale (#3).

 

Stated Objective or Performance:

Inadequate Demonstration
1

Adequate Competence
3

Excellent/
Mastery
5

Synthesis of ideas from reading into writing

 

 

Synthesizes the ideas and/or information sufficiently to adequately respond to the writing task.

 

 

 

 

Inadequate

1

Developing

2

Adequate

3

Accomplished

4

Mastery

5

Score

1st Stated Objective or Performance:

 

Synthesis of ideas from reading into writing

 

Makes significant errors in synthesizing the ideas and/or information, resulting in a failed response to the task.

 

Synthesizes the ideas and/or information imprecisely, insufficiently, or awkwardly, which weakens the task response.

Synthesizes the ideas and/or information sufficiently to adequately respond to the writing task.

Accurately and concisely synthesizes ideas and/or information from a reading task for a thoughtful response to a writing task.

Uses a creative and unique approach to accurately and effectively synthesize information and/or ideas for an in-depth response to the task.

 

2nd Stated Objective or Performance:

Written expression

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Developed by Karen Carlisi – Pasadena City College 3/28/06