The holistic headings are used to evaluate the entire process without separately addressing the parts that comprise. It is that they are easier to elaborate and apply than analytics. On the other hand, the feedback with this type of creating a rubric is less than with the analytical one.

The analytical rubrics, which are what I use as a formative assessment tool, are used when the performance requested of the student requires different criteria. The teacher evaluates the different parts of the performance separately and then adds the score of each one to obtain a final grade. Although the evaluation process is slower than the holistic rubric, creating a rubric offers a high degree of feedback with the student.

7 steps on creating a rubric

Before tackling the steps I follow for the preparation of an analytical rubric, let me know what the advantages of this formative evaluation instrument are for me:

• Describe the different levels of achievement of a student qualitatively.
• Let the students know what the evaluation criteria are.
• They allow a more objective evaluation.
• They more adequately fit the student’s expectations regarding learning outcomes.
• They promote the responsibility of the students since they are involved in the elaboration process.
• They indicate to the student their strengths and weaknesses.

As you can see, the evaluation becomes more effective if the students understand, participate. Share the learning process from the beginning. Moreover, students learn more when they know from the beginning of activity what criteria will be used to assess their level of performance.

The seven steps to creating a rubric are the following:

1. Determine what type of learning is going to be measured. The evaluation criteria that will describe the achievement achieved and what kind of task is appropriate to demonstrate that achievement.
2. Determine the type of rubric. You have to choose between a holistic rubric (summative evaluation) or an analytical rubric (formative assessment). In my case, I always recommend analytics.
3. Decide the levels of valuation. It is about deciding the evaluation criteria. For this, it is convenient to write a rubric with three levels, where one extreme is the maximum level that can be reached, another height that is the lowest, and another intermediate that represents the average of both. Once these three criteria are established, I recommend expanding to five reference points.
4. Describe the specific performance levels of the criteria that will be used to evaluate the task.
5. Build a table that contains the aspects to be evaluated, the performance levels, and the description of each of these levels. The quality scale is placed in the upper horizontal row, with graduation that goes from better to worse. In the vertical column, the aspects that have been selected for evaluation are placed. In the central cells, the indicators that are going to be used to evaluate each one of these aspects are described.
6. Test the rubric to verify that it is useful to measure the aspects for which it has been designed. It is always positive that another teacher reviews the rubric.
7. After the student’s performance, the corresponding level must be assigned, and the relevant observations must be made to justify the accredited assessment.

Evaluation of rubrics

As you can see, the process of an analytical rubric is a process that stops, inescapably, through a series of stages that have as objective the regulation of learning by the student, as well as their reflection and feedback of what the teacher wants them to learn.

The rubric is an excellent opportunity to take the evaluation towards a formative assessment, where the process prevails over the results and where the regulation by the student makes it possible to learn by doing.