Image by: Sal Falko
When it comes to creating rubrics for students, it is important to include the quantitative and qualitative aspects. I never understood what makes an A, an A because there are so many other aspects to consider when grading the quality and quantity of one’s work. As a student myself, I sometimes find it frustrating the way some teachers grade, and I am always questioning for an explanation. This is probably one of the most important reasons to create a clear rubric, which indicates whether the student is exceeding, meeting or not meeting the criteria.
Well, I finally created my first rubric. Out of all of my education major courses, I have not yet been assigned to create a rubric, although I have seen them many times. The rubric I created was for a problem based learning project I have been creating on water resources. 
I choose to have the students perform a final presentation either live or on video to present their solutions. Several portions of my rubric include both quantitative and qualitative grading. The portions that are graded include: graphic organizer, visual graphs and data charts, presentation content, and oral presentation. They all include descriptive information that represents the quality of their work. Some portions also include a quantity, for instance, visual graphs and data charts. Students are to complete a certain number of this product in order to meet criteria. If the student goes beyond that number, they are obviously exceeding. If the student does not meet all the criteria, then they will lose points based on their situation. To make it easy, I just included point sections for exceeds, meets and does not meet criteria with exceeds being the highest weighted. If the student does exactly what is expected of them, then they will only receive a B. If the student puts in more effort and goes above the expectations, then the student will have achieved an A with outstanding effort. I feel like if a student just shows up to school and does their work, then did a good job, but could have done better; hence the reason for a B. There are more details to my rubric, so I will just include a picture if you want to look it over.
Grading can become a sensitive subject, and the information should clearly indicate as to what constitutes the grade received. Once students know what is expected of them, they have a higher chance of aiming for those A’s.
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JCarmell's blog 
Janice,
I had never come across a rubric, they way Nori has presented them to us, until her class. In all my classes at UCR, I remember getting bullet point lists with what was required, but it wasn’t as clear as I’ve seen them here. I know exactly what needs to be done in order to get full/partial/no credit. In terms of qualitative, I agree that that grading is where students are supposed to demonstrate they’ve scratched beyond the surface. While there is more of a grey area, having students perform and exceed those expectations is what we ultimately want, right? Who cares if a student can correctly pick out, out of a possible of four choices, what year the French Revolution ended if the student can’t describe why it was so important to modern forms of Democracy. Show I’d rather have a student be a little off on exact dates, yet understand major concepts and ideas. This form of assessment, I think, is more productive to students long term learning methods. If we get students to produce quality work, critical thinking, analysis and so forth; those skills will significantly help students more in the long term.
Thanks for your response! I think you said it well; I would rather have students be a little off on exact dates and understand more of the major concepts and ideas, which would be beneficial in the long run. I think we need more of this instruction and self directed learning approaches in order for students to achieve this and successfully prepare them for the unknown future.
I am in total agreement with Steven. It is much more important to show knowledge of concepts and ideas rather than know basic facts like dates and what not. As I learn more about common core, it seems to me that they are trying to steer teachers toward going deeper, depth over breadth. And about your college “teachers”, I had the same experience. Most of them were very bright people but not the best teachers. I guess that is why they call them lecturers. Janice, I totally agree that rubric’s should always be very clear in what is expected. I like how Nori is having us work on our rubric first, obviously not her first rodeo. I like your three prong scale “To make it easy, I just included point sections for exceeds, meets and does not meet criteria with exceeds being the highest weighted.” That sort of scale is a good think to use when grading and weighing grades. You are going to be so ahead of the game when you move forward with your credential. Loved the post, have a good weekend and thanksgiving!