Design your rubric

Well done! You are at the final step of assessment design. Designing an assessment rubric. If you have designed more than one assessment in the earlier section of the course we recommend you pick a practical competency-based assessment to test your skills in rubric design.

1. Start with one or two outcomes and the relevant performance criteria, that are assessed in the practical assessment you have selected to work on.
2. Work with a master craftsperson or subject matter expert to unpack them and identify specific criteria that will demonstrate achievement of each one. Enter that criteria in the rows of the rubric. Here is a template in open .ott format you can download and use.
3. Ask the master craftsperson or subject matter expert to picture and describe what it would look like for a learner to successfully demonstrate achievement of each one of the criteria at a competent level. Enter the description / judgment statement in the column that indicates competency.
4. Determine how many levels of distinct performance you need. The minimum you will need is tow – competent (C) and not yet competent (NYC).
5. Based on the performance that you have described as competent (C) develop a statement or statements (depending on how many levels of performance you have determined are needed) that describe performance which is short of expectations or competency. If you have more than one statement make sure there is enough distinction between the levels of performance.
6. With at least one other colleague and a master craftsperson or industry practitioner, use this rubric checklist to evaluate your rubric. You can also post your draft rubric to the CTSVD2 forum for feedback from fellow learners.
7. After making appropriate revisions based on the feedback received from colleagues and fellow learners we recommend you use the assessment and rubric with a trial group of learners to test it. Observe and provide support to ensure that learners and assessors understand the expectations presented in the rubric. It’s a great idea to walk learners through the rubric step by step, unpacking what it is asked of them and find where they have difficulty understanding the expectations. Where they have difficulty, take notes so you can make revisions and adjustments later on.
8. After administering the performance assessment and using the rubric to assess learners and/ or their work we recommend you use the rubric with your judgments to provide feedback to learners. You can discuss the rubric and your judgments or provide comments in writing how the learner might improve their performance in particular of they have not gained competence in some elements of performance.
9. Finally, reflect on the success of the rubric, consider and implement any necessary revisions.