Rubric Comparisons

For one of my PDP goals, I chose to research summative assessments. The summative assessment that I focused on was rubrics. Rubrics for students come in great variety, and as I have learned, can be created using a variety of programs. Rubrics are a very important aspect of teaching and student learning. When rubrics are given before an assignment (highly recommended), students know exactly what is expected of them when completing the assignment. Similarly, teachers have an equal standard to grade all students on.

Through my creation of three different rubrics, I have found which one I prefer most. I created my first rubric using RubiStar. RubiStar is a free, online resource that allows for quick creation of rubrics. With RubiStar, one of the pros is that other rubrics may already be available for use. Teachers can simply click on that matches their assignment closely, and then adapt it if they need to. Once the rubric is made, teachers can access it like an Excel Document and print it out for the students.

The second resource I used for creating a rubric was iRubric. iRubric, like Rubistar, is a free, online resource. With iRubric, though, the finished rubric is still available online. Teachers do not have to print copies of the rubric. Instead, they can embed the rubric online and complete it for the students electronically. This is super convenient and saves A LOT of paper!!!!

The third resource I used was Microsoft Word. With Microsoft Word, I simply wrote a statement that related to the criteria area. Below the statement was a scale from 1-4, which represented the possible scores the students could receive for that section. By using Microsoft Word, you have to create your rubric completely from scratch. There are no outside sources, and printing is definitely the only option. After you print the rubrics for the students, you will have to recollect them with their papers so you can circle their scores.

So, can you guess which rubric resource was my favorite???? Well, it was........iRUBRIC!!! I have found that iRubric is most convenient and meets today's growing technology use. It would work perfectly in the upper elementary classroom.

If you would like to view RubiStar or iRubric, visit rubistar.4teachers.org and irubric.com!

Enjoy :-)