ADVANTAGES OF USING RUBRICS
Teaching is a difficult profession that entails long hours of work pouring over paper works, lesson plans and the long hours of classroom discussion. It is therefore important to use methods that would make the teaching process easier and more efficient on the part of the teacher.
Among the long list of teaching arsenal in the disposal of seasoned teachers is the use of the rubric for developing assessment tools. A rubric is a scoring guide that seeks to evaluate a student’s performance based on the sum of a full range of criteria rather than a single numerical score.
The rubric is known for its quick scoring and provides an overview of student achievement. With a rubric, it is easy to obtain a single dimension if that is adequate for your purpose.
The rubric also has its analytic advantages as it provides meaningful and specific feedback along multiple dimensions. Scoring tends to be more consistent across pupils and grades with the use of a rubric guide. It is therefore easier for the teacher to share with pupils and parents about certain strengths and weaknesses and helps students to better understand the nature of quality work.
However, it should be noted that it is more difficult to construct analytical rubrics for all tasks and tends to be quite time consuming. But in general, a rubric guide forces the teacher to clarify criteria in detail. The rubric is also a useful feedback for the effectiveness of instruction and motivates pupils to reach the standards specified. The rubric also saves the teacher time as it narrows the gap between instruction and assessment. The rubric is known to be a flexible tool, having uses across many contexts, in many grade levels and for a wide range of abilities. For teachers in the hurry, rubric can offer a method of consistency in scoring by clearly defining the performance criteria.
Rubrics can also restrict the pupils’ mind power in that they will feel that they need to complete the assignment strictly to the rubric instead of taking the initiative to explore their learning. If the criteria that is in the rubric is too complex, pupils may feel overwhelmed with the assignment, and little success may be imminent. For the teacher creating the rubric, they may find the task of developing, testing, evaluating, and updating time consuming.
— oOo— The author is Teacher II at Pulung Santol Elementary School, Porac West District