Using rubrics to help student learn

Q: “My rubric isn’t working. I’ve done all of the things I thought I was supposed to, but it isn’t helping students grow, and it isn’t specific enough for them to use for self or peer assessment. Please help.” – signed, a struggling high school writing teacher.

A: When I was in the classroom, I struggled with rubrics, too: How to design them, how to use them effectively, how to teach students to use them, etc.  And when I work with teams now, I’m just grateful they are even using a rubric. But not all rubrics are created equally, as you are experiencing. In fact, this topic has been a recurring theme for a long time. I wrote this post, “Using a Rubric Does NOT Ensure Student Learning,” about rubrics years ago on my Education Week Teacher blog and then reprinted it on my personal blog. So, I, too, know the challenge of developing effective rubrics.

First, let me say this clearly: if your rubric isn’t helping students grow, that does not mean you failed. It usually means the rubric might be doing one job well but not the others we often ask it to do: guiding revision, supporting self-assessment, and helping students give useful peer feedback.

Those are very different purposes. And when we try to make one rubric do all of them at once, it can become vague, overloaded, or too teacher-centered to be useful for students.

Start by Asking: What Is This Rubric For?

Before revising the rubric, step back and ask: What is the primary purpose of this rubric? Is it meant to: communicate expectations before writing? Support drafting and revision? Help students self-assess? Guide peer feedback? Or determine a final grade?

A rubric that is trying to do all five things will likely end up doing none of them especially well.

If the goal is student growth, the rubric needs to be written in language that students can use while working. That means fewer abstract phrases like “strong evidence” or “effective organization” unless those terms are unpacked. Students need to know what those ideas look like in a paragraph, a claim, a transition, or a conclusion.

Make the Language Student-Friendly and Observable

One of the most common rubric problems is that the criteria are too broad or too adult-oriented. For example, “uses sophisticated diction” may sound polished, but what does that mean to a 10th grader trying to improve a draft? Probably not much. Although I do believe that we should use appropriate academic language in our rubrics, well mixed in with language that students readily understand.

Instead, the rubric should describe observable writing moves. Think about what students can actually see, hear, or point to in their own work. For example, instead of: “Develops ideas thoroughly.” Try: “Explains ideas with specific details, examples, or reasoning.” or “Adds enough explanation so the reader understands why the evidence matters.”

That shift makes the rubric usable. Students can check their own writing against it and identify what is missing. It’s also a good idea to review the rubric with students before they start working, unpacking the language and explaining how each element will support their growth in particular skills or content.

A good way to test a rubric: If a student handed it to a peer, could that peer use it to give feedback without needing you to interpret it? If not, the rubric may still be too vague.

Limit the Number of Criteria

Another issue is overload. Many rubrics have too many categories, too many descriptors, or too many pieces of jargon. When that happens, students stop using the rubric as a tool and start seeing it as a scoring sheet. This is true of checklists, too. If we want them to truly see a rubric as a formative tool, we need to work with the motto “less is more.”

Choose the few priorities that matter most for this assignment. In a writing task, that may be claim or thesis, evidence, reasoning, organization, or style. And you may even want to do iterative rubrics that focus on one key area at a time, especially if you’re using them for peer feedback. Asking students to provide feedback on everything at once is a recipe for disaster. You can do this by having students look only at thesis statements one day. Another day, they focus on evidence. This makes improvement more manageable than asking them to fix everything at once.

Use Rubrics as Learning Tools, Not Just Grading Tools

It always baffles me when teachers hold rubrics until the end, thinking that it is cheating to provide that information up front. Much like with success criteria, when students know what they are aiming for (by giving out the rubric first), the likelihood of their success increases. If students only see the rubric at the end, it will rarely help them grow. Rubrics are most powerful when they are used throughout the writing process.

Try this sequence:

1. Introduce the rubric before drafting.
2. Model how to use it with sample writing.
3. Have students apply it to a mentor text.
4. Use it for a draft check-in.
5. Use it again for peer feedback.
6. Use it one final time for reflection after revision.

When students use the rubric repeatedly, they begin to internalize the expectations. Over time, they stop asking, “What do you want?” and start asking, “How can I make this stronger?”

That shift is the real goal.

Teach Students How to Give Better Feedback

A rubric alone will not automatically make peer assessment meaningful. Students also need sentence stems, examples, and practice…practice… practice.

For example, instead of asking students to simply “give feedback using the rubric,” give them prompts such as:

• “One place where your writing is strong is…”
• “I was confused when…”
• “I think this part needs more explanation because…”
• “To move up a level, you might add…”
• “A specific example of this is…”

This helps students move from vague comments like “good job” or “needs work” to more useful feedback. Peer assessment becomes more effective when students know what specific, actionable feedback sounds like. One great protocol/graphic organizer for this kind of support is the ladder of feedback.

Consider Whether the Rubric Matches the Assignment

This is a big problem, and I don’t say that lightly. Even the best-intentioned teachers sometimes don’t realize this is an issue. Sometimes the problem is not the rubric language but the rubric itself. A rubric may be perfectly written and still not work if it does not match the task. Alignment is essential for success.

For example, if the assignment asks students to write a personal argument, but the rubric focuses heavily on research integration, the mismatch will confuse students. Or if the writing task is short and informal, a large analytic rubric may be too complicated for the job. The rubric should fit the assignment’s purpose and the level of writing development you expect. If students are still learning a skill, the rubric should reflect that. It should help them take the next step, not judge them for not already being expert writers. A single-point rubric is very versatile and easy to create, and it can help in this process.

Try a Revision Cycle For Your Rubric

Here are some practical ways to improve your rubric:

• Identify three to five essential writing skills for the assignment.
• Rewrite each criterion in student-friendly language.
• Add examples or “look-fors” if needed.
• Remove any language that is too vague or too advanced.
• Test the rubric on one student sample.
• Ask: “Would a student know what to revise from this?”
• Revise again based on that answer.

You may also want to involve students in the process. Ask them which parts of the rubric are clear? Which words are confusing? What would help you use this better for revision? Students often give surprisingly helpful feedback. You should never be worried about asking for their help. Also, you can work with your professional learning communities to develop excellent, aligned rubrics as a team while building your collective efficacy.

A rubric should be a bridge between teaching and learning. If it is not helping students grow, it is not because you are doing everything wrong. It may simply mean the rubric needs to be more focused, concrete, and learner centered.

The best rubrics do not just measure writing. They teach writing. So if your rubric is not working yet, don’t throw it out in frustration. Rework it with a simpler purpose: Help students see what good writing looks like, understand where they are now, and know exactly what to do next. That is when a rubric becomes truly useful.

If you have an issue that you would like me to address, please email me at ssackstein@educatorsrising.org or complete this form. You will be kept anonymous.