high school writing assignment rubric

Rubric Best Practices, Examples, and Templates

How to get started, best practices, moodle how-to guides.

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A rubric is a scoring tool that identifies the different criteria relevant to an assignment, assessment, or learning outcome and states the possible levels of achievement in a specific, clear, and objective way. Use rubrics to assess project-based student work including essays, group projects, creative endeavors, and oral presentations.

Rubrics can help instructors communicate expectations to students and assess student work fairly, consistently and efficiently. Rubrics can provide students with informative feedback on their strengths and weaknesses so that they can reflect on their performance and work on areas that need improvement.

Step 1: Analyze the assignment

The first step in the rubric creation process is to analyze the assignment or assessment for which you are creating a rubric. To do this, consider the following questions:

• What is the purpose of the assignment and your feedback? What do you want students to demonstrate through the completion of this assignment (i.e. what are the learning objectives measured by it)? Is it a summative assessment, or will students use the feedback to create an improved product?
• Does the assignment break down into different or smaller tasks? Are these tasks equally important as the main assignment?
• What would an “excellent” assignment look like? An “acceptable” assignment? One that still needs major work?
• How detailed do you want the feedback you give students to be? Do you want/need to give them a grade?

Step 2: Decide what kind of rubric you will use

Holistic rubrics.

A holistic rubric includes all the criteria (such as clarity, organization, mechanics, etc.) to be considered together and included in a single evaluation. With a holistic rubric, the rater or grader assigns a single score based on an overall judgment of the student’s work, using descriptions of each performance level to assign the score.

Advantages of holistic rubrics:

• Can p lace an emphasis on what learners can demonstrate rather than what they cannot
• Save grader time by minimizing the number of evaluations to be made for each student
• Can be used consistently across raters, provided they have all been trained

Disadvantages of holistic rubrics:

• Provide less specific feedback than analytic/descriptive rubrics
• Can be difficult to choose a score when a student’s work is at varying levels across the criteria
• Any weighting of c riteria cannot be indicated in the rubric

Analytic/Descriptive Rubrics

An analytic or descriptive rubric often takes the form of a table with the criteria listed in the left column and with levels of performance listed across the top row. Each cell contains a description of what the specified criterion looks like at a given level of performance. Each of the criteria is scored individually.

Advantages of analytic rubrics:

• Provide detailed feedback on areas of strength or weakness
• Each criterion can be weighted to reflect its relative importance

Disadvantages of analytic rubrics:

• More time-consuming to create and use than a holistic rubric
• May not be used consistently across raters unless the cells are well defined
• May result in giving less personalized feedback

Single-Point Rubrics

A single-point rubric is breaks down the components of an assignment into different criteria, but instead of describing different levels of performance, only the “proficient” level is described. Feedback space is provided for instructors to give individualized comments to help students improve and/or show where they excelled beyond the proficiency descriptors.

Advantages of single-point rubrics:

• Easier to create than an analytic/descriptive rubric
• Perhaps more likely that students will read the descriptors
• Areas of concern and excellence are open-ended
• May removes a focus on the grade/points
• May increase student creativity in project-based assignments

Disadvantage of single point rubrics: Requires more work for instructors writing feedback

Step 3 (Optional): Look for templates and examples.

You might Google, “Rubric for persuasive essay at the college level” and see if there are any publicly available examples to start from. Ask your colleagues if they have used a rubric for a similar assignment. Some examples are also available at the end of this article. These rubrics can be a great starting point for you, but consider steps 3, 4, and 5 below to ensure that the rubric matches your assignment description, learning objectives and expectations.

Step 4: Define the assignment criteria

Make a list of the knowledge and skills are you measuring with the assignment/assessment Refer to your stated learning objectives, the assignment instructions, past examples of student work, etc. for help.

  Helpful strategies for defining grading criteria:

• Collaborate with co-instructors, teaching assistants, and other colleagues
• Brainstorm and discuss with students
• Can they be observed and measured?
• Are they important and essential?
• Are they distinct from other criteria?
• Are they phrased in precise, unambiguous language?
• Revise the criteria as needed
• Consider whether some are more important than others, and how you will weight them.

Step 5: Design the rating scale

Most ratings scales include between 3 and 5 levels. Consider the following questions when designing your rating scale:

• Given what students are able to demonstrate in this assignment/assessment, what are the possible levels of achievement?
• How many levels would you like to include (more levels means more detailed descriptions)
• Will you use numbers and/or descriptive labels for each level of performance? (for example 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and/or Exceeds expectations, Accomplished, Proficient, Developing, Beginning, etc.)
• Don’t use too many columns, and recognize that some criteria can have more columns that others . The rubric needs to be comprehensible and organized. Pick the right amount of columns so that the criteria flow logically and naturally across levels.

Step 6: Write descriptions for each level of the rating scale

Artificial Intelligence tools like Chat GPT have proven to be useful tools for creating a rubric. You will want to engineer your prompt that you provide the AI assistant to ensure you get what you want. For example, you might provide the assignment description, the criteria you feel are important, and the number of levels of performance you want in your prompt. Use the results as a starting point, and adjust the descriptions as needed.

Building a rubric from scratch

For a single-point rubric , describe what would be considered “proficient,” i.e. B-level work, and provide that description. You might also include suggestions for students outside of the actual rubric about how they might surpass proficient-level work.

For analytic and holistic rubrics , c reate statements of expected performance at each level of the rubric.

• Consider what descriptor is appropriate for each criteria, e.g., presence vs absence, complete vs incomplete, many vs none, major vs minor, consistent vs inconsistent, always vs never. If you have an indicator described in one level, it will need to be described in each level.
• You might start with the top/exemplary level. What does it look like when a student has achieved excellence for each/every criterion? Then, look at the “bottom” level. What does it look like when a student has not achieved the learning goals in any way? Then, complete the in-between levels.
• For an analytic rubric , do this for each particular criterion of the rubric so that every cell in the table is filled. These descriptions help students understand your expectations and their performance in regard to those expectations.

Well-written descriptions:

• Describe observable and measurable behavior
• Use parallel language across the scale
• Indicate the degree to which the standards are met

Step 7: Create your rubric

Create your rubric in a table or spreadsheet in Word, Google Docs, Sheets, etc., and then transfer it by typing it into Moodle. You can also use online tools to create the rubric, but you will still have to type the criteria, indicators, levels, etc., into Moodle. Rubric creators: Rubistar , iRubric

Step 8: Pilot-test your rubric

Prior to implementing your rubric on a live course, obtain feedback from:

• Teacher assistants

Try out your new rubric on a sample of student work. After you pilot-test your rubric, analyze the results to consider its effectiveness and revise accordingly.

• Limit the rubric to a single page for reading and grading ease
• Use parallel language . Use similar language and syntax/wording from column to column. Make sure that the rubric can be easily read from left to right or vice versa.
• Use student-friendly language . Make sure the language is learning-level appropriate. If you use academic language or concepts, you will need to teach those concepts.
• Share and discuss the rubric with your students . Students should understand that the rubric is there to help them learn, reflect, and self-assess. If students use a rubric, they will understand the expectations and their relevance to learning.
• Consider scalability and reusability of rubrics. Create rubric templates that you can alter as needed for multiple assignments.
• Maximize the descriptiveness of your language. Avoid words like “good” and “excellent.” For example, instead of saying, “uses excellent sources,” you might describe what makes a resource excellent so that students will know. You might also consider reducing the reliance on quantity, such as a number of allowable misspelled words. Focus instead, for example, on how distracting any spelling errors are.

Example of an analytic rubric for a final paper

Example of a holistic rubric for a final paper.

Articulating thoughts through written communication— final paper.

• Above Average: The audience is able to easily identify the central message of the work and is engaged by the paper’s clear focus and relevant details. Information is presented logically and naturally. There are minimal to no distracting errors in grammar and spelling.
• Sufficient : The audience is easily able to identify the focus of the student work which is supported by relevant ideas and supporting details. Information is presented in a logical manner that is easily followed. The readability of the work is only slightly interrupted by errors.
• Developing : The audience can identify the central purpose of the student work without little difficulty and supporting ideas are present and clear. The information is presented in an orderly fashion that can be followed with little difficulty. Grammatical and spelling errors distract from the work.
• Needs Improvement : The audience cannot clearly or easily identify the central ideas or purpose of the student work. Information is presented in a disorganized fashion causing the audience to have difficulty following the author’s ideas. The readability of the work is seriously hampered by errors.

Single-Point Rubric

More examples:.

• Single Point Rubric Template ( variation )
• Analytic Rubric Template make a copy to edit
• A Rubric for Rubrics
• Bank of Online Discussion Rubrics in different formats
• Mathematical Presentations Descriptive Rubric
• Math Proof Assessment Rubric
• Kansas State Sample Rubrics
• Design Single Point Rubric

Technology Tools: Rubrics in Moodle

• Moodle Docs: Rubrics
• Moodle Docs: Grading Guide (use for single-point rubrics)

Tools with rubrics (other than Moodle)

• Google Assignments
• Turnitin Assignments: Rubric or Grading Form

Other resources

• DePaul University (n.d.). Rubrics .
• Gonzalez, J. (2014). Know your terms: Holistic, Analytic, and Single-Point Rubrics . Cult of Pedagogy.
• Goodrich, H. (1996). Understanding rubrics . Teaching for Authentic Student Performance, 54 (4), 14-17. Retrieved from   
• Miller, A. (2012). Tame the beast: tips for designing and using rubrics.
• Ragupathi, K., Lee, A. (2020). Beyond Fairness and Consistency in Grading: The Role of Rubrics in Higher Education. In: Sanger, C., Gleason, N. (eds) Diversity and Inclusion in Global Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore.

Essay Rubric

About this printout

This rubric delineates specific expectations about an essay assignment to students and provides a means of assessing completed student essays.

Teaching with this printout

More ideas to try.

Grading rubrics can be of great benefit to both you and your students. For you, a rubric saves time and decreases subjectivity. Specific criteria are explicitly stated, facilitating the grading process and increasing your objectivity. For students, the use of grading rubrics helps them to meet or exceed expectations, to view the grading process as being “fair,” and to set goals for future learning. In order to help your students meet or exceed expectations of the assignment, be sure to discuss the rubric with your students when you assign an essay. It is helpful to show them examples of written pieces that meet and do not meet the expectations. As an added benefit, because the criteria are explicitly stated, the use of the rubric decreases the likelihood that students will argue about the grade they receive. The explicitness of the expectations helps students know exactly why they lost points on the assignment and aids them in setting goals for future improvement.

• Routinely have students score peers’ essays using the rubric as the assessment tool. This increases their level of awareness of the traits that distinguish successful essays from those that fail to meet the criteria. Have peer editors use the Reviewer’s Comments section to add any praise, constructive criticism, or questions.
• Alter some expectations or add additional traits on the rubric as needed. Students’ needs may necessitate making more rigorous criteria for advanced learners or less stringent guidelines for younger or special needs students. Furthermore, the content area for which the essay is written may require some alterations to the rubric. In social studies, for example, an essay about geographical landforms and their effect on the culture of a region might necessitate additional criteria about the use of specific terminology.
• After you and your students have used the rubric, have them work in groups to make suggested alterations to the rubric to more precisely match their needs or the parameters of a particular writing assignment.
• Print this resource

Explore Resources by Grade

• Kindergarten K

Interactive Writing Rubric

High School

Element: Argument

Strand: Position

Criteria: Thesis

Criteria: Justification

Strand: Ideas

Criteria: Quality

Criteria: Substantiation

Strand: Organization

Criteria: Structure

Criteria: Flow

Element: Evidence

Strand: Contextualization

Criteria: Framing

Criteria: Context

Strand: Selection

Criteria: Choice

Criteria: Presentation

Strand: Interpretation

Criteria: Analysis

Element: Language

Strand: Style

Criteria: Register

Criteria: Craft

Strand: Sentence Fluency

Criteria: Fluency

Criteria: Concision

Strand: Word Choice

Criteria: Diction

Criteria: Range

Strand: Conventions

Criteria: Spelling

Criteria: Grammar

Element: Process

Strand: Process

Strand: Publishing

Criteria: Professionalism

Criteria: MLA Formatting

Criteria: Document

Position 

This strand encompasses the argument in the essay—the four or five key sentences that state what you are proving and how you are proving it.

Thesis: The sentence(s) explicitly or implicitly stated early in the paper that outline the argument being made in the paper.

Assertions: The assertion is the sentence at the paragraph level that is the written articulation of the subargument. This sentence is sometimes called the topic sentence.

Ideas 

This strand evaluates at the holistic and synthesis level. The Ideas strand seeks to evaluate how well the Position is proven (substantiation) and how well the ideas are synthesized and interwoven. This strand is broader than the Interpretation strand—it encompasses the essay as a whole.

Quality: Quality evaluates the correctness of ideas, the complexity of ideas, and the integration of ideas across a full spectrum.

Substantiation: Substantiation addresses the level of proof that supports the position. When scoring at levels 5-8, it is important to think about the substantiation of both the position’s depth and breadth.

Organization 

Organization is a crucial aspect of argumentation. This strand addresses the overall structure of a paper. Does the organization support and encourage logical order? Do ideas flow smoothly?

Structure: This criterion addresses the overall architecture of the essay—is the paper ordered (chronologically, compare and contrast, logically, cause and effect, etc) in a way that supports the position?

Flow: Do ideas flow smoothly within sentences and paragraph and between sentences and paragraphs?

Contextualization 

There are two primary criteria that make up Contextualization:

Framing: The framing criterion is the broader umbrella within contextualization. Framing occurs often occurs within the introduction, thesis statement, and around evidence. Does the author include only the basic frame (novel, historical event) or is their argument framed within the greater discourse of historical ideas and movements?

Content: Context is more specific and concrete than framing; it refers to the background information around the evidence chunks. Does the author set up the reader with enough background information for the paragraphs to be read smoothly and cohesively?

Selection 

Selection primarily evaluates evidence selection—relevance, persuasiveness, and concision. Included in this strand is evidence presentation—how smoothly is argument incorporated into the paragraph.

Choice: When we evaluate choice, we are analyzing the type of evidence selected—is it pertinent, is it relevant, is it authoritative?

Presentation: Evidence must be presented clearly within an essay; this criterion addresses the blending, chunking, and overall weaving of evidence into an argument.

Interpretation 

Interpretation deals with logic, analysis, and reasoning. The Ideas strand within Argument is comprehensive and evaluates the synthesis of ideas. The interpretation strand is much more specific to the paragraph level.

Analysis: Analysis evaluates the discussion of evidence. At the lower level, is the interpretation accurate and focused? At higher level, students are expected to analyze thoughtfully, including subtle nuances while retaining clarity.

Justification: Justification evaluates a student’s ability to develop a link from evidence to assertion. As readers and teachers, we often find that students almost prove their argument but fail to fully land on their point: this criterion addresses that logic gap.

Style 

Formal essay writing style is more limited than its creative counterparts. The style strand evaluates the formal register, or formal style, of the author’s writing as well as their craft.

Register: Addresses the appropriateness of style/language for the task/audience. For academic writing pieces assessed using this rubric, we strive for formal register.

Craft: Craft refers to the specific writer’s moves in expository writing.

Sentence Fluency 

Sentence Fluency focuses on the type, fluidity, and effect of sentences within the essay. Strong sentence fluency leads to natural, active, and concise writing.

Fluency:  Fluency is the ability to expertly deliver information quickly, naturally, and correctly.

Concision: Concision is marked by effective and efficient communication: it is free of superfluous information and requires a strong command of language and a dedication to revision.

Word Choice 

This strand evaluates one’s ability to select the best word to communicate an idea and utilize a broad range of dynamic, striking, and sophisticated words.

Diction: Selecting the best word to most clearly and powerfully communicate an idea.

Range: The breadth of words used correctly; an author’s vocabulary.

Conventions 

Authors need to understand and apply grammatical rules; they also need to spell correctly.

Grammar: These are Standard English rules of communication.

Spelling: This criterion evaluates spelling in an essay.

Process 

David Conley clearly articulates that “self-management behaviors” are one of the four key levers to ensure college and career readiness. Revision evaluates the changes made from the rough draft to final draft, including the depth of those changes, the independence of the author, and the effect of the changes on the essay. In this way, we require students learn self-management behaviors (reflection, time management, advocating for themselves, professional meetings, etc.) in order to revise their paper.

Quality: “As the lone criterion for Revising, quality evaluates all aspects of revision.”

Publishing 

This strand encompasses the final product, from completion, timeliness, and presentation to MLA formatting guidelines.

Professionalism: Includes completion, timeliness, attention to the details of the assignment, and final product presentation.

MLA Formatting: Follows MLA formatting guidelines.

Document: Formatting of the document, from headers and title to spacing.

Click Numbers to View Standard Bearers

Justification

Substantiation

• 0 Ideas 0 
• 2 Ideas 2 
• 3 Ideas 3 

4 Ideas 4 (Set 1) Ideas 4 (Set 2)

5 Ideas 5 (Set 1) Ideas 5 (Set 2)

• 8 Ideas 8 
• Most ideas and content are plausible
• Basic interpretation
• Almost all ideas/content are reasonable
• Accurate interpretation
• Almost all ideas/content are logically, accurately interpreted
• Slight nuances introduced
• Overall, depth of understanding
• Overall, strong depth of understanding
• A few key nuances introduced
• Overall, insightful depth of understanding
• A few key nuances slightly incorporated into argument
• Overall, insightful depth of understanding/ analysis
• Key nuances incorporated into argument
• Position is controlling idea
• Overall, position mostly substantiated
• Opposing viewpoints are anticipated and addressed when necessary
• Overall, position strongly substantiated
• Overall, position compellingly substantiated

0 Contextualization 0 (Set 1) Contextualization 0 (Set 2)

• 3 Contextualization 3 

4 Contextualization 4 (Set 1) Contextualization 4 (Set 2) Contextualization 4 (Set 3)

• 5 Contextualization 5 
• 6 Contextualization 6 
• Mostly reasonable, basic background of text/ content
• Mostly reasonable background of text/ content
• Primarily accurate, general background of text/ content
• Clear, sufficient background of text/ content
• Presents larger frame of argument
• Precisely, articulately frames larger argument and, when appropriate, larger discourse
• Mostly plausible basic background about most evidence
• Primarily accurate basic background about almost all evidence
• Primarily accurate background when necessary
• Most context appropriately incorporated into paragraph – is not clunky
• Clear, sufficient evidence background when necessary
• Sometimes previews/ hints at interpretation
• Precise, clear, sufficient evidence background when necessary
• Most context smoothly incorporated into paragraph
• Generally previews/ hints at interpretation
• Concise, precise, sufficient evidence background when necessary
• Almost all context smoothly incorporated into paragraph
• Effectively previews/ hints at interpretation

Presentation

1 Interpretation 1 (Set 1) Interpretation 1 (Set 2)

2 Interpretation 2 (Set 1) Interpretation 2 (Set 2)

• 3 Interpretation 3 
• 5 Interpretation 5 
• 6 Interpretation 6 
• 8 Interpretation 8 
• Connected to assertion
• Adequate in amount
• Some basic analysis
• Generally plausible analysis
• Some adequate analysis
• Mostly plausible analysis
• Roughly incorporates some key words
• Almost all adequate analysis
• Generally focused, logical, accurate
• Roughly incorporates key words
• Some thoughtful analysis
• Mostly focused, logical, clear analysis
• Appropriately incorporates key words when appropriate
• Mostly thoughtful, articulate analysis
• Largely focused, logical, clear analysis
• Effective key word analysis incorporated when appropriate
• Almost all thoughtful, articulate analysis
• Largely focused, clear, nuanced analysis
• Effective key word analysis incorporated when appropriate to substantiate assertion
• Comprehensive analysis demonstrates thorough, critical thought while retaining clarity
• Effective key word analysis substantiates position
• Generally understandable interpretation/ reasoning
• Most explanation related to assertion
• Mostly understandable interpretation/ reasoning
• Some rough word glue , some rough logic glue
• Connects evidence to assertion
• Mostly understandable, sound interpretation/ reasoning
• Generally effective word glue, rough logic glue
• Links evidence to assertion
• Primarily understandable, sound, generally thoughtful interpretation/ reasoning
• Generally effective word glue/ logic glue
• Logically develops link from evidence to assertion
• Primarily effective word glue/ logic glue
• Logically, mostly develops link from evidence to assertion
• Primarily effective word glue/ logic glue when necessary
• Largely convincing, thoughtful justification
• Logically, fully develops link from evidence to assertion
• Smooth, primarily effective word glue/ logic glue when necessary
• Largely focused, convincing, thoughtful justification
• Articulately, fully substantiates assertion
• Smooth, masterful use of word glue/ logic glue when necessary
• Primarily focused, compelling, thoughtful justification
• Articulately, fully substantiates position
• 2 Word Choice 2 

3 Word Choice 3 (Set 1) Word Choice 3 (Set 2)

• 4 Word Choice 4 

5 Word Choice 5 (Set 1) Word Choice 5 (Set 2)

• 6 Word Choice 6 
• Some active verbs
• Some accurate active verbs
• Functional diction
• Mostly accurate active verbs when appropriate – minimizes be/ have/ ~ing
• Strong, active verbs when appropriate – minimizes be/ have/ ~ing
• Words effectively convey intended message
• Effective diction
• Powerful, energizing active verbs when appropriate – minimizes be/ have/ ~ing
• Words precisely convey intended message
• Precise diction
• Some appropriate academic language
• Some appropriate basic content language
• Academic, task specific content language generally correct
• Attempts at sophisticated vocab
• Varied academic, content language mostly correct
• Broad range of academic language mostly correct
• Generally effective use of sophisticated, varied vocab
• Broad range of academic language overwhelmingly impactful, correct
• Overwhelmingly effective use of sophisticated, varied, powerful vocab
• 1 Conventions 1 
• 2 Conventions 2 
• 3 Conventions 3 

4 Conventions 4 (Set 1) Conventions 4 (Set 2) Conventions 4 (Set 3) Conventions 4 (Set 4)

• 5 Conventions 5 
• Most task/ content specific language correct
• Most general academic, task/ content specific language correct
• Almost all correct
• Several errors do not obstruct meaning
• Errors do not hinder reading
• Few or no mistakes
• Capitalization errors ≤ pages
• Capitalization/ end punctuation errors ≤ pages
• Capitalization/ punctuation (excluding commas) errors ≤ pages
• Grammar does not obstruct meaning
• Capitalization/ punctuation (no commas)/ subject-verb agreement errors ≤ pages
• Grammar does not hinder reading
• Capitalization/ punctuation (w/ commas)/ subject-verb agreement/ vague pronoun reference errors ≤ pages
• Grammar contributes to readability
• Capitalization/ punctuation (w/ commas)/ subject-verb agreement/ vague pronoun reference / misplaced modifier errors ≤ pages
• Strong grammar contributes to readability

Professionalism

MLA Formatting

• Almost all necessary documents turned in on time
• Follows guidelines of assignment
• All documents turned in on time
• Neat, complete
• Crisp, neat, complete
• Correctly cites using parentheses
• Correctly cites using parentheses, quotation marks, periods
• Correctly cites using parentheses, quotation marks, commas, periods
• Correctly uses in text citations, block quotes
• Correct citation punctuation
• Correctly uses in text citations, block quotes from multiple texts
• Mostly correct Works Cited
• Entirely correct Works Cited
• Header provides correct info
• Header is correctly formatted and provides correct info
• Centered title
• Properly formatted, spaced header, title, text

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