Assessment Glossary for Rubrics

Analytic-Trait Rubric. A type of rubric with scoring that separates the whole into specific categories of criteria that are examined with great detail one at a time (see example).

Assessment. The process of observing learning and describing, collecting, recording, scoring, and interpreting information about a student's or one's own learning.

Criteria. Descriptions of attributes, characteristics, conditions or factors used to judge performance; the specific areas targeted for assessment and the focus areas for instruction and learning that represent both form and function; empirical measures or expectations used for making an evaluative decision and/or verification of quality; conditions that a performance must meet to be deemed meritorious or successful.

Criterion-referenced test. A criterion-referenced test is a test that examines a specific skill (the criterion) that students are expected to have learned, or a level (the criterion) students are expected to have attained. Unlike a norm-referenced test, it measures absolute levels of achievement; students' scores are not dependent on comparisons with the performance of other students (Vogt, 1999, p. 62).

Feedback. Feedback is information about how a person did in light of what he or she attempted-intent versus effect, actual versus ideal performance (Wiggens, 1998). As criticism, feedback in the form of opinions about and reactions to something (like a performance or a product) are intended to provide useful information for future decisions regarding their quality.

Holistic rubric. A holistic scoring rubric combines a number of performance or product criteria onto a single scale and is used to assess a more limited portion of a learner's performance in a more global manner (see example).

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Inter-rater reliability. Consistent rating between raters. "Interrater reliability refers to the concern that a student's score may vary from one rater to another rater. Without setting criteria to guide the rating process, two independent raters may not assign the same score to a given response." (Kodri, 2003, p. 28)

Intra-rater reliability. Consistent rating by the same rater over assessment instances. "Intrarater reliability refers to the situation in which the scoring process of a given rater changes over time. The inconsistencies in the scoring process result from influences that are internal to the rater rather than true differences in student performances." (Kodri, 2003, p. 28)

Learning objective. Learning objectives (also known as performance objectives or competencies) are brief, clear, specific statements of what learners will know and/or be able to do at the end of an instructional or training activity. The best learning objectives are aligned with program goals and expected course outcomes.

Norm-referenced test. A norm-referenced test is used to compare a student or a group's performance to that of a norm group. Scores results are in relation to the performance of an external group and are designed to compare the tested group with the norm group that provides the performance standard.

Outcomes. Learning outcomes are statements of intention that state clearly what we want students to know or be able to do as a result of the educational program or course. Outcomes are most often expressed in terms of the knowledge, skills, or attitudes deemed necessary to the discipline of study. An outcome is an operationally defined educational goal that is usually observed and assessed in some culminating activity, product, or performance that can be measured. The best learning outcomes are aligned with program goals and the learning objectives associated with specific instructional or training activities.

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Rating scale. A rating scale is a measurement technique for quantifying evaluative judgments about some entity such as a performance or a product. A rubric is a rating scale. The use of rating scales converts subjective observations of non-numerical phenomena into numbers or scores. With attention to and agreement on the specification of criteria and standards of quality, rating scales, e.g. rubrics, can be used with confidence in terms of 'objectivity'.

Rating-scale descriptors. Descriptors are the characteristics related to the specific levels of performance for each of the individual criteria listed in the rubric. Descriptors are statements or phrases that specify clearly in terms of performance what each scale level of performance for each of the criteria in the rubric look like (example).

Reliability. Reliability refers to the consistency of scores, that is, the scoring that results from the use of the rubric should be consistent from one performance to another as long as the rubric remains constant. With repeated use of the rubric to assess the same skill or competency, the rubric should yield the same scores. (See inter- and intra-rater reliability)

Rubric. A public declaration of expectations; an assessment tool for examining the quality of performance.

Standards. Degrees of quality; the expected levels of quality or excellence to be attained and that are used as the norms by which actual performances are to be judged.

Validity. Validity relates to the process of accumulating evidence to support the appropriateness of inferences that can be made regarding the measure of performances or products. "Validity refers to the degree to which the evidence supports that these interpretations are correct and that the manner in which the interpretations are used is appropriate" (Moskal & Leydens, 2000, p. 1). Content, construct, and criterion validity are three types validity particularly important to assessment instruments such as rubrics.

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