Creating Rubrics

Introduction

Rubrics are powerful tools that help you clearly communicate expectations, define levels of performance, and evaluate student work more consistently, especially for complex assignments like essays, discussions, and projects. When you create a rubric, you break down an assignment into specific criteria and describe what success looks like at each level, guiding students as they work and encouraging self-assessment before submission.

Benefits of Using Rubrics

  • Communicate expectations clearly. Rubrics help students understand what is required for each assignment and the standards for performance.
  • Bring objectivity to grading. They make scoring more consistent and fair, reducing bias and subjectivity.
  • Save time when grading. With predefined criteria and levels, instructors can evaluate assignments faster.
  • Provide consistent feedback. Structured comments for each criterion help students see exactly what they did well and what needs improvement.
  • Encourage student self-assessment. Students can use the rubric as a guide before submitting their work to ensure they meet the expectations.
  • Support transparent grading. Rubrics make the grading process clear, which can reduce disputes and increase student trust.

A Closer Look

Steps to Creating a Rubric

✔️ Step 1: Choose your criteria.

Decide on 3-5 key elements of the assignment that show what “quality work” looks like. These are the categories you’ll evaluate, such as “Writing Mechanics,” “Analysis,” or “Use of Outside Sources.”

Ask yourself:

  • Do the criteria align with the learning objectives?
  • Can the criteria be observed or easily measured in the assessment?
  • Is the criteria understandable for students?

✔️ Step 2: Decide on performance levels.

Choose how many levels of performance you want for each criterion (usually, 3 or 4)—for example, if your criterion is “Writing Mechanics,” your performance levels could be “Proficient,” “Mostly Meets Expectations,” and “Needs Improvement.”

✔️ Step 3: Describe the performance for each level.

Write clear descriptions of what each performance level looks like for each criterion. Start with the highest level first, then define the others. Make sure each level is distinct so students can tell the difference.

Ask yourself:

  • Is there enough distinction between the performance levels for the criteria? It should be clear how each level is different from the other.
  • Do the descriptions for each level of performance align with the learning objectives?
  • Is the description consistent for each performance level? See how the description is consistently worded in the example below.

Here’s a short example considering the items above:

Writing mechanics Proficient

Writing is clear, concise, and well organized with few, if any, spelling/grammatical errors.

 Mostly Meets Expectations

Writing is mostly clear, concise, and well-organized, with few spelling/grammatical errors.

 Needs Improvement

Writing is unclear, overly wordy, poorly organized, and/or contains many spelling/grammatical errors.

Criterion 4 points

A-level qualities (90-100)

 3 points

B-level qualities (80-89)

 2 points

C-level qualities (70-79)

 1 or 0 points

D- or F-level qualities (60-69 or below 60)
Completeness Complete in all respects; reflects all requirements Complete in most respects; reflects most requirements Incomplete in many respects; reflects few requirements Incomplete in most respects; does not reflect any requirements
Understanding Demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of the topic(s) and issue(s) Demonstrates an accomplished understanding of the topic(s) and issue(s) Demonstrates an acceptable understanding of the topic(s) and issue(s) Demonstrates an inadequate understanding of the topic(s) and issue(s)
Analysis, evaluation, and recommendations Presents an insightful and thorough analysis of all issues identified; includes all necessary financial calculations Presents a thorough analysis of most issues identified; includes most necessary financial calculations Presents a superficial analysis of some of the issues identified; omits necessary financial calculations Presents an incomplete analysis of the issues identified
Makes appropriate and powerful connections between the issues identified and the strategic concepts studied in the reading; demonstrates complete command of the strategic concepts and analytical tools studied Makes appropriate connections between the issues identified and the strategic concepts studied in the reading; demonstrates good command of the strategic concepts and analytical tools studied Makes appropriate but somewhat vague connections between the issues and concepts studied in the reading; demonstrates limited command of the strategic concepts and analytical tools studied Makes little or no connection between the issues identified and the strategic concepts studied in the reading
Supports diagnosis and opinions with strong arguments and evidence; presents a balanced and critical view; interpretation is both reasonable and objective Supports diagnosis and opinions with reasons and evidence; presents a fairly balanced view; interpretation is both reasonable and objective Supports diagnosis and opinions with limited reasons and evidence; presents a somewhat one-sided argument Supports diagnosis and opinions with few reasons and little evidence; argument is one-sided and not objective
Presents detailed, realistic, and appropriate recommendations clearly supported by the information presented and concepts from the reading Presents specific, realistic, and appropriate recommendations supported by the information presented and concepts from the reading Presents realistic or appropriate recommendations supported by the information presented and concepts from the reading Presents realistic or appropriate recommendations with little, if any, support from the information presented and concepts from the reading
Research Supplements case study with relevant and extensive research into the present situation of the company; clearly and thoroughly documents all sources of information Supplements case study with relevant research into the present situation of the company; documents all sources of information Supplements case study with limited research into the present situation of the company; provides limited documentation of sources consulted Supplements case study, if at all, with incomplete research and documentation
Writing mechanics Writing demonstrates a sophisticated clarity, conciseness; includes thorough details and relevant data and information; extremely well-organized Writing is accomplished in terms of clarity and conciseness and contains only a few errors; includes sufficient details and relevant data and information; well-organized Writing lacks clarity or conciseness and contains numerous errors; gives insufficient detail and relevant data and information; lacks organization Writing is unfocused, rambling, or contains serious errors; lacks details and relevant details and information; poorly organized
APA guidelines Uses APA guidelines accurately and consistently to cite sources Uses APA guidelines with minor violations to cite sources Reflects incomplete knowledge of APA guidelines Does not use APA guidelines

 

Using Rubrics in Canvas

Using rubrics in Canvas gives you a flexible tool to speed up grading and enhance feedback. You can do the following:

  • Create custom rubrics with defined criteria, ratings, and point values.
  • Attach rubrics to assignments so students can check their work against the grading criteria before submitting.
  • Reuse or adapt rubrics across multiple activities to save time.
  • Quickly select performance levels (e.g., “Excellent,” “Meets Expectations,” etc.) for each criterion while grading.
  • Add detailed, criterion-specific comments to provide individualized feedback.

You can read more about creating and using rubrics on the Canvas Instructure Community website. Refer also to the Assessing Student Work with Rubrics tip sheet.

Use AI to Help Create Your Rubrics

Start by prompting an AI tool to create a rubric based on your assignment. Include as much detail as possible in your prompt, including the learning outcomes and assignment instructions, as well as ratings and point values. Ask for the output in a simple table format. Once you have a rubric that accurately reflects the criteria you want to assess, copy/paste the results into Canvas’s rubric builder.

Additional Resources