Rubric Standards or Standard of Rubrics?

Rubrics. You've got a matrix of criteria and standards and descriptors.

I've never been satisfied with the labels given to standards. Most rubrics use either "HD, D, C, P, F" or "Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Unsatisfactory" or some variation.

To my way of thinking that's:
1. It's discouraging judgement - not actual meaningful feedback - working against belonging and the spirit of ungraded assessment.
2. It's what you actually give as the final mark.

Today's Tom thinks that the best descriptors (high to low) for a 5-Standard rubric are:

Outstanding - Thorough - Developed - Sound - Limited

The terms that leapt out at me were "Thorough", "Sound" and "Limited". Thank you NSW Education Dept's example rubrics. While you might ascribe the same range of marks to these as ever, these terms feel like they best describe "levels of competence".

Tomorrow's Tom might think differently, but Today's Tom is pretty chuffed with this.

Rubrics are an art.

Photo by Vincent Roman on Unsplash