According to the latest edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, a rubric is "an authoritative rule, the title of a statute, a category, a commentary, or an editorial interpolation." As any teacher knows, however, a rubric is a scoring guide that describes criteria for student performance and differentiates among different levels of performance within those criteria. Because rubrics set forth specific criteria, define precise requirements for meeting those criteria, and often assign numerical scores to each level of performance, they provide teachers with an effective, objective method for evaluating skills that do not generally lend themselves to objective assessment methods. Rubrics simplify teacher assessment of student work and provide students, parents, and administrators with an answer to the age-old "Why did you give it this grade?" question. And, at their very best, rubrics provide students with standards and expectations they can use to evaluate their performance while completing the assignment.
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