Lessons · Teaching · scoring against a rubric
A rubric, and turning it into a percentage
A rubric scores several named criteria on a small scale; the total is points earned over points possible, and the percentage comes from that rather than from an impression.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
Two teachers marking the same piece gave 68 and 84, and neither of them was careless. Without named criteria and a scale, marking is a memory of the last three pieces you read, and a learner gets whichever teacher they got.
How to think about it
Score one criterion all the way down the pile before you look at the next criterion. Add the points. Divide by the points possible. Only then look at the percentage.
Worked example
4 criteria, each scored 0 to 4, so points possible = 16Criteria times scale, written at the top of the sheet.
Scores: 3, 4, 2, 3, which total 12 pointsEach criterion judged on its own evidence.
12 / 16 × 100 = 75%Points earned over points possible.
Mark criterion 1 on all 30 pieces firstOne criterion at a time down the whole pile is how two markers end up agreeing.
Your turn
A rubric has 5 criteria scored 0 to 4 and a piece earns 13 points. Write the line that gives the percentage.
13 / 20 × 100 = %
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Adding a fifth criterion in your head for effort. It is not on the sheet, it is not the same for everybody, and it is the single commonest reason two teachers disagree by sixteen points.