Is there really a clear cut way to efficiently and effectively use them in the art room? They are often too specific, too vague, undermine points for trivial things or just plain don’t work as a measurement for student growth in art. Many of us are used to analytic rubrics where we break down the criteria of a project into characteristics, or in many cases, specific learning goals or targets presented in the lesson.
These types of rubrics tend to use a grid of 4 or 5 learning targets with various levels of growth listed across the top. They are complex, detailed and in reality, seldom read by students. The feedback they intend to provide is ignored by students because its feels impersonal and conforming.
So, why then, do we punish ourselves with creating them and punish our students by cramming their growth into limiting, specific boxes?
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To use measurements like this. We may be encouraged by administration to grade our students with rubrics, even when our craft does not fit neatly into precise and definite boxes. Is there a better way? We need something that feels right for us as art teachers, is accepted by administration, and most importantly, gives our students the personalized and direct feedback they need to grow. If you are looking for that something, the single-point rubric may be your answer.
I recently discovered this idea from The Cult of Pedagogy blogger Jennifer Gonzalez. As a former English teacher herself, she’s experienced the same frustrations in her classroom and toyed with the idea of cutting out all the unnecessary detail within rubrics by simplifying down to just listing the objectives. This allows for areas of concern and excellence to be open-ended and personalized to individual students’ needs. A single-point rubric is an assessment that fits the levels of choice within art rooms but still provides students with the learning targets of the current project, theme, or unit.
Below is an example I’ve used recently with my middle school students. I highlighted three Studio Habits as my learning targets for our unit and this format easily allowed me to share the objectives clearly with my students as we progressed through our work. I can use this rubric as a student self-assessment tool, a student conference guide or more traditionally as an assessment rubric for my students to receive feedback provided by myself or better yet, a peer reviewer.
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You might be wondering how using alternative assessments such as a single-point rubric can translate into actual grades. With so many variations of grading requirements throughout districts, it’s not something that can be determined quickly through an article. That’s where AOEU’s Assessment in Art Education course can be a critical component of your assessment plan. In this course, you’ll design a plan based on what works for
Philosophy. Not only will you learn to use assessments to validate your program, but you’ll discover the benefits and challenges of using various tools to better capture authentic measurements of student growth and evidence of learning. Find out more here.
Magazine articles and podcasts are opinions of professional education contributors and do not necessarily represent the position of the Art of Education University (AOEU) or its academic offerings. Contributors use terms in the way they are most often talked about in the scope of their educational experiences.
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Tracy Hare, a middle school art educator, is a former AOEU Writer. She strives to deepen students’ 21st-century skills by encouraging them to practice critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills.Most art teachers use rubrics to assess students’ work. Rubrics are a great way to make sure students understand the expectations of the assignment. Because all the criteria are clearly defined, they make grading 100 still life artworks much easier. I use the term “easier” loosely here; we all know grading 100 artworks is never easy!
Choosing what type of rubric to use in your classes is an important choice. There are several different types of rubrics, and each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Spoiler alert, if you want to see my favorite type of rubric, jump right down to number 5!
First, let’s talk about how rubrics can describe the criteria. There are two main ways rubrics can do this, either in general terms or in more specific terms.
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This type of rubric defines characteristics of a successful artwork. It is “general, ” meaning it does not define specific criteria for each project. Instead, it might define characteristics such as “technique” or “craftsmanship” you are looking for in each completed project.
The strengths of this type of rubric are you can share it with students to communicate a broad understanding of what makes “quality” work. It can be used over and over for different tasks such as sketchbook assignments and projects. It can also be used to help students assess their own work. Because it is generic, students will attain an understanding of your broad expectations through its continued use.
The weakness of this type of rubric is that it is very broad. It does not clearly define the criteria for each project.
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What is great about this rubric is that it makes expectations for each assignment very clear. Students can use this rubric to assess their success very easily. It also makes grading easier for teachers, because of its specificity.
The weakness of this type of rubric is that you need to make a new one for each assignment. This can be time-consuming.
Luckily, no matter what type of rubric you choose, there are always ways you can expedite your grading process. If you’re interested in learning more, Tim Bogatz shares some super helpful tips in the PRO Learning Pack,
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. You’ll learn how to develop a more streamlined plan for all types of assessment. You can find this PRO Pack and more on assessment practices in PRO Learning.
An analytic rubric breaks down each aspect of the task being assessed. It assesses each criterion separately. For example, say you are teaching a lesson on landscapes to your students. You may want each student’s work to show:
The great thing about these rubrics is they connect your instruction to the assessment very clearly. Students can use them to assess their own work easily. They can also be used for formative assessment. They can show growth when used to assess students again at the end of a unit. You can download an example below.
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A holistic rubric is much simpler than an analytic rubric. Instead of breaking apart all the separate criteria, a holistic rubric assesses them all together.
So, if we use the above example of a still life, a holistic rubric would lump all of the criteria together (foreground, middleground, background, atmospheric perspective, overlapping, etc).
The advantage of a holistic rubric is that grading is much faster for the teacher. You only have to come up with a single score for each artwork you grade.
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The limitation of this style of rubric is that it is not very useful to share with students. Because it does not break down the task into separate criteria, students would have a hard time using it to assess their work. In addition, it is difficult for students to see where they might improve if all the criteria are all clumped together in a single score. You can download a sample Holistic rubric below.
In a single-point rubric, the expectations for the assignment are defined separately for a successful work, much like an analytic rubric. The difference is that criteria are only described for proficiency. Blank spaces are left for the teacher to write in feedback if the work falls above or below this point.
This is my favorite type of rubric. What I love about single-point rubrics is that they leave the teacher room to assess work individually. Instead of defining exactly what might make an artwork weaker or stronger, it leaves space for the teacher to give individual feedback for each student.
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Yes, these take more work to fill out. I would not use a single-point rubric for every task. But for large projects, this is a great option. It gives the teacher the opportunity to give personalized feedback for each student. Once again, download an example below!
Rubrics are great tools to help communicate the expectations and assess students. If you choose the right rubric for the task, you will find it will help both you and your students be successful. For a comprehensive look at assessment in the art room, be sure to take a peek at the AOEU course Assessment in Art Education. You’ll leave class with a comprehensive toolkit of lesson plans and organization strategies.
Magazine articles and podcasts are opinions of professional education contributors and do not necessarily represent the position of the Art of Education University (AOEU) or its academic offerings. Contributors use terms in the way they are most often talked about in the scope of their educational experiences.
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Anne-Marie Slinkman, an elementary school art educator, is a former AOEU Writer. She is passionate about providing relevant and meaningful art experiences for all students.
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