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15 Helpful Scoring Rubric Examples for All Grades and Subjects

In the end, they actually make grading easier.

When it comes to student assessment and evaluation, there are a lot of methods to consider. In some cases, testing is the best way to assess a student’s knowledge, and the answers are either right or wrong. But often, assessing a student’s performance is much less clear-cut. In these situations, a scoring rubric is often the way to go, especially if you’re using standards-based grading . Here’s what you need to know about this useful tool, along with lots of rubric examples to get you started.

What is a scoring rubric?

In the United States, a rubric is a guide that lays out the performance expectations for an assignment. It helps students understand what’s required of them, and guides teachers through the evaluation process. (Note that in other countries, the term “rubric” may instead refer to the set of instructions at the beginning of an exam. To avoid confusion, some people use the term “scoring rubric” instead.)

A rubric generally has three parts:

• Performance criteria: These are the various aspects on which the assignment will be evaluated. They should align with the desired learning outcomes for the assignment.
• Rating scale: This could be a number system (often 1 to 4) or words like “exceeds expectations, meets expectations, below expectations,” etc.
• Indicators: These describe the qualities needed to earn a specific rating for each of the performance criteria. The level of detail may vary depending on the assignment and the purpose of the rubric itself.

Rubrics take more time to develop up front, but they help ensure more consistent assessment, especially when the skills being assessed are more subjective. A well-developed rubric can actually save teachers a lot of time when it comes to grading. What’s more, sharing your scoring rubric with students in advance often helps improve performance . This way, students have a clear picture of what’s expected of them and what they need to do to achieve a specific grade or performance rating.

Learn more about why and how to use a rubric here.

Types of Rubric

There are three basic rubric categories, each with its own purpose.

Holistic Rubric

Source: Cambrian College

This type of rubric combines all the scoring criteria in a single scale. They’re quick to create and use, but they have drawbacks. If a student’s work spans different levels, it can be difficult to decide which score to assign. They also make it harder to provide feedback on specific aspects.

Traditional letter grades are a type of holistic rubric. So are the popular “hamburger rubric” and “ cupcake rubric ” examples. Learn more about holistic rubrics here.

Analytic Rubric

Source: University of Nebraska

Analytic rubrics are much more complex and generally take a great deal more time up front to design. They include specific details of the expected learning outcomes, and descriptions of what criteria are required to meet various performance ratings in each. Each rating is assigned a point value, and the total number of points earned determines the overall grade for the assignment.

Though they’re more time-intensive to create, analytic rubrics actually save time while grading. Teachers can simply circle or highlight any relevant phrases in each rating, and add a comment or two if needed. They also help ensure consistency in grading, and make it much easier for students to understand what’s expected of them.

Learn more about analytic rubrics here.

Developmental Rubric

Source: Deb’s Data Digest

A developmental rubric is a type of analytic rubric, but it’s used to assess progress along the way rather than determining a final score on an assignment. The details in these rubrics help students understand their achievements, as well as highlight the specific skills they still need to improve.

Developmental rubrics are essentially a subset of analytic rubrics. They leave off the point values, though, and focus instead on giving feedback using the criteria and indicators of performance.

Learn how to use developmental rubrics here.

Ready to create your own rubrics? Find general tips on designing rubrics here. Then, check out these examples across all grades and subjects to inspire you.

Elementary School Rubric Examples

These elementary school rubric examples come from real teachers who use them with their students. Adapt them to fit your needs and grade level.

Reading Fluency Rubric

You can use this one as an analytic rubric by counting up points to earn a final score, or just to provide developmental feedback. There’s a second rubric page available specifically to assess prosody (reading with expression).

Learn more: Teacher Thrive

Reading Comprehension Rubric

The nice thing about this rubric is that you can use it at any grade level, for any text. If you like this style, you can get a reading fluency rubric here too.

Learn more: Pawprints Resource Center

Written Response Rubric

Rubrics aren’t just for huge projects. They can also help kids work on very specific skills, like this one for improving written responses on assessments.

Learn more: Dianna Radcliffe: Teaching Upper Elementary and More

Interactive Notebook Rubric

If you use interactive notebooks as a learning tool , this rubric can help kids stay on track and meet your expectations.

Learn more: Classroom Nook

Project Rubric

Use this simple rubric as it is, or tweak it to include more specific indicators for the project you have in mind.

Learn more: Tales of a Title One Teacher

Behavior Rubric

Developmental rubrics are perfect for assessing behavior and helping students identify opportunities for improvement. Send these home regularly to keep parents in the loop.

Learn more: Teachers.net Gazette

Middle School Rubric Examples

In middle school, use rubrics to offer detailed feedback on projects, presentations, and more. Be sure to share them with students in advance, and encourage them to use them as they work so they’ll know if they’re meeting expectations.

Argumentative Writing Rubric

Argumentative writing is a part of language arts, social studies, science, and more. That makes this rubric especially useful.

Learn more: Dr. Caitlyn Tucker

Role-Play Rubric

Role-plays can be really useful when teaching social and critical thinking skills, but it’s hard to assess them. Try a rubric like this one to evaluate and provide useful feedback.

Learn more: A Question of Influence

Art Project Rubric

Art is one of those subjects where grading can feel very subjective. Bring some objectivity to the process with a rubric like this.

Source: Art Ed Guru

Diorama Project Rubric

You can use diorama projects in almost any subject, and they’re a great chance to encourage creativity. Simplify the grading process and help kids know how to make their projects shine with this scoring rubric.

Learn more: Historyourstory.com

Oral Presentation Rubric

Rubrics are terrific for grading presentations, since you can include a variety of skills and other criteria. Consider letting students use a rubric like this to offer peer feedback too.

Learn more: Bright Hub Education

High School Rubric Examples

In high school, it’s important to include your grading rubrics when you give assignments like presentations, research projects, or essays. Kids who go on to college will definitely encounter rubrics, so helping them become familiar with them now will help in the future.

Presentation Rubric

Analyze a student’s presentation both for content and communication skills with a rubric like this one. If needed, create a separate one for content knowledge with even more criteria and indicators.

Learn more: Michael A. Pena Jr.

Debate Rubric

Debate is a valuable learning tool that encourages critical thinking and oral communication skills. This rubric can help you assess those skills objectively.

Learn more: Education World

Project-Based Learning Rubric

Implementing project-based learning can be time-intensive, but the payoffs are worth it. Try this rubric to make student expectations clear and end-of-project assessment easier.

Learn more: Free Technology for Teachers

100-Point Essay Rubric

Need an easy way to convert a scoring rubric to a letter grade? This example for essay writing earns students a final score out of 100 points.

Learn more: Learn for Your Life

Drama Performance Rubric

If you’re unsure how to grade a student’s participation and performance in drama class, consider this example. It offers lots of objective criteria and indicators to evaluate.

Learn more: Chase March

How do you use rubrics in your classroom? Come share your thoughts and exchange ideas in the WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook .

Plus, 25 of the best alternative assessment ideas ..

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Middle School Writing Rubrics

In my book Blended Learning in Grades 4-12 , I shared the following middle school writing rubrics with my readers. Unfortunately, the short links I provided in my book have timed out, so I wanted to share these on my blog so any middle school teachers interested in using them have access! Feel free to make a copy and adjust as needed.

bit.ly/6-8ArgumentativeWritingRubric

bit.ly/6-8InformativeWritingRubric

bit.ly/6-8NarrativeWritingRubric

I will be posting the high school writing rubrics as soon as I can get them reformatted in a shareable version. If you have rubrics you use, love, and are willing to share, I’d love to crowdsource rubrics here!

45 Responses

Thank you for this wonderful resource! I love getting the emails from your site.

What are your thoughts on putting the high score description in the 2nd column next to the criteria? Students’ eyes are naturally drawn to the columns in order of left to right, so putting the high scoring description makes it the first thing they look at. It sets the tone for them, as if to say, “Do this! This is the best!”

Thank you again for providing this rubric. The descriptions and criteria are very well-written.

You are absolutely welcome to edit and rework them! My co-teacher prefers rubrics that start with 4 on the left side for those exact reasons. Mentally, it works better for me this way. That said, they are easy to copy and change!

Thanks so much!

[…] Middle School Writing Rubrics | […]

Thank you so much for sharing such a valuable resource!

Hello, are the high school rubrics available on the website, or in the book?

They are in the book, Carly. They are also so similar to the middle school rubrics that I did not want to publish a separate post for them.

Dear Ms Tucker

I was browsing and came across you rubrics for students writing. I read them and immediately fall in love with the simplicity of their structure. Thanks for making these resource available, easing research time.

I deem it a pleasure to be able to use them for my assessment.

You’re welcome, Emileta!

I’m glad these will save you time!

These are awesome rubrics! Thank you so much for sharing! They are a great resource.

Any ideas for a poetry rubric. I hate “grading” poetry. I truly believe students should have absolute freedom, but Texas TEKS say otherwise…..so…..

I so appreciate the clarity and ease of understanding these rubrics provide!!

I tend to agree with you. However, if you are expected to assess poetry, I’d start with the language in the TEKs and work backward. What do the TEKs want you to assess when it comes to poetry? Figurative language, sensory details, thematic progression? I’d isolate each “skill” or element of poetry they want you to assess then use those as your criteria and describe what that skill or element looks like in each stage–beginner, developing, proficient, mastery.

Thank you so much for sharing your rubrics with teachers! Extremely helpful and greatly appreciated.

You’re so welcome, Vanessa!

Take care. Catlin

Thank you for sharing your rubrics.

Thank you so much for sharing the rubrics. I use them in class for students’ projects.

Thank you so much for this lovely set up! It has helped a lot of new teachers!

Words can not describe how grateful I am.

Thank you so much! I am always having trouble teaching language art since I feel much comfortable with numbers..

You’re welcome, Helen! Happy to help 😊

Thank you for this very helpful resources, appreciated it!

You’re welcome, Shiela!

Thank you so much for this resource! This is the best rubric I’ve seen for middle school writing!

Thank you, Anna!

Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful resource!!! You are amazing!!!

You’re welcome, Michelle! So glad these are useful. 😊

Thank you so much for providing these! I’m “Yearbook Teacher” and these are wonderful since I have no clue how to grade written work (I normally teach a CTE course but with virtual/hybrid staff is spread thin.

Nick Pascual

You’re welcome, Nicolas! I’m so glad these are useful 😊

It appears 28 possible points can be earned……the sum of points earned would be at what grade level…..for example, if a student earned all 4’s on the Argumentative Writing Rubric what grade level would his writing rank…….or are their ranges for the sum of points……I would prefer to have a grade level…..

Hi MaryIsabel,

I assess on a 4 point mastery scale, so the final score calculates an average then that number 1, 2, 3, 4 is inserted into the grade book (if you have a mastery-based grade book option). Otherwise, you will need to convert your number on a scale.

Thank you. You are so kind. God bless you.

You’re welcome, Jennifer!

I am unable to open the rubrics. Are they still available for teacher to access?

Hi Jennifer,

The short links are below each image of the rubric, and they force you to make a copy. You’ll need to be logged into your Gmail account so your copies save in your Google Drive.

These are excellent! Thank you for sharing Dr. Tucker!

You’re welcome, Laura!

Life saver! Thank you for sharing!

You’re welcome, Carolyn!

Thank you so much for sharing these rubrics! I can’t say anything that hasn’t already been mentioned in the posts above. Love the idea of creating a “rubric bank” available to all who may need it.

You are very welcome, Carolina! I’m thrilled they are useful.

Good Evening , Ms. Tucker

Have you published a persuasive writing rubric?

Hi Yolanda,

I do not have persuasive rubrics. I focused on argumentative writing instead.

THIS IS A LIFESAVER!! THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!!

You’re very welcome, Tammy! 😊

WOW! I’m so loving these… as we are developing our standards for our program, this gives us a total jump start! By chance, do you have the High School writing rubrics?

My high school versions are very similar to these. Here is an example: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TLkY6Yt-AdXdwCwvXJ7YAqzsoYZmT6G3QiT_yefAHV8/edit

Good luck with your rubrics! AI can be a very helpful resources when generating rubrics with the skill descriptions!

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