A Better Type of Rubrics: Moving beyond standard rubrics

Prompts in the Video

Prompt 1 (standard rubric prompt)

My 5th grade students are studying digestive system. The assignment is to label and describe components of the system. I want them to understand how parts of the digestive system work together.

I will use a rubric to guide students as they complete their assignment and provide objective tool for grading assignments consistently.

Create a rubric with 4 categories: labels, descriptions, interactions (how each part affects other parts), writing mechanics. Add 4 performance levels with measurable criteria for each category.

Use student-friendly language.

Add a scoring guide.

Prompt 2 (dichotomous rubric prompt)

Sample Dichotomous Rubric

Student information: 5th grade students

Student assignment: Students are studying digestive system. The assignment is to label and describe components of the system.

Learning outcome: Understand how parts of the digestive system work together

Purpose: guide students as they complete their assignment and provide objective tool for grading assignments consistently

Specific task: Create a progressive dichotomous rubric to assess descriptions of components.

Rubric rules: If a student gets a “no” for any new criteria, then the student’s rank is the prior level mastered.
If the first criterion is “no”, the rating is “introducing”. For example:
Level 1, Beginning: no = Introducing, yes = “[level] mastered; continue to next question.”
Level 2, Developing: no = Beginning, yes = “[level] mastered; continue to next question.”

For each question, add the name of the level.

TL;DR

AI can quickly create traditional rubrics, but progressive dichotomous rubrics may provide clearer and more encouraging guidance. They assess one skill through a sequence of increasingly advanced, yes-or-no criteria, helping students recognize what they can already do and what they should work toward next.

Traditional Rubrics

  • Often emphasize errors, deficiencies, or criteria students have not met.
  • Assess several categories across multiple performance levels.
  • Support student guidance and objective grading.
  • Can be generated quickly by providing AI with the assignment, learning objective, assessment categories, performance levels, scoring guidance, and desired language.

Progressive Dichotomous Rubrics

  • Focus on what students can demonstrate rather than what they cannot do.
  • Organize one skill into progressively more advanced levels.
  • Use a yes-or-no decision at each level to determine whether the student has demonstrated the specified skill.
  • Begin with an accessible criterion and build toward greater accuracy, explanation, detail, and sophistication.
  • Show students both their current level and the next skill they should develop.

How AI Helps

  • Creates either rubric format in seconds when given clear instructions.
  • Converts learning objectives into observable, student-friendly criteria.
  • Makes it practical to create several progressive rubrics for different skills within one assignment.
  • Can format the completed rubric as a downloadable Word document.

Important Limitation

A traditional rubric can assess several categories at once. A progressive dichotomous rubric generally examines the development of one skill, so a complex assignment may require multiple rubrics.

Key takeaway: Progressive dichotomous rubrics turn assessment into instructional guidance by identifying what students have mastered and clearly describing what they need to demonstrate next.