Alfie Kohn

The Trouble with Rubrics

“[Rubrics] do nothing to address the terrible reality of students who have been led to focus on getting A’s rather than on making sense of ideas”(1).

According to Kohn rubrics justify and legitimize grades, while narrowing judgment criteria of student work.  Rubrics are a means to assign a grade as determined by how the student’s work compares to guidelines.

“Studies have shown that too much attention to the quality of one’s performance is associated with more superficial thinking, less interest in whatever one is doing, less perseverance in the face of failure, and a tendency to attribute outcome to innate ability and other factors thought to be beyond one’s control.”

Superficial thinking: Students focus on doing what the teacher wants, rather than thinking about the subject at hand.  I have seen students go through more trouble to search and copy an answer from the internet, than was needed to come up with an answer on their own.  They are often driven by the desire to get it “right.”  They avoid taking risks because the “is this what the teacher is looking for?” concerns hinder creativity and individual expression.  They are working for the teacher, looking to give us what we are looking for, rather than what they have.

Less interest in what they are doing:  The significance problem.  The significance many students find in school is grades.   Grades determine success in schools.  Passing classes, achieving proficiency, graduating, earning honors and scholarships, even eligibility for sports and activities are directly connected to grades, so students find significance in this number.  If only students asked meaningful questions about what we are studying as frequently as they ask what their grade is. “Students whose attention is relentlessly focused on how well they are doing often become less engaged in what they are doing” (3). 

Less perseverance in the face of failure and a tendency to attribute outcome to innate ability and other factors thought to be beyond one’s control: Grades label students as successful or failures, and make them feel as if they belong to one of these groups.   I think of Issac licking the spoons and throwing the blocks here.  When we narrow criteria and label students with F’s we are setting standards that appear to be beyond their reach.  Too often students become discouraged and less willing to try when their efforts are not valued by the grader.

In his last paragraph Kohn challenges us to consider the reasons we went into teaching and design assessments that reflects these goals.    “Neither we nor our assessment strategies can be simultaneously devoted to helping all students improve and sorting them into winners and losers”(4).  Maja Wilson, author of Rethinking Rubrics in Writing Instruction links the creation of rubrics to helping universities sort those prospective students into the “good ones” and the “bad ones.”  She refers to rubrics as templates that we try to fit student work into.   

Schools today have created a culture where the discovery, exploration and connections are funneled through testing and labeled with grade.  When rubrics, or grades are used to measure how well a student’s performance meets a set of prescribed standards, those who don’t fit the mold are sorted into the “loser category”.   Instead of allowing students to construct meaning themselves, we design the house and hand over the blueprint to follow.  Why don’t we provide them with the foundation and see what they can build.