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JRCERT Update

Developing Classroom and Program

Assessment Rubrics

Lisa F Schmidt, PhD, R.T.(R)(M), CRT(R)

adiologic technology educational programs in the performances students should be able to accomplish
the 21st century have shifted from delivering during specified tasks including :
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course material in a traditional in-person ƒ critical-thinking exercises
Rmanner to a hybrid manner that consists of ƒ engagement in group projects
in-person and online instruction. Some programs have ƒ responses to discussion board posts
implemented an entirely online didactic curriculum ƒ presentation of research topics
and simulated clinical training to supplement the live ƒ written reflective papers
clinical environment. Regardless of the style and In addition, understanding when rubrics should be
means of delivery, educational programs must strive to applied is important. For example, rubrics can be used :
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promote and improve the learning and performance of ƒ as an objective tool to provide consistent and
their students. Improving student learning requires timely grades on student assignments, which
faculty to provide students with effective feedback on expedites the grading process and can assist
their performance in the didactic and clinical training instructors with correcting and grading numerous
components while simultaneously assessing student student papers in a short period
learning. Moreover, as stated in the Joint Review ƒ to identify when instructions were unclear and
Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology students did not understand the assignment, and
2021 Standards for an Accredited Educational also to provide explanation as to why students
Program—Standard 6, Objectives 6.3 and 6.4— failed to complete the assignment properly and
programs are required to strive for quality improve- subsequently received poor scores
ment, assess program effectiveness, and assess student ƒ when frequent deficits are present in student
learning. These factors can be accomplished by apply- learning that require the instructor to respond
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ing rubrics, which are considered templates for a stan- with repetitive comments on each student paper
dard of quality. despite submission quality variations
Most educators agree that rubrics accelerate the
Definitions and Applications of Rubrics process of grading and help students feel that the grad-
Rubrics add reliability, validity, and transparency ing process is fair. In addition, rubrics can help students
to assessments; decrease subjectivity in evaluations; understand what is expected of them and how they
and are used in student learning assignments such as can improve the quality of their work, which also can
descriptive writings, course projects, and oral presenta- improve their learning and comprehension. 3
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tions. According to Chowdbury, a rubric is a scoring The 2 types of rubrics are holistic and analytical.
mechanism or tool that conveys the expectations of a The holistic rubric evaluates the aspects of a project
particular task or assignment across 3 to 5 levels of per- as an entity, whereas the analytical rubric evaluates
formance. A score of 3 indicates that the student must each component. With the holistic rubric, all dimen-
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improve; conversely, a score of 5 indicates the student sions or criterion are evaluated simultaneously; with
met the criteria in that rubric scoring category. Rubrics the analytical rubric, each dimension or criterion of
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are used to convey instructional goals and objectives for the assignment is reviewed and individual scores are

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Reprinted with permission from the American Society of Radiologic Technologists for educational purposes. ©2019. All rights reserved.