Effect of Rubrics on Student’s Performance: Meta-Analysis and Rubric’s Content Analysis

• In Event: Examining Student Learning Processes and Teacher Classroom Assessment Practices

Abstract

This meta-analysis sought to estimate the effect of rubric use on performance and explore its interaction with rubrics’ measurement properties, characteristics of rubric use, and contextual variables that may influence this effect. We identified 41 experimental and quasi-experimental primary studies of rubric use effects (k = 80, N = 8,968). After removing over-influential studies, results showed a significant positive effect of rubric use on performance (Hedges’ g = 0.47). No moderator variable significantly impacts the effect of rubric use on performance. A rubrics’ content analysis identified patterns in rubric design that seemed to co-vary with the effect sizes. These results inform best practices to improve the effectiveness of rubric use. Practical implications for designing and implementing rubrics are presented.

Authors

• Sandra Liliana Camargo Salamanca, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Andy Parra Martinez, Mississippi State University