Single-Point Rubrics,What’s the Point?

As we navigate the world of data collection for gifted learners, we used a hundred methods—checklists, rubrics, accuracy ratings…you name it.

After reading a great post from Cult of Pedagogy, we got very excited about trying yet another method–single-point rubrics. We know what you’re thinking…”Not another rubric! We don’t need to reinvent the wheel, ladies!” We get it! But read on and see why we’re using single pointers and why we think they’re something you’ll want to try too.

First, the “why”. We wanted to go beyond simply giving students checklists or arbitrary “grades” on their work. Gifted work is about so much more than accuracy! Instead, we wanted to provide specific academic feedback on how our students are learning, thinking, and applying new information. Rubrics are great for this kind of feedback but can be tedious to create (All those categories! All those verbs!). We wanted something that would be straightforward for both us and our students, providing clear success criteria and allowing for reflection on processes.

With traditional rubrics, students are provided criteria with corresponding descriptions of the levels of achievement. Teachers must think of all the ways in which students could fail to meet expectations. While this may be a good system for some assignments, we’ve noticed that wordy rubrics are often not read thoroughly and may produce underwhelming products since students can gauge, “I only need to do … to get a B”. Enter: the single point rubric, where students are provided only the criterion for successful work. The assignment is still broken down into categories, and within each category, the criterion for success is explicitly stated. Students know what is expected and have opportunities to go beyond expectations. This allows for more flexibility in creating products while also providing clarity of expectations. Teachers are then able to provide individualized, descriptive academic feedback on areas in which the student exceeded expectations and where they may need to work to improve.

Initially, when using a single-point rubric with gifted students, you may feel some pushback as they have been programmed to get “good grades” and rank themselves. However, after repeated use, we have found single-point rubrics to be freeing for gifted learners. They become less concerned with figuring out which categories they fit into and more focused on immersing themselves in the experience of
learning. Students are encouraged to be creative, take intellectual risks, and aim for excellence when using a single-point rubric.

Have you used single-point rubrics? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!