Grading with a Rubric: A Useful Homeschool Scoring Tool

For the home educator following a structured curriculum requiring grades, consistency is essential. This is not only true for the benefit of the child/student, but also for the transcripts you will need to create and provide to higher education institutions in future years.

As I stumbled through my first year homeschooling, I realized just how easy it was to be inconsistent with grading my daughter's work. Before beginning her second year of instruction, I decided I needed a plan. I chose to utilize what is called a rubric.

A rubric can be defined as: a tool teachers use for scoring a student's assignments. This tool can be customized by course, grade level or even special needs. There is no right or wrong method of creating one; the key is to follow it and allow the tool to guide you in your grading process.

Creating a rubric does not have to be complicated. The tool itself can be as detailed or simplistic as you and your child's needs require. As the instructor, you first must decide what is expected from your student with regard to assignments. Certain courses lend themselves well to merely grading based upon number of correct answers, such as Mathematics. Others, Creative Writing for example, present more of a challenge.

I developed the following rubrics for scoring my daughter's work. This keeps my focus and expectations consistent and balanced. Remember, these are only guides for possible rubrics you may create for you and your child's needs.

Mathematics

For every problem, each receives a possible three points: one for the correct answer, one for showing all the steps necessary to obtain the answer and one for neatness or readability. (An assignment of ten algebra problems, for example, would have a total of thirty points possible.)

English Composition

Due to the nature of this type of work, there is no cut and dry "correct" or "incorrect" answer; therefore, the rubric scores on: clarity of sentences, proper MLA (Modern Language Association) format, spelling, punctuation and grammar, length or word count and presence of all required components of the assignment. Typically, I count every paper worth a maximum of fifty points, then deduct in increments of five for the aforementioned criteria that is lacking.

General

With courses such as Social Studies, I use a general rubric that accounts for: correct responses, neatness, clarity, spelling, punctuation, grammar and whether directions were properly followed. Here, neatness is included because the assignments are normally handwritten, as opposed to being typed and printed from the computer. This gives my daughter incentive to take her time and write neatly instead of using poor penmanship.

Culinary

My daughter enjoys cooking; therefore, I have variations of cooking, baking and the like as elective courses for her. In grading work of this nature, I use the following rubric: taste, texture, aroma, visual presentation (including plating and colorfulness of the cuisine) and difficulty of the recipe or preparation tasks.

Keeping my grading process and procedure consistent is beneficial to me as well as to my daughter. Home schooling does not need to be intimidating or cumbersome. In fact, the more smoothly you, as the home educator, can make the process, the more enjoyment everyone will gain from the experience. (For those of you who prefer to have a pre-made scoring tool, or assistance preparing your rubric, Teachnology can be a wonderful source.)