A rubric is a form of assessment that uses a rating scale to score a students level of

performance in a particular task. A rubric can be holistic in which a score is given to a

students overall quality of work, or analytic in which the work sample is scored by
looking at separate parts, such as understanding of the problem, planning of a solution
and achievement of an answer (Reys, et al, 2012). Brookhart (2013) suggests that an
analytic rubric is the most useful in the classroom as it can be used for both formative
and summative assessment and can provide feedback on what specific aspects
students can focus on for improvement, and also better informs future planning and
teaching through identifying specific student needs. However Brookhart (2013) also
notes that it is important to consider that it takes longer to score a work sample using
an analytic rubric than a holistic one.
Additionally, research shows that rubrics can be used to identify the reference level of
performance for a task, providing information that can be used to form feedback to
support students in moving from their actual level towards the reference level (DiefesDux, Zawojewski, Hjalmarson & Cardella, 2012). This is useful in regards to
assessing open tasks as appropriate feedback can be communicated to support learners
in further developing their skills and capabilities so that they can be applied when
faced with another task of similar mathematical ideas or content.