Holistic Rubrics

Owned by Alisa Cunnington (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Aug 21, 2023 by Stuart McCulley
2 min read

Holistic rubrics, as the name applies, evaluate and give feedback on the assessment as a whole. They use a single row to articulate criteria expectations and the varying levels of achievement. It allows for more comprehensive feedback with the possibility of individualized feedback (if overall feedback text accompanies the rubric) but they can lack targeted specific criteria

Creating a Holistic Rubric in Brightspace

Holistic rubrics use percentages for scoring and text feedback. When editing rubrics, changes are saved in real time. When finished creating or editing, click Close to exit the editor screen.

If you are creating a holistic rubric, which always uses a percentage scoring method, enter the start range for that level or rating. The start range for your lowest achievement level is automatically set to 0%. The start range for other levels should be the lowest percentage acceptable for the level. The highest percentage is determined by the start range for the next level in the rubric. Example below.

  1. In the Edit Rubric screen choose Type: Holistic

  2. In Scoring choose Percentage or No Score.

  3. Set the Rubric Status in the top right. (See for more details on status)

  4. Choose level order (Ascending or descending left to right.)

  5. See the info panel above regarding setting percentages.

  6. Select and additional options.

  7. Remember to Name the Rubric and include a description for your reference. Then Close to exit the editor.

Example Holistic Rubric

This sample rubric is viewed from the Edit screen.

Holistic rubric with 4 levels named (from highest to lowest score) Excellent, Great, Needs improvement, and Incomplete

Scoring/Grading with a Holistic Rubric

By default, Holistic rubrics are set with a scoring type of “Percentage”, the only other option is “No Score”. The percentage associated with the rubric criteria will reflect the final grade given to the student automatically. Instructors must overwrite the grade when grading the assessment, or use No Score if they do not wish for the criteria percentage to automatically be the student’s grade.

 

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