The effects of instructional rubrics on learning to write

Heidi L. Andrade, University at Albany, State University of New York

Abstract

This study examines the impact of instructional rubrics on eighth grade students' writing and on their knowledge of the qualities of effective writing. Students in the treatment group were given instructional rubrics that articulated the criteria and gradations of quality for three assigned essays. Students in the control group wrote the same three essays but did not receive the rubric. Students in the treatment group received, on average, higher scores on one of the three essays. Questionnaires administered at the end of the study revealed that students in the treatment group tended to identify more of the criteria by which their writing was evaluated.