The downside of grading rubrics

Students deserve to know and benefit from knowing in explicit detail exactly what is expected of them and what is important. A grading rubric can do exactly that. Unfortunately, a grading rubric can also turn grading into a hollow, unreflective checklist, and assignment preparation into a mechanical compliance effort. Instead of focusing on insight or creativity, one must focus on covering one's bases vis-a-vis the rubric. And -- a key point -- often one needn't worry about anything but covering one's bases. You needn't do anything particularly well, you needn't shed much by way of insight -- just give them what the rubric asked for.

Awarding 100 percent on an essay is preposterous on its face, but I'd wager it's quite common in an orthodox rubric-driven grading regime: 'What do you want me to do, he satisfied all of the items on the rubric?'

I'm moved to note this as i finish a final paper for an instructor who grades by a rigorous rubric. As I wrote, I found myself wishing I could focus on writing a good paper, a paper that was interesting and maybe even insightful, that moved me to take my knowledge of the subject further. Instead, as a rational, satisficing sort would, I instead worked to make sure I would get credit for each item on the rubric checklist. Easier, no question, but dispiritingly hollow too.