Developing marking criteria

Marking criteria outline the knowledge, skills and application you expect the student to demonstrate at the completion of an assessment task. They should not simply restate the assessment tasks but articulate the learning required to achieve the subject learning outcomes. Developing clear criteria explicitly communicates to the students the elements the task is assessing and what you will prioritise when grading assessments.  Telling students what you value helps them to understand and produce what’s needed but also shares the responsibility for their learning and assessment.

What you need to do

1. Begin by analysing your assessment task and learning outcomes.

  • What action does the student have to take in the assessment task? Does it match the verb in the learning outcome? E.g. analyse, create, describe, identify. What’s the level of thinking you are expecting from the student?
  • What is the content area, concept, theory, knowledge being assessed being assessed in the learning task and learning outcome?
  • What is the context of the assessment? What should the content area relate to?

Once you have a clear idea of the expectations of your learning outcomes and assessment task identify the 4-5 main observable elements you are looking for in students' responses. These should match the skills, knowledge and application in your learning outcomes and assessment task.

2. Write your marking criteria.
Criteria should:

  • Start with a verb to indicate the standard you require. Ensure they are measurable by avoiding terms like appreciates or have knowledge of.
  • Are kept to a manageable number for markers and students.
  • Include what you want students to do (action), know (content) and in what context.
  • Not make any assumptions about actual quality (e.g. effective, satisfactory). These should be included in your performance standards.
  • Be explicit and easy to understand and include only one element related to the learning outcome. Split different ideas into separate criteria.
  • Align with the subject learning outcome. Using similar words to the subject learning outcome can support students to clearly see a link and avoid confusion. Aligning to the learning outcomes ensures that if you change the task, you do not have to change the rubric.

The example below shows the colour coded alignment of the component parts of the learning outcome and the criterion. The green text is what you want students to ‘do’, the red text is what you want students to ‘know’, and the blue text is the ‘context’ of that knowledge.

Criterion Learning outcome
Critical analysis of the application of the identified political behaviour including the strategies and tactics employed. Be able to critically analyse the application of political strategies in organisations

Critical analysis' is what you want students to do, 'application' is the context of that knowledge, 'political behaviour including the strategies and tactics employed' is what you want students to know.

3.Once you have written your criteria take the time to review them and ensure:

  • The criteria describe what is important for students to demonstrate.
  • You have used clear language from the learning outcomes in your criteria.
  • They can be measured and assessed.
  • Your existing criteria align to the subject learning outcomes and task.
  • You're not assessing anything that is outside the scope of the learning outcomes that is potentially irrelevant to a student's achievement in this subject.
  • You haven't used any value descriptions, such as 'adequate' or 'satisfactory' because these are subjective terms and do not clearly describe what is valued in the criteria.
  • They do not overlap with other criteria.

This PowerPoint on writing criteria and standards may help.

Sources to assist you in developing criteria could include:

  1. Accreditation requirements
  2. The level of the subject (AQF)
  3. The research literature
  4. Peak bodies (Professional Associations)
  5. Your own professional experience
  6. Your knowledge of the topic & students
  7. Example rubrics for similar disciplines or assessment type.

Once you've written your criteria, the next step is to develop the performance standards.