“Rubrics are performance-based assessments that evaluate student performance on any given task or set of tasks that ultimately leads to a final product, or learning outcome.”

What could be wrong with that, right? 

Nothing…as long as rubrics don’t become the ultimate crutch, a dependency that impedes the opportunity for a young teacher to gain the insight, instinct, intuition, and judgment necessary to become a confident master teacher.

In order for a teacher to become an expert, an artist, an inspiration in the classroom, she/he needs to develop a critical eye, a discerning ‘sniffer’, and a’gut’ instinct that empowers them to discern what students need next.  It could be review or reteaching, it could be enrichment, it could be a hug.  Sometimes the difference between success and despair is a seasoned teacher’s ability to see beyond the obvious.  Beyond the objective.   A rubric is a tool to help objectify assessment.  But it isn’t a substitute for the kind of professional discretion that comes from striving, struggling, sharing that makes students and teachers fully human.

I’m not suggesting we don’t use rubrics.  I’m saying that, when we start to feel that without a rubric we’re lost…then we are.