Specialized Grading Rubrics for Short Writing Assignments

Michael A. Brilleslyper

U.S. Air Force Academy

One fear of using writing assignments in the math classroom is the increased grading burden.  Using assignment-specific grading rubrics greatly cuts down on grading time and provides a fair assessment of student work.  In addition, a good rubric accurately conveys the criteria upon which the assignment was judged. The use of these rubrics has essentially eliminated all student complaints concerning grading fairness. In this talk, I will present several examples of short writing assignments and the rubrics used to assess them.