Assessment criteria

Assessment criteria make it clear to learners what they are expected to do. It shows them how they can demonstrate they've achieved the learning outcomes. And, it includes factors instructors will take into account when evaluating performance.

Precision in assessment criteria

Sharing assessment criteria with students at the beginning of the course is an effective way to help students build confidence in their learning and improve their performance.

To be effective, assessment criteria should be as precise as possible.

When assessment criteria are clear and explicit, students can recognize what is important and valued in the curriculum. Then, they can focus their efforts on key learning outcomes and evaluate their own performance through self-assessment and reflection.

Assessment criteria should describe:

• evidence that is observable in a student's work

• characteristics of a product wherever possible

• the context for the actions/activities (e.g., prepare a business plan for a specific client)

• only what is essential to demonstrate the student has achieved the learning outcome

Avoid including procedures and methods in the criteria, unless they are part of the learning outcome.

Tips for writing effective assessment criteria

Follow these 10 steps for writing effective assessment criteria:

1. Review learning outcomes and assessment tasks

• Choose assessment tasks that are aligned with the learning outcomes, learning opportunities and assessment methods.

• Make sure the course's learning outcomes are carefully constructed to articulate what students will know, be able to do and value at the end of their educational experience.

• Choose assessment tasks that provide adequate opportunities for students to demonstrate that they’ve achieved the intended learning outcomes.

2. Distinguish the difference between “criteria” and “standards”

Assessment criteria include two components: criterion and performance standards (Sadler, 1987). Criterion is a property or characteristic by which the quality of something may be judged but makes no statement or assumptions about actual quality. Standards are about definite levels of quality, achievement or performance.

3. Refer to relevant resources

When writing assessment criteria, refer to relevant resources such as:

• policies (e.g., Academic Regulations: Section 4: Grading Scales)

• faculty, school or department resources (e.g., guidelines, models, exemplars, program learning outcomes)

• school or department program curriculum maps

• examples of assessment criteria from other course and institutions

4. List, describe, curate and organize criteria

List all the things that students need to know and be able to do to pass the course or the assignment. Keep the list to a manageable size so students can handle the cognitive load and clearly understand what is expected of them. Four or five criteria are usually sufficient per unit, or between three and 10 per course. These criteria should be roughly of equal importance.

Prioritize the criteria in terms of their perceived importance. Generally, students should be expected to gain a higher level of understanding in the topics perceived to be most important.

5. Create a marking scheme

Decide how many performance standards to describe. The number of levels of verbal descriptions depends on the marking scheme and the practice in your school. It also depends on the ability of the assessment task to make fine distinctions in a reliable way and the degree to which fine discrimination is required.

6. Label the verbal descriptors of standards

If your school does not have verbal descriptions of standards or levels of achievement that link to the model used to calculate final grades, examples of labels are provided in the table below.

7. Describe the standards for each of the criteria

Describe levels of expected performance for the assessment. When describing standards, describe demonstrable behaviour; do not describe the student.

Avoid vague terms that are open to subjective interpretation such as “critical,” “appropriate,” “excellent” and “analytical.”

Use terms likely to be understood by students. Avoid the obscure or esoteric.

Point out what the student did to demonstrate lower-than-optimal standards. Doing so is often more supportive of learning than listing what the student did not do.

8. Weight the criteria

When you're working with more than one assessment criterion, you'll have to consider their relative importance and decide how to weight them. When weighting criteria, consider the importance of the concepts, the significance of the learning outcome to the course/program and the student’s workload. Also, consider how the criteria match the weight of the unit overall.

9. Create grading criteria

Create the grading criteria from poor to excellent.

Define the threshold or lowest pass assessment criteria, which is the quality of performance that would necessitate a bare pass. Define two to three intermediate levels of performance and the excellence level of performance.

10. Review and revise to ensure appropriateness and relevance

Review your assessment criteria for:

• organization

• consistency of style, mechanics, grammar and formatting

• alignment with program and institutional grade descriptors and policies

• appropriateness of the marking scheme or criteria

Remember: Assessment criteria should enable you to assess students’ work openly and fairly. It should help you provide valuable feedback to students and easily justify how marks have been awarded.

Learn more about assessment criteria.