Primary Questions to Ask:  Information Required

When entering a new Rubric you need to know the following things:

1. Basics 
   1. How many columns do you need (e.g. 4)?
   2. What is the integer value of each column (e.g. 4 3 2 1  or 1 2 3 4   etc.)?
2. Scoring: 
   1. Will the rubric be scored?
   2. If yes, how will it be scored? 
      1. Regular Row Scoring
      2. Alternate values Row Scoring (select from a set of possible values when scoring a row).
      3. Direct Entry of Page Group (i.e. Domain) scores?
3. Text Fields on pages of the Rubric 
   1. Do you want any text fields to appear as part of the Rubric (e.g. "Recommendations")?
   2. If yes: 
      1. Do you want these fields on every page of the Rubric?
      2. Do you want them only on the last page of each Page Group (e.g. last page of each Domain)?
      3. Do you want them only on the last page of the Rubric?

Creating & Configuring a Rubric: A Procedure to Create a Rubric

Adding and Defining Rubric Basics

1. Go to the Evaluations->Rubrics->List of Rubrics screen
2. Click the Add a Rubric button. This brings up a popup:
   
   

1. Fill in the "Add Evaluation Rubric" popup: 
   1. Make up a "Code" to identify it. SchoolFi uses this code internally. By tradition, it is all in capital letters. The code can contain but not start with numbers (1234567890) and underlines ('_'). E.g. MY_RUBRIC_1. It cannot contain punctuation or special characters. You just make this up.
   2. Enter the name of the Rubric: This should be description of what you will use it for. E.g. "Teacher Observation Rubric".
   3. Select the Rubric Type. There are two types: "Observation" and "Self Assessment".
      
      

"Observation" Rubrics are used for observations and evaluations. "Self-Assessment" rubrics are only used for staff members to self-score themselves.

1. The "Display Sequence" simply places the rubric in the list of Rubrics. You can simply accept whatever number appears, or you can choose where in the list you wish it to appear, if you are familiar with your list of Rubrics. The Display Sequence does not affect the actual functioning of the Rubric.

1. Click Add to actually create the Rubric. You are now placed on the blank definition screen of the Rubric:

1. The new Rubric has all blank fields. All options except the "Choose N/A for a row score" are unchecked. There is no data, one page, four Columns with values 1, 2, 3, 4, and four empty rows:

1. The very top of this area allows you to update the name, display sequence and Type of the Rubric, as well as specify whether it will include row or cell "Attributes", allow for "Not Applicable" as a score, and include optional scores (beyond column values):

1. Choose whether or not the Rubric will include Attributes:

 By default, Attributes are not available – all of these options are unchecked.

1. If there will be "Row Attributes" (Attributes selectable from a button at the left hand side of each row), check the "Enable Row Attributes" checkbox.
2. If there will be "Cell Attributes" (Attributes selectable from a button in each cell), check the "Enable Cell Attributes" checkbox.
3. If, when Cell Attributes are enabled, a user can select Attributes from all cells in the row, regardless of which, if any, of the cells are selected as the score, check the "Score Any Cell Attributes" checkbox.
4. Choose whether "Not Applicable" is available as a score. By default this option is checked and users can choose "N/A" for a row.
   1. If user can check "N/A" for "Not Applicable", check the "Choose N/A for a row score" checkbox.
   2. If you do NOT want your users to have the "N/A" (not applicable) option, UNCHECK the "Choose N/A for a row score" checkbox. This means that the "not applicable" option will not be available: users will either have to sore the row or leave it blank.
5. Choose whether there will be alternate scoring options than the Column values.

 Each column in a rubric is assigned a value (see below, defining Rubric scoring). If alternate scores will be available (e.g. 3.5 in addition to 3), Check the "Allow Other Points" option. Otherwise leave this option blank.

1. Define Optional "Narrative Text Fields": Up to 3 text fields can appear on each page of the Rubric. This allows the user to write into these fields when they are scoring the Rubric. Turn on a text field by entering a name for it in the "Text Fields that appear on each page" list:

 If the fields are left blank, they remain turned off and do not appear when the Rubric is scored.

The corresponding workflow also needs the option turned on for 'Show Custom Page Text Fields in Rubric'

1. Click the Save button to store these settings.

Define Rubric Scoring

1. To define how the Rubric is to be scored, click on the "Scoring" tab of the Rubric definition. If you are going to score a Rubric completely "normally" you can skip this section.

1. Scoring options include:

1. Whether or not to show the running score to the Observer when they are scoring the Rubric.

1. Whether or not there are alternate scores available for each Column, instead of the single column value (1, 2, 3, 4 vs 1, 1.5, 2. 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4). This is actually defined in Step 9 above.
2. _Leave this blank unless you know with absolute certainty that you must convert your scores with a lookup table._Whether the "raw" Rubric score must be converted to a NJ State allowable score via a Lookup table. NJ allows a score in the range 1 to 4. Some methodologies allow higher or lower scores – to make the scores conform to NJ, these "out of bound" scores must be converted to a score in the range 1 to 4. This is done via a look up table.

1. Specify a mechanism for computing a Page score. This defaults to Average. It can be changed to "Sum".

1. Specify a mechanism for computing a Page Group score (i.e. "Domain" or "Standard") score. This defaults to Average. It can also be set to "Sum".

1. Click Save to store your choices.
2. If you selected "Lookup Table" for the "Row Scoring Option", you now have the opportunity to define the Look Up table. Skip this section if your Rubric is already scored on a scale from 1 to 4 and you do not need to do a conversion. 
   1. First, define the column values for the Rubric (Jump ahead to Step X) and then return here to create the Lookup Table.
   2. Locate the initially empty Lookup Table:

1. Remember that the only reason to have a look up table is because the Rubric is itself not scored on a 1 to 4 scale and you need to convert it to "NJ scoring". Generally this means it has fewer than 4 columns or more than 4 columns.Click the Load Default Values from Rubric button to load the column values from the Rubric (the Column values must have already been set up). This will load in all of the column values:

 The "From" Value column contains the actual column values of the columns in the Rubric. The "To Value" is the 'lookup value' – the value to convert the "From Value" to. For example, if the "From Value" is 5, then the "To Value" should be

1. In the "To Value" column, enter the values to convert the original column values in the "From Value" column to:

When you have entered all the "To Values", click Save to store the values. Once this is done, whenever the Rubric is scored, when a value on the left (e.g. 5) is selected, it will be immediately and automatically converted to the value on the right (e.g. 4). That is, the "To Value" is substituted for the "From Value" when a row is scored.

Setting Up Column Scoring

1. To set up the column values for the Rubric, scroll down to the "matrix" area of the rubric where the column definitions are found:

There are four columns created by default:

1. The columns can be placed in any order. The default is to show the highest value column on the left, as seen below. But this order can be reversed.

1. To simply alter the direction of the values, type new labels and values into the provided text fields:

Then click to store your changes.

1. Adding columns: If you need additional columns, use the Add Column button. Clicking this adds a column with a blank value to the right:

Update the column label, enter a value for it and click Save Changes.

1. To remove a column, click Delete Last Column. This removes the rightmost column. It is not possible to delete a column from the middle or left side.

Adding Alternate Column Scores

1. If you have checked the option (See step 9 above), additional text fields appear to the right of the Column Value fields:

 These additional text fields allow you to add optional scores for each column. When the rubric is scored, the user will be able to select the default column value or one of the optional values.

1. To add optional values, simply enter the values, separated by commas, in the text fields provided. For example:

1. You can enter alternate, optional values separately for each column, and some columns need not have alternate values:

1. When you are done entering the alternate values, click Save Changes to store the options.

CAVEAT: Alternate scores must be entered on every page of the Rubric: they are not copied from page to page.

Defining the Pages of the Rubric

1. A Rubric can be from 1 to many pages long. Pages are grouped together in "Page Groups". This section discusses how to add and fill pages and create page groups. To start creating pages, scroll to the middle of the "Create Rubric" screen and locate the "Page" area:

If this is the first page you are creating, the area will be blank and the Page drop down will display a 1:

Define a New Page

1. Enter the name, page group and title information for the new Page: 
   1. Enter the Page name:
   2. Enter the Page group name, or change the one that is there if this page is a new Page Group: . This field is required. If the rubric has no groupings, simply use the Page Name as the Page Group.
   3. Enter up to 3 lines of "Page Titles" to appear at the top of this page of the Rubri

You always want a Page Title, so Custom Page Title 1 is essentially required. The Custom Page Title 2 and Custom Page Title 3 are optional for when a two or three line page title is required.

1. When you have entered this information, click Save Changes.

1. Optionally, enter a Page Description. The text in the large "Page Description" field will be displayed on the Rubric page below the header information and above the actual rubric.

Filled in:Click Save to store the changes.

Enter the row data for the Page

1. Scroll down to the "Rubric Details" portion of the page in order to enter the data:

1. Configure the Page for the correct number of rows. Rows can be added to or removed from the bottom of the page. They cannot be inserted into or removed from the top or middle of the page. 
   1. To add rows, click the Add Row button.
   2. To remove the last row, click the Delete Last Row button. There is no "UNDO" for deleting a row. If it had data in it, the data is gone.

1. Now add data to each row: 
   1. The unlabeled left side box gets the "row label" data:

1.  
   1. The remainder of the cells in the row get the column data:

1. When you have entered all of the data for the row, click Save Changes.
2. Repeat for all rows (strictly speaking, you only need to click Save Changes once – not once for each row. It is definitely safer to click it for each row.

Adding Row or Column Attributes

1. If, in Step 7 above, you chose to add either (or both) Row or Column Attributes to the Rubric, you can add them now. 
   1. If Row Attributes are enabled, the left side "Row Label" cells will have an control:

1. If Cell Attributes are enabled, the column cells will each have an control:

1. To edit Attributes for a row or a cell, click on one of these controls. This brings up the "Edit Attribute" control:

 The list of Attributes will initially be empty.

1. To add an Attribute, click the Add Attribute button. This brings up the "Define Attribute" popup:

1. Enter a Code for the Attribute. Typically the Codes identify: Page Group, Page, Row, Column (if this is a column Attribute) and # of the Attribute in the set. Or, it can be specific to the Methodology you are using. For Danielson, you might choose: Domain, Component, Item, Attribute#. For example: 
   • Page Group: Domain 1 (so "1").
   • Component A
   • Value/Column: 3
   • Attribute #2
   • Final Code: 1A32
2. Optionally, enter a "Group Name" for the Attribute. "Group Names" can be used to separate the Attributes into groups. E.g. "Highly Effective", "Effective", "Partially Effective", "Ineffective". This field is optional.

1. The Description field is the text of the Attribute.
2. The Sequence field is a number that places this Attribute in the list of Attributes for this cell.
3. When you have defined the Attribute, click Add to add it to the list.
4. Repeat steps d to i to add all the Attributes for this one cell (either for the Row, or for one cell, depending on whether these are row or cell Attributes).

1. To fix any attribute, simply edit the text in the Group or Description field, then click the Save button at the bottom.
2. To move Attributes in the list, edit the Sequence number field, then click the Save button at the bottom.
3. When done, continue to the next cell or next row, repeat steps a to l to add all the Attributes for all rows/cells on the page.

Adding a New Page to the Rubric

1. When you are ready to add a Page to the Rubric, return to the top of the "Page" area:

Locate the Add Page button and click it.

1. This brings up the "Add Page" popup:

1. The Page Group Name from the prior page is displayed. If you are creating a new Page Group for the new Page, you can edit the name here. If the Page Group name is to remain the same, do not change it.
2. Click Add Page to actually create the new page. The Page Group Name and the Page Name are copied over to the newly created page:

 There is now a "Page Control" and Page drop down.

1. You can rename the new page, and fill in all the details for it: Repeat Steps 23 to 32 to add all additional Pages of the Rubric.
2. Inserting Pages: Once there are at least two pages in the Rubric, you can insert "missing" pages in between existing pages of the Rubric.

1. To insert a page, click the Insert Page button. This also brings up the Insert Page popup:

1. This works essentially identically to the Add Page function. Edit the Page Group field to being a new Page Group, or leave it as is to continue with the current Page Group, then click Add Page. The new page is immediately created, copying the information at the top of the current page of the Rubric (the 'data' matrix is always empty – the data is not copied, only the header settings).
2. Continue from step 23 to fill in the newly created Page of the Rubric.

Removing Pages from the Rubric

1. Deleting Pages from the Rubric. Once there are more than one Pages in the Rubric, there is a Delete This Page button on every page. Click this to remove the current page.

CAVEAT: There is no "UNDO" – be careful because you cannot recover a deleted page.

Finishing Rubric Creation

1. Once you have added all pages of the Rubric, you are finished. You should now create a Workflow that uses the new Rubric and test that it is functioning the way you want it to.