The perceptive imperative: Connoisseurship and the temptation of rubrics

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe examine the reliance on rubrics for educational evaluation and explore whether such tools fulfill their promise. Following Wittgensteinian critical strategies, we explore what “the application of the [rubric] picture looks like” and then evaluate (a) whether those benefits are attributable to rubric use at all, and (b) whether any of those benefits are unique to rubric use. Rubric advocates claim specifically that rubrics offer both the sheen of objectivity and time-saving benefits involved in streamlining the feedback process. Against these two main claims, we argue that even if rubrics can be used in beneficial ways, they fall short of achieving any robust sense of objectivity, and that engaging in real and difficult judgment from case to case of student work remains inescapably a teacher's time-consuming, yet necessary, responsibility. In instances where rubric use claims come up short, we will suggest an alternative framework, based upon Elliot Eisner's notion of educational connoisseurship and criticism, arguing for the development of perceptive abilities in teachers and students alike.