Development of a School of Nursing Rubric

Purpose: Rubrics have been used as guides to establish and communicate standards to students when developing a paper or project. The standards set by the rubric assure course objectives are met and nursing standards of practice are integrated. This study will detail the necessary components of the rubric for written nursing assignments, both didactic and clinical. In addition, the importance of using rubrics will be emphasized. The issues associated with developing and utilizing rubrics in nursing education will be described and discussed. The development of a specific school of nursing rubric will be detailed, and four nursing rubrics will be critiqued.

Methods: Nursing rubrics were reviewed and critiqued, and strengths and weaknesses were noted.

Results: A school of nursing rubric was created based on feedback from the critique.

Conclusion: Adjustments have been made as continuous review has occurred. So far, students have only seen this rubric for two semesters’ courses, and follow-up will occur as students continue to see and utilize this rubric throughout the entirety of the program. Anecdotal feedback has been positive, and students have verbalized feeling less anxiety due to having clear guidelines and expectations. Rubrics are useful tools to help alleviate the common issues that students experience with writing assignments.