How do I create a weighted rubric?

When you create or edit a rubric, you have the option to make it weighted.

Switching to weighted makes it so that the scores for each criterion are a specified percentage of the total points possible for the rubric as a whole. If you think about this in overall grade terms, it is similar scoring all of the assignments, exams, discussions in a class out of 100, and then weighting them as 10% discussions, 40% assignments, 50% exams in the final grade calculation.  

What this means in the case of the rubric is that the highest rating level for each criterion needs to be calculated out of the total points possible for the overall rubric. For example, if the item you plan to grade with this rubric is worth 100 points, then all of the criteria need to be out of 100 points for the highest level rating. That way, the correct number of weighted points will be awarded when you select a rating level when grading.

Note: You may only edit rubrics that are local to your site, and that have not been associated with an item for grading. Once a rubric is in use, it will appear with a lock icon next to it, indicating that it cannot be edited.

Go to Rubrics.

Select the Rubrics tool from the tool menu of your site.

To switch a standard rubric to weighted, click on the # (Standard) icon to toggle it to weighted.

Remember, locked rubrics may not be edited.

The Lock icon indicates that a rubric is associated with an activity in the site and it cannot be edited. If you need to edit a locked rubric, you should either detach it from the activity where it is being used, or make a copy of the rubric and edit the copy.

The weighted rubric will display the % (Weighted) icon, as well as Weight fields to enter a percent for each criterion.

Enter a percent weight for each criterion, and edit the points for each of the rating levels.

IMPORTANT! Remember that the highest rating level for each criterion should be the same as the total possible points for the item you intend to grade using this rubric. If the item you plan to grade with this rubric is worth 100 points, then all of the criteria need to be out of 100 points for the highest level rating. That way, the correct number of weighted points will be awarded when you select a rating level. If the item you plan to grade with your rubric is worth some number of points other than 100, just follow the same process, with the highest level rating for each criterion worth the total possible points for the rubric.  

Note: The total of percent weights entered for the rubric must equal 100%.

When you have finished entering percentages, select Save Weights.

Note: You will see a "Save Successfully" message to confirm that you have saved your criteria weights.

When grading an item using a weighted rubric, the weighted points are shown in bold and parenthesis inside each rating cell.

In the example shown above, the Content criterion is 10%, so the weighted rubric will calculate 40% of 100, which is 40 points possible for that criterion. The Tone criterion is 30%, so the rubric will calculate 30% of 100 for Tone, which is 30 points. The third criterion, Grammar, is also 30%, so the weighted rubric calculates 30% of 100, which is 30 points. Then, when you add up the total possible points for the overall rubric, you get 40+30+30=100. Students graded according to this rubric will receive a weighted amount of points for each rating level selected.